The driver’s license system for points was implemented in Spain in 2006. The measure was adopted after the success obtained in other countries and establishes a mechanism through which drivers accumulate points based on their behavior at the wheel. The system contemplates the possibility of recovering credits by carrying out road awareness and re-education courses, thus promoting the improvement of road safety and the responsibility of drivers.
To date, the centers that carried out this training did so through an administrative concession system. However, with the publication of Royal Decree Law 5/2023, this changes. As indicated by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), it is a matter of complying with the ruling of the Contentious Chamber of the Supreme Court 301/2023 of March 9 that annuls the concession contract in force as a system of organization of the courses of recovery of points for considering that it unjustifiably restricts competition and forces a change to an open authorization system. In this way, “we go from a closed system with a fixed price to another less restrictive model that is authorization, open and with a free price,” says Tráfico.
Now, all the driving schools that meet the requirements established by the DGT will be able to teach the courses. Before there were only 360 concessionaires that taught (in DGT scope) of the 6,448 that there are in total.
For its part, the UTE Permiso por Puntos, the entity awarded the public tender for the management and teaching of the courses, is not satisfied with the modification and has announced that as of next Wednesday, July 19, it will not launch any recovery course.
The entity that until now has the concession to teach the points recovery courses requests that the law contemplate a transitional period to allow gradual adaptation to the new conditions, as is done with all laws that change the regime of a situation. It should be noted that there is a shift from a system of administrative concession to another of simple authorization.
According to the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), we would be talking about about 950 students who are already signed up for the course. However, from the UTE Permission for Points they calculate that there are more than 6,000 affected drivers. “950 students can be the ones that the DGT has registered in its application so that they can start a course immediately. But last year, only from July 19 to August 31, more than 7,600 students were trained ”, they indicate from UTE Permiso por Puntos.
The DGT proposed to the UTE to continue teaching the courses until September 25. However, since the proposal has been rejected, the DGT will begin to enable driving schools that request it and meet the established requirements as of July 19: in 10 days there are more than 140 driving schools that have requested to teach them.
The centers in Catalonia and the Basque Country do not have this problem because the contract end date is different from that of the DGT area; Thus, as soon as their concession contract ends, they must go to the authorization model. A singular case is that of Navarra, which on July 1 received the transfer in matters of Traffic. “Navarra has to implement a system to authorize the centers and it has no experience in it,” they maintain from the Permission for Points joint venture.
Joan Carles Álvarez, executive director of UTE (Temporary Union of Companies), denounces that the regulatory change forces UTE Permiso por Puntos to continue with the service “by necessity” until the new system is implemented. “The new system is substitute. If there is no transitory period, we cannot jump from a concession to an authorization”. For this reason, he asks that a period be established for the centers to adapt to the change in model, something that cannot be achieved “from today to tomorrow”.
DGT sources stress that there is a move from a closed monopoly model at a fixed price to an open authorization system at a free price. With this new system, driving schools that meet a series of requirements can sign up for a platform that Tráfico has created on its website to teach points recovery courses.
From the UTE Permiso por Puntos they question the new model because, they say, it does not make any reference to how the courses have to be organized. They also criticize that a biometric assistance control system is not necessary as it existed up to now and that victims of traffic accidents do not have to attend courses. “In addition, if a transitional period is not established, how do we make a citizen who pays a fixed price in an authorized center understand that another has been opened across the street where they charge double or half of what he pays?”
A DGT spokeswoman has assured Moveo that, after the liberalization of the system, they have already received around 150 requests from driving schools to teach points recovery courses. At the moment, this figure is below the 360 ??centers that the UTE Permiso por Puntos claims to have in operation throughout Spain. “Having a number does not mean having coverage. Where are these centers? 40 in Madrid, another 40 in Barcelona, ??20 more in Seville, Malaga…? We, with these 360 ??centers, ensured that 97% of the population had a place less than 30 kilometers away by road where they could attend the courses”.
As of today, everything indicates that it is and that as of next Wednesday, July 19, it will stop teaching points recovery courses. “We know that the problem has reached the table of the presidency of the Government and that they have consulted with the DGT. But Traffic says that there is no problem, that it only affects 900 people and that they have it ready in two weeks, perhaps they are not really assessing the scope that it may have. We are already proceeding to return the money for the courses to the students who plan to start on the 19th. It is not pleasant to do so but we have no other option”, says Joan Carles Álvarez in a telephone conversation with this newspaper.
