Association of carrier drivers of RS for interior and international transport organized a quiet protest today with a demand to the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH to abolish the Rulebook for the license for vehicles and drivers in cargo road vehicles.

President of the Board of Directors of this Association Stojan Bajic confirmed that carrier drivers pulled over the trucks on several roads and they will stay there until their demands are fulfilled.

The Rulebook was adopted in 2005 and was valid on the entity level until this year, but Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH changed the Rulebook this year based on which licenses are issued on the state level.

The Association is asking that licenses, which are issued on the level of BiH from this year, are abolished and returned to entity’s jurisdiction.

“We will constantly be in the trucks, 24 hours, after which we will leave the trucks locked on the roads until demands are fulfilled by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of BiH”, Stojan Bajic confirmed and stated that drivers are staying on the roads from Banja Luka towards Gradiska, towards Zvornik, Bijeljina, Doboj and Novi Grad.

They have not blocked the traffic yet, but they announced that there is a possibility, if the government institutions of BiH do not accept their demands, they will take more radical measures which imply blocking the border crossings of BiH.

President of the Association’s Assembly and the strike board of carrier drivers Nikola Grbic emphasized that with the mentioned Rulebook, which should be applied starting October 8, additional financial obligations are imposed to the drivers which they cannot take and are unknown to the practice in this area in European and neighboring countries.

They claim that instead of acknowledging the existing qualifications for license issuing, “training” is imposed, which goes up to 2.500 KM, and it is disputable “who does the trainings and who the money goes to”.