The European disabled card can include the letter A for disabled persons who are also entitled to support from a personal assistant when using public transport. To prevent forgery and fraud, the card will feature a QR code.
The European disabled card will be issued and renewed free of charge by the member states, except in cases of loss or damage. EU countries may charge an administration fee.
Approximately 87 million people in Europe live with some form of disability. They often face obstacles when traveling and staying in other European countries because their disability status is not equally recognized everywhere.
In recent years, the European Commission has already conducted a pilot project harmonizing existing national disabled cards from eight countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Malta, Romania, and Slovenia.
Until now, each EU country has had its own rules for using a disabled parking card. The new card will also be valid in Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland.
Intense negotiations on the final form began on January 17 and were successfully concluded within less than a month with today’s agreement. At a technical level, work will continue to finalize the legal texts and the multilingual special website.