The head of the Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, urged Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to consider a ban on foreign driver’s licenses used in taxi work, a move revealed through the HRC’s Telegram channel. The appeal signals a broader concern about how migrants are represented within passenger taxi services and how licensing practices may affect safety, regulation, and urban mobility.
The topic of migrants in passenger taxi operations surfaced during a recent session of the Human Rights Council focused on monitoring human rights in the enforcement of transport and urban policy. Following the discussion, a formal written document was prepared to encapsulate the council’s position and proposed measures. The event emphasized the need to review licensing standards for drivers who rely on foreign or international credentials and to assess their implications for road safety and service reliability.
Under the current discussion, the proposed criterion states that any person seeking to work as a taxi driver should demonstrate a minimum driving experience of three years. This experience could be validated by the ignition date of a foreign driving license issued outside the country, illustrating an acknowledgement of international qualifications while probing their equivalence to local standards.
In parallel, Article 7 of a draft Federal Law titled “On the state regulation of passenger taxi carriage and the activities of passenger taxi ordering services, and amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation” proposes a prohibition on operating a passenger taxi using a foreign national or international driving license. The draft remains before the State Duma and its fate is still uncertain in the legislative process. The council is examining practical approaches to implement controls while the bill is debated, with an emphasis on ensuring that any prohibition aligns with constitutional rights and existing regulatory frameworks.
Given the legislative hurdles and political sensitivity surrounding this topic, the Human Rights Council has suggested a more immediate, temporary pathway. The idea is to embed the proposed restrictions within the existing rules governing road passenger and luggage carriage and the urban transport system, as laid out in the government decree issued on October 1, 2020. This approach would allow for quicker enforcement while avoiding a full statutory overhaul during the interim period, benefiting both road safety oversight and service accountability for drivers who operate with foreign licenses on Russian roads for personal needs, as well as those engaged in international freight and cross-border bus services.
As a practical compromise, the council has also called for a transitional period during which taxi drivers who hold foreign licenses would be required to undergo retraining in Russian driving schools and subsequently obtain Russian driving licenses. This staged path aims to harmonize foreign qualifications with domestic standards over time, ensuring a consistent safety benchmark across the taxi industry while preserving the ability to serve diverse passenger flows within the urban transport network.
The discussion underscores a broader objective: to balance mobility, economic activity, and the rights of drivers with the imperatives of road safety and regulatory clarity. Observers note that the outcome will hinge on how the executive branch, the legislature, and independent human rights bodies coordinate to implement any changes without disrupting service availability or placing undue burdens on legitimate drivers who operate in multiple jurisdictions. The HRC’s proposals reflect an intent to safeguard riders and communities while navigating the complexities of international licensing, immigration status, and the evolving structure of urban transportation in large metropolitan areas. [Source attribution: Human Rights Council communications via the Telegram channel]