C+E and code 95 give you the right to get behind the wheel. The tachograph card is what turns that right into a paid trip. Without it the tachograph will not record a shift, and a shift that is not in the record does not exist as far as an inspection is concerned.
What it actually is
A smart card tied to your surname and your driving licence. Driving, breaks and rest are recorded against a specific person, so the card stays permanently with one holder, never lent or borrowed "just for one trip" — a real penalty attaches to it personally. What exactly is read off it is covered in Tachograph, driving and rest rules.
Where and how to get one
In Czechia the application goes to a municipality with extended powers. Take your driving licence, a form of photo ID, and a passport-style photograph.
If you apply in person, the administrative fee is CZK 700 (Act No. 634/2004 Coll., Schedule, item 26(m)). If you apply on an electronic form, for example on the Transport Portal, the fee is reduced by 20 %, to CZK 560 (§ 9 of the same Act; the Public Administration Portal). Delivery to a pick-up point costs another CZK 100 (item 26(j)).
Source: Act No. 634/2004 Coll. on administrative fees — Sazebník, Položka 26 — "m) Přijetí žádosti o vydání karty řidiče Kč 700".
That amount is the fee for accepting the application, not for delivery. Ask to have the card sent to a collection point (výdejní místo) and the same item adds a further "Kč 100" under letter j). Note 7 to the item also provides for a refund where the card cannot be delivered through no fault of yours.
How long the wait is
The deadline is not set by Czech law but by a directly applicable EU regulation: the authority issues the card within 1 month of receiving the request and all necessary documentation. That second half matters — an incomplete application does not start the clock.
Source: Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 26(1) — consolidated text of 20.08.2020: "Driver cards shall be issued, at the request of the driver, by the competent authority of the Member State where the driver has his normal residence. They shall be issued within one month of the receipt by the competent authority of the request and all necessary documentation."
According to the Public Administration Portal, the driver card is issued within 15 working days of the application. Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 sets the ceiling: the card must be issued within one month of the authority receiving the request and all necessary documentation (Art. 26(1)). Plan on the month, and treat 15 working days as the usual practice. The same 15 working days appear in § 3b of Act No. 111/1994 Coll. for the company card, that is, for the carrier.
A practical point: apply as soon as you hold C+E, not "when there is time". A month of waiting in the middle of an already-agreed first trip costs more than the fee does — 700 Kč is the cheapest line in the whole move to self-employment and the one that most often decides whether a date holds.
Validity and renewal
The card is valid for no more than 5 years — the regulation says "not valid for more than five years", so it is a ceiling rather than a promise. What governs is the date printed on your own card; read it instead of counting five years from issue.
Source: Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 26(6) — "The driver card shall not be valid for more than five years."
Apply for the replacement before the old one expires — there must be no gap, because on the day the old card stops being valid and the new one has not arrived, you simply do not drive. Add the 1 month for issue and it is clear the application belongs in early, not in the final week. The fee is payable again: the schedule has no reduced rate for a renewal.
If it is lost or fails mid-route
It happens, and it is not a disaster. The trip can be finished by taking and keeping tachograph printouts — but the replacement application goes in immediately, not after you get back. Here that is handled with you during the trip: dispatch knows the procedure and does not leave the driver to work it out alone.
When to apply
- Before you start driving a vehicle with a tachograph.
- Renewal: no earlier than 2 months before expiry (Public Administration Portal) and no later than 15 working days before it (Art. 28(1) of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014).
- Change of details: within 5 days (Public Administration Portal).
- Loss, theft, damage or malfunction: apply for a replacement within 7 calendar days; the authority supplies it within 8 working days of the detailed request (Art. 29(4)). Until then you may drive without a card for at most 15 calendar days, or longer if needed for the vehicle to return to base, and you must be able to prove you could not use the card (Art. 29(5)). On the trip you print out the tachograph data at the start and at the end (Art. 35(2)).
How to insert and use the card
The card is personal: you may hold only one valid card and use only your own; you may not use a defective or expired card (Art. 27). You use it every day you drive, from the moment you take over the vehicle. You do not withdraw it before the end of the daily working period unless that is authorised or needed to enter the country symbol after crossing a border (Art. 34(1)). Protect it and do not use a dirty or damaged one (Art. 34(2)). When you have been away from the vehicle, you enter other work, availability and rest manually on the card (Art. 34(3)(b)). You enter country symbols at the start and end of the daily working period and at the first stop after crossing a border (Art. 34(7)).
The data on the card must be downloaded at least every 28 days (Regulation (EU) No 581/2010, Art. 1(3)(b)); only days with recorded activity count. The carrier downloads it (§ 3a(1) of Act No. 111/1994 Coll.).
Driver card extract
The phrase means two different things.
- The tachograph and card data. The carrier downloads them, from the card at least every 28 days (see above). When the card fails you print out from the tachograph itself (Art. 35(2) of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014).
- The extract from the driver points record, that is, points for offences. Online on the Transport Portal or the Citizen Portal it is free; at the municipal office of a municipality with extended powers it costs CZK 30 for the first page and CZK 10 for each further one, at a Czech POINT CZK 100 and CZK 50 (Public Administration Portal). It is not an extract of the tachograph card data.
What happens if you drive without the card
A tachograph without a card does not record the shift. Not keeping the record in the prescribed way, or not producing it at a check, is a driver's offence (§ 34e(3)(b) of Act No. 111/1994 Coll.) that can be fined up to CZK 15,000 (§ 34e(4)(b)), and by on-the-spot order up to CZK 5,000 (§ 34e(10)). For using a card issued to another person, a forged card, or one reported lost or stolen, the Act sets a harsher sanction including a ban on the activity (§ 34e(6)), and a police officer may take the card (§ 35k). The exception for a lost or defective card is in Art. 29(5) (see "When to apply"); a card forgotten at home is not one of them.
Types of card
There are four tachograph cards: the driver card, the company card, the workshop card and the control card (Art. 2(2) of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014). A driver needs only the driver card. The company card is issued to a business with a trade authorisation (§ 3b of Act No. 111/1994 Coll.); the control card is held by enforcement bodies.
What Drivora needs from a driver
A valid driver card of your own is among the conditions we ask of drivers (see conditions for C+E drivers). Send a photo of your licence and card on WhatsApp and we will tell you what is missing and how long it takes.
