This is established by an order promoted by the Department of Housing, Development, Logistics and Territorial Cohesion and published in the BOA, in response to demands from the taxi sector over competition from unauthorized VTCs. Officers will be able to take this measure immediately when they identify an infringement, without prior bureaucratic delays.
MEASURES AGAINST UNAUTHORIZED OPERATORS
The Department explains that the tougher administrative response follows the continued occurrence of very serious infringements involving operations without a municipal license, a situation that causes serious economic and social harm through unauthorized professional activity in the sector.
The Aragonese government stresses that, under current legislation, national licenses for chauffeur-driven vehicle hire (VTC) only authorize interurban transport. Therefore, these national licenses are not sufficient to operate urban services in municipalities across Aragón, where a local license is mandatory.
LICENSE WITHDRAWALS
The regulations do not merely provide for the temporary sealing of offending vehicles, but also envisage severe consequences for repeat offenders. For both taxis and municipally licensed VTCs, if two very serious infringements are committed within a 12-month period, the license will be temporarily withdrawn for a maximum of one year. A third infringement will mean that the vehicle cannot be assigned to any license for one year and that the license will be permanently revoked.
In addition, the imposition of three final sanctions within a two-year period for breaching operating conditions may lead to the revocation of the national license. To ensure the measures are effective, the Directorate-General for Transport will strengthen coordination with inspection services and local authorities to monitor compliance and detect patterns of repeated violations.
