Govt moves to tighten taxi license criteria

The Ministry of Transport and Communications on Thursday has set forth a regulation project to change the taxi service regulation, said the ministry in a press release.

The purpose of this new change project of the taxi regulation is to improve the expertise of taxi drivers and the safety of the industry through tighter conditions for taxi licenses and with better supervision during taxi driver training and examination processes.

Future taxi drivers would be required to complete mandatory driver training. Passing this training would require a level of competence in Finnish or Swedish.

A larger variety of criminal activity would also be a barrier to acquiring a taxi permit.

Changes to the taxi regulation are also an attempt to combat the grey economy, make taxis easier to identify, and improve transparency in ride prices.

The regulation project will continue the preparatory work on remaining open proposals in the memorandum regarding coloured license plates and mandatory taximeters.

“The objective is to make Finland’s taxis safe once more and restore trust in the taxi industry,” said Lulu Ranne, Minister for Transport, Communications and the Interior.

A comprehensive assessment of the possible legislative impacts will be carried out during the preparatory work. Among other things, the impact assessment will pay attention to taxi availability, entry into the industry, and particularly platform economy operators.

Preliminary preparations took place before the start of the regulation project.

A memorandum was written during the preliminary preparations, which addresses the current status of the legislation, the needed changes, while drafting preliminary legislative proposals.

Stakeholders were asked to comment on the memorandum during 24 May – 21 June 2024. A total of approx. 100 statements were received.

Based on the feedback, there was widespread support for the proposed changes of the memorandum. Preparatory work will continue based on the proposals of the memorandum and stakeholder feedback.

Preparatory work for taxi legislation will continue as a part of official duties. A draft of the government proposal will be submitted for comments during spring 2025.

The government proposal is due to be submitted to Parliament during the autumn session of 2025.