Directive (EU) 2024/2841 establishing the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities

What it is

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs adopted the report by Lucia ĎURIŠ NICHOLSONOVÁ (Renew, SK) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows: Members considered that this Directive should lay down the rules governing the issuance of the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities as proof of their disability status, in view of promoting equal rights and freedom of movement for persons with disabilities and facilitating short stays of persons with disabilities in a Member State other than that of which they are a resident, by granting them access to any special conditions or preferential treatment with respect to services, activities or facilities, including when provided not for remuneration, offered to or reserved for persons with disabilities residing in that Member State and, where applicable, persons accompanying or assisting them including their personal assistants. By way of derogation, this Directive should apply to the benefits and social assistance : The European Parliament adopted by 613 votes to 7, with 11 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. The European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the proposal as follows: - the rules governing the issuance of the European Disability Card to persons with disabilities as proof of a disability status or proof of entitlement to specific services based on a disability; - the rules governing the issuance of the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities as proof of the right to parking conditions and facilities reserved for persons with disabilities, with the aim of promoting freedom of movement for persons with disabilities and facilitating short stays of persons with disabilities in a Member State other than that in which they are a resident, by granting them equal access to any parking conditions and facilities offered to or reserved for persons with disabilities in that Member State and, where applicable, persons accompanying or assisting them including their personal assistants; - common templates for the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities. Equal access for disabled people to special conditions or preferential treatment Both cards should grant card holders, as well as those accompanying them and assistance animals, access to most of the same conditions as national card holders. The new rules should only apply for short stays , with an exception for disability card holders that move to another member state for a mobility programme, such as Erasmus+. Each Member State should introduce the physical version of the European disability card and the European parking card…

Official title: Directive (EU) 2024/2841 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 establishing the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities (Text with EEA relevance)