Appeal Against New Points Recovery Courses, Reduced from 6 to 4

The association European Motorists Association (AEA) has announced that it will appeal to the National Court against the new regulation of points recovery courses approved by the Ministry of the Interior, considering that they harm the legally established rights of motorists.

According to AEA President Mario Arnaldo, "the new regulation by the Ministry of the Interior for partial points recovery courses clearly infringes Article 9.3 of the Constitution and represents a reduction of the rights that Parliament granted more than 14 years ago to motorists who wanted to recover points through a sensitization course. Therefore, if it is now intended to reduce from 6 to 4 the points that can be recovered with these courses, it must be Parliament, and not the Ministry, who decides."

"Therefore," concludes Arnaldo, "if before the new courses come into effect on November 4th, the Ministry does not publish the appropriate correction of errors in the BOE, we will have no choice but to appeal the ministerial order before the National Court."

Arnaldo considers that the wording given to Articles 3 and 4 of Order INT/914/2024, published this morning in the BOE, clearly infringes the principle of normative hierarchy established in Article 9.3 of the Constitution, as the Road Safety Law itself approved by Parliament established more than 14 years ago that "The holder of a driving license who has lost part of their initial points credit may opt for partial recovery, up to a maximum of six points, once every two years, by successfully completing a sensitization and road re-education course, with the exception of professional drivers who may take this course annually."

The most significant novelties of the new courses will come into effect on November 4th and include aspects such as increasing time allocated for group dynamics, considering that students better internalize messages and allow psychologists to assess how students are accepting them.

New offender profiles are created: distractions, reckless behaviors in motorcyclists, speed, alcohol and other drugs, reckless behaviors and criminal conduct assigned to students based on the infractions committed and for which they have lost points for imparting the specific part of the course. This measure is justified because "for years, distractions have been the primary concurrent factor in fatal accidents, and motorcyclists are one of the groups whose accident rate has increased most in recent years."

The new courses will include mandatory participation of victims "since almost twenty years of experience have demonstrated their effectiveness in changing attitudes," as well as applying new technologies in specific parts of courses, with content potentially being delivered online via telelearning or virtual classroom.

The DGT reminds that those drivers who have lost their points balance and those sentenced by final judicial ruling with deprivation of driving rights must complete and pass this course.

Additionally, those who have lost all assigned points or those sentenced by final judicial ruling to more than two years deprivation of driving rights must pass an exam to regain administrative authorization.

AEA recalls that since the points-based driving license system came into force in July 2006, this drivers' defense organization has been the only entity consistently denouncing flaws in Spain's points-based system and repeatedly claimed that Spain's designed model was detrimental to motorists as consumers and for competition.

This situation was corrected in 2023 following a ruling from the EU Court of Justice and Supreme Court which forced Spanish authorities to liberalize points recovery courses as requested by some organizations and associations.