When registering in the Register of Taxi Drivers, a document certifying language skills must be submitted :: Dienas Bizness

From 17 August, when registering in the Taxi Driver Register, drivers will also be required to submit a document certifying knowledge of the official language at least at level B level 1.

On the other hand, those who have already registered will have to submit such a document when they have to re-register (they must register in the Register of Taxi Drivers every three years). So far, 20 drivers have been removed from the register due to lack of language knowledge and several drivers have been refused registration.

“The decision to intensify the inspection of the state language was made on the basis of complaints received from passengers that there have been several cases when drivers engaged in commercial passenger transport by car do not understand what the passenger is saying to him and are unable to provide an answer in Latvian. When registering in the Register of Taxi Drivers, it was necessary to certify that the knowledge of the state language corresponds to at least level B level 1, however, evaluating the situation, it was found that several drivers acted dishonestly, therefore additional control is required, “comments Kristiāns Godiņš, Chairman of the Board.

To register in the Register of Taxi Drivers, you must have knowledge of the Latvian language at level B, level 1 or 2 and level C, level 1 or 2. If a person’s knowledge of the Latvian language corresponds only to basic or A level 1 and 2, registration will be refused.

Knowledge of the state language is confirmed by the following documents:

If a person does not have an appropriate educational document, he or she must first apply to the State Education Content Center to register for the state language proficiency test and obtain a state language proficiency certificate. Additional information is available on the website of the State Education Center www.visc.gov.lv.

Given that the driver will have to submit an additional document when registering in the Register of Taxi Drivers and the employees of the Road Transport Directorate will have to examine it accordingly, the term for processing the application may be longer than usual.

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