CORTE – Card Working Group meeting: tachographs in buses and innovations in driver cards

On 27 January 2025, a meeting of the CORTE – Card Working Group was held, attended by representatives from Inelo, Eurowag Group: Małgorzata Pander, Piotr Żółty and Mateusz Włoch.

The main topic of discussion was the revision of the regulations on tachographs and driver cards in the context of the introduction of new technological solutions. 

Introduction of tachographs for buses – new regulations from 2026 

The main topic of discussion was the revision of the tachograph regulations for vehicles over 2.5 tons. As of August 2026, buses carrying out international commercial transport in the EU weighing between 2.5 and 3.5 tons will be required to have tachographs, with the aim of regulating drivers’ working and rest times. Currently, many transport companies use buses that are not subject to these regulations, often resulting in overburdening the drivers. The introduction of tachographs is expected to help eliminate these problems and ensure greater safety on the roads. CORTE representatives pointed out the challenges of installing tachographs and motion sensors in vehicles that are not suitable for doing so.

Challenges of driver cards and new G2V2 tachographs 

Another important topic was the changes to driver cards, especially those of the older G1 type, which may not have enough memory to store data from the increased number of controlled days (56 days since 1 January 2025). The are suggestions that the driver could make printouts from the tachograph to confirm the entry of country codes – especially when changing vehicles, when the inspector does not have access to the previous car’s tachograph data. However, no official recommendations have yet been published, and daily printouts could place an undue burden on companies and drivers

– especially when the inspector cannot download data from the tachograph due to vehicle change. It is worth noting that Inelo representatives expressed the opinion that transport companies and drivers should not be penalized for insufficient card storage space. They also pointed out the need not to impose an obligation to keep printouts from 56 days, which would be similar to the requirement to keep discs for each day’s work in the times of analog tachographs – something we definitely do not want to return to in the 21st century.

International standards for smart tachographs 

Romain Durand from the European Commission also provided examples of countries that have adopted similar smart tachograph rules, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, and countries with cryptographic certificates, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Ukraine, the latter planning to introduce the possibility of issuing G2 cards.

Digitalization of transport documents: the future of driver cards 

Finally, representatives of card issuing institutions such as the Dutch KIWA and the French IN Groupe presented innovative solutions for digital transport documents, such as e-ID, e-wallet and e-FTI, which could contribute to the development of digital driver cards in the future.

New solutions for taxis in the Netherlands 

The meeting concluded with a presentation on the central database allowing for the inspection of taxis in the Netherlands, which aims to simplify the processes of monitoring the transportation services provided with these vehicles.