Professional competence and carriage of dangerous goods by road (ADR)

If you have a category C or D driving licence and you undertake commercial transport, you will need a certificate of professional competence - code 95 on your driving licence.

You do not yet have a category C or D driving licence

You must take your examinations together with the theory and practical tests for your driving licence.

You have a category C driving licence

You obtained your driving licence:

• before 10 September 2009. You must follow 35 hours of refresher training at a recognised training centre.

• from 10 September 2009. You are free to follow a course at a training centre and take a ‘professional competence basic qualification’ examination at an examination centre.

You have a category D driving licence

You obtained your driving licence:

• before 10 September 2008. You must follow 35 hours of refresher training at a recognised training centre.

• from 10 September 2008. You are free to follow a course at a training centre and take a ‘professional competence basic qualification’ examination at an examination centre.

You want to have professional competence for a different category

You already have a certificate of professional competence for category C or D and you now want one for a different category: you must take an additional theory and practical test.

Refresher training

Once you have a certificate of professional competence, you must follow 35 hours of refresher training every 5 years at a recognised training centre if you want to retain your certificate.

Exemption

Not every driver needs to have a certificate of professional competence. You can check with the Department of Mobility and Public Works (Dutch: Departement Mobiliteit en Openbare Werken) whether or not you are exempt.

• Complete the ‘Application for recognition of module’ form.

• Attach your syllabus, handouts or PowerPoint presentation.

• Send the documents to nascholingvakbekwaamheid@mowvlaanderen.be (opens in your email application).

A maximum of 20 drivers may participate in the professional competence training at the same time.

Subjects

The training must include at least the following subjects:

1. Explanation of professional competence

2. Own account transport - transport for third parties

3. Truck safety equipment and systems: brakes, ABS, EBS, ACC, AEBS

4. Trailer safety equipment and systems: brakes, ABS, EBS, advanced safety systems

5. Safe use of truck and trailer: air suspension systems, powertrain, tyres, mirror adjustment

6. Personal safety equipment

7. Loading and unloading with mobile work equipment

8. Application of the Axle Load Decree

9. When does transport become special

10. Driving and rest times: driving times, rest times, manual input, downloading of data.

You may choose a maximum of 4 subjects. Each subject may last a maximum of 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Instructors

The instructor who gives the professional competence training:

• must have held a category C or D driving licence with valid code 95 for at least 5 years

• is an expert by experience through previously acquired competencies

• must have followed training in each subject in which they give instruction.

If you are a truck driver and want to transport dangerous goods by road, you must obtain an ADR certificate. This certificate is mandatory if you transport non-exempt quantities of dangerous substances, regardless of the maximum permissible mass of your vehicle.

You obtain the certificate by:

• following training at a recognised training centre

• taking a written open book examination at the Belgian Institute for Road Transport and Logistics (Dutch: Instituut Wegtransport en Logistiek België/ITLB).

If you pass, your ADR certificate will be posted to you by the ITLB. You must sign for receipt. The certificate is valid for 5 years.

If you are a safety adviser and want to transport dangerous goods by road, you must obtain an ADR certificate. This certificate is mandatory if you transport non-exempt quantities of dangerous substances, regardless of the maximum permissible mass of your vehicle.

You obtain the certificate by:

• following training at a recognised training centre

• taking a written examination at one of the 3 recognised examination centres.

If you pass, your ADR certificate will be posted to you by the Department of Mobility and Public Works. The certificate is valid for 5 years.

If you are a training centre and would like to organise ADR initial training and/or ADR specialist training, you must submit an application for recognition to the ADR Unit of the Department of Mobility and Public Works.

You should attach the following to your application:

• a list of the classrooms and practice sites that you will be using for the training and the individual practical fire-fighting exercise

• a list of the names of all the instructors who give the training

• a list of the teaching material that you use to show which measures must be taken in the event of an incident or accident and the first aid that must be given if there is an accident

• the curriculum of all the ADR courses that you want to provide

• the registration fees you want to charge.

You are a training centre that would also like to organise examinations for ADR drivers and ADR advisers.

For information, you can contact the Belgian Institute for Road Transport and Logistics in Brussels via adr@itlb.be (opens in your email application) or 02 234 30 10.

For information about the examination for ADR safety advisers, you can also contact the European Safety Institute in Ieper via info@esi.be (opens in your email application) or 051 24 92 50.