Finland Times

The government on Thursday proposed some changes in the Finland-Russia goods transportation agreement by inserting provisions for common maximum weight regulations and taxi transport between the neighbouring countries.

The changes will be included in the agreement and their enforcement will be laid down by an act in Finland, said an official press release.

The government is proposing for the implementation of the regulations from the beginning of 2016.

Standardising the maximum weights of vehicles in Finland and Russia will lessen bureaucracy and simplify the supervision of transport.

Until now, varying maximum weights has meant difficult and expensive excess weight permit processes on both sides of the border.

Permits have also affected the costs of Finnish export, since transport costs affect the end price of the product.

In the future, the weight limit for lorries will be 40 tonnes, but, for example, container transport from ports will be allowed a maximum weight of 44 tonnes.

Before, the maximum weight for Russian lorries in Finland, according to Russian regulations, was 38 tonnes without an excess weight permission.

So far, taxi transport between Finland and Russia has not been regulated. In the future, pre-arranged orders for taxi pick-ups from another state would not require any special permits.

Conditions for permissible taxi transport would consist of a national taxi permit and a list of passengers with pick-up locations. Also, vehicles will need to have an external sign, such as the light-up taxi signs used nowadays.

So far, Russian drivers have been able to use just an international driving permit as a driver’s licence in Finland. However, the international driving permit is not a driver’s licence per se, but a translation of a national driver’s licence and a tool for supervision, and any changes made to the permit in Finland ­– e.g. loss of driving privileges – do not transfer to the actual driver’s licence.

For this reason, Russian drivers will be required to carry a national driver’s licence.