Driver Certificate of Professional Competence

From 10 September 2008 drivers of passenger carrying vehicles requiring a category D1, D1+E, D or D+E will need to undertake regular periodic training if they are driving for commercial gain or in the course of a business. This will be extended to drivers of goods vehicles requiring a category C1, C1+E, C or C+E from 10 September 2009.

For existing drivers, this periodic training will amount to a total of 35 hours over a five year period. This training must be taken at an accredited centre and must be in blocks of at least 7 hours.  In practice this will amount to a day a year over that five year period although it would be possible to take the 5 day period in one chunk.

As with most legislation of this type there are several exemptions and these are as follows:

(a) vehicles with a maximum authorised speed not exceeding 45 km/h;
(b) vehicles used by, or under the control of, the armed forces, civil defence, the fire
service and forces responsible for maintaining public order;
(c) vehicles undergoing road tests for technical development, repair or maintenance
purposes, or of new or rebuilt vehicles which have not yet been put into service;
(d) vehicles used in states of emergency or assigned to rescue missions;
(e) vehicles used in the course of driving lessons for any person wishing to obtain a
driving licence or a CPC, as provided for in Article 6 and Article 8(1);
(f) vehicles used for non-commercial carriage of passengers or goods, for personal
use;
(g) vehicles carrying material or equipment to be used by the driver in the course of
his or her work, provided that driving the vehicle is not the driver's principal activity.
 

ACT DRIVER CPC COURSES

The following courses will be offered by ACT Control Solutions.

List of courses:

Course B1 – Defensive and economical driving (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS)
Course C1 –The safe loading of goods vehicles (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS)
Course D1 – The comfort and safety of passengers for drivers of passenger carrying vehicles (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS)
Course B2 –Drivers hours and the documentation required for the operation of goods or passenger vehicles (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS)
Course B3 – Health & safety for drivers of goods and passenger carrying vehicles (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS)
Course B4 –The environmental and other issues for drivers of goods and passenger carrying vehicles (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS)

Key:

B – Courses prefixed with the letter B are common to both passenger and goods carrying vehicles.

C - Courses prefixed with the letter C are specifically intended for drivers of goods carrying vehicles.

D - Courses prefixed with the letter D are specifically intended for drivers of passenger carrying vehicles.