Who can be a transport manager and what certificate do they need?

What the law says (in brief)

• Professional competence is one of the four conditions for access to the occupation in Regulation (EC) 1071/2009.
• The manager must have a genuine link with the company: employee, director, shareholder or a management contract.
• The minimum education required at enrolment is completion of high school, with no baccalaureate diploma required.
• The exam can be taken within at most 12 months of finishing the course.
• The manager is responsible for compliance with driving times, the technical condition of vehicles and the transport documents.

Practical example

Example: an owner with 4 trucks wants to be his own transport manager. He enrols at an authorised centre, takes the theory course, sits the exam with the road authority and gets the certificate. If he fails and 12 months pass since the course, he must retake the whole course, not just the exam.

Common mistakes

• Renting a transport manager on paper only; inspections check whether they effectively run the activity.
• Being left without a manager after a resignation and not notifying the authority in time, risking licence suspension.
• Confusing the transport manager certificate with the driver professional certificate.
• Not refreshing knowledge periodically, although transport legislation changes every year.

How 4transports helps

• Brings together in one place the company's vehicles, drivers, customers, trips and CMRs.
• Inspection, insurance, licence and certificate expiries show in the vehicle and driver records.
• The trip and maintenance history, plus the monthly report, show how the activity is actually run.