100 zlotys for issuing a driving license. That's how much we've been paying in offices for over a decade. A lot has changed in the meantime. The Ministry of Infrastructure is taking note of the matter and does not rule out that if the rates were to be raised, it could cover more documents. Material from the “Raport” program on TVN Turbo.
– We have to consider this in the period, because it is not the case that the costs of producing driving licenses and registration certificates have suddenly increased. If we take the perspective of the last six years, the increase in production costs, which are composed of various elements. Media, wage costs, material costs have increased by about 50 percent – indicated Taduesz Wachowski from the Polish Security Printing Works, which deals with preparing documents.
According to data from the Pruszków County Office, in the last two years alone, the manufacturer has raised the price of each driving license by almost twenty zlotys to the level of 81 zlotys. What local governments normally have left from every hundred zlotys goes to the costs of maintaining the office.
Fixed fees are a problem for local governments
The document producer's price increases make the whole task more difficult for local governments, which must deal with the rising costs themselves. What does this mean for the office?
– We have to pay for this service from our own funds. It's not just about the cost of the forms, but also about the costs of employees, gas, energy, and maintenance of the space. According to our analyses, these fees should increase by about 50 percent – explains Michał Pihowicz, a member of the Pruszków County Board.
More offices have a similar problem. For example, in Piaseczno and Warsaw, we were told that the starosty is currently adding to each issued document. Hence the appeal by local governments to the Ministry of Infrastructure to increase the fees.
The Ministry does not rule out, but does not carry out any work
The Ministry is currently taking note of the matter and does not rule out that if the rates were to be increased, it could cover more documents.
– It's not just a driving license, but also a registration certificate. Here, the fee hasn't changed for 14 years. PLN 54 has been the same for a dozen or so years. Also, issuing a license plate for PLN 80 is two decades – indicates Anna Szumańska, Ministry of Infrastructure.
Legislative work or analyses have not yet begun. For now, we can only treat the increase in fees for issuing documents as an idea. There is no legal act or date yet when such a law could potentially come into force.