The short answer
Article 20-A, added in 2026, requires the IMT to provide a data-sharing platform on TVDE activity, and requires all electronic platform managers to join it. It is through this platform that Uber, Bolt or any other licensed app will have to confirm, before accepting a registration, that the operator is licensed, that the driver has a valid licence and certificate and that the car is registered, within the age limit, inspected and insured. Access is given to several public bodies, each with a different profile. The technical rules depend on an implementing regulation that has not yet been published.
What existed before
The original Law no. 45/2018 had nothing like it. The platform operator was required to ensure compliance with the requirements and to block anyone who failed to meet them, "whenever it knows or ought to know of this" (article 14(2), which remains). But the law did not say how the platform was supposed to check those requirements, nor did it give it access to an official source. The revision fills that gap with a public platform that must be consulted.
What it is for and what it contains
The law sets five purposes: "validation, safety, monitoring, enforcement and verification of compliance with the applicable legal provisions" (article 20-A(1)). As for content, the sharing covers "the information necessary to validate operators, drivers and vehicles, including licences, certificates, professional permits, registration plates, registrations, mandatory periodic inspections, insurance and other legally required conditions" (paragraph 3).
The list is illustrative, as the word "including" shows. For tax and social security purposes, the law also allows the inclusion of the tax and operational identification of active platform managers, operators, drivers and vehicles, the associations between them and their respective periods of activity (paragraph 6).
Membership is mandatory for platforms
Paragraph 2 of article 20-A is categorical: membership for electronic platform managers "is mandatory, and they are responsible for ensuring the connection, transmission and updating of data". It is not just a matter of looking things up. Platforms must also feed in and keep the information up to date.
This obligation is tied to licensing. The new article 17-A defines the platform’s technological capacity, a licence requirement, and includes in it "integration with the IMT databases" and "access by enforcement bodies to the information strictly necessary for exercising their respective powers, as provided in article 20-A". Article 4(1) of Law no. 59/2026 gives platform managers 120 days from entry into force to demonstrate this requirement.
The checks the platform will now have to carry out
Article 20(5) says the platform manager "may only accept the registration" of operators, drivers and vehicles that meet the legal requirements. Paragraphs 6 and 7 say how: by consulting the IMT platform, "on the basis of the strictly necessary information", to check:
- the validity of operator licences, driving licences and TVDE or taxi driver certificates (paragraph 6(a));
- vehicle compliance as regards registration, registration plate, age, periodic inspection and valid TVDE insurance (paragraph 6(b)).
To do this, the platform communicates the necessary identification details: the operator licence number, the TVDE or taxi driver certificate number, or the driver’s registration number, and the vehicle registration plate (paragraph 7). Those who drive with a taxi certificate are also covered, because they receive a unique registration number from the IMT "for the purposes of identification, control and enforcement" (article 10(3)).
One practical consequence, which is our reading and not the text of the law: with official data available for consultation, it becomes harder for a platform to claim it did not know an insurance policy had expired or that a car had passed the age limit. The blocking duty in article 14(2) applies when the platform "knows or ought to know".
The AT and the ISS have their own regime (paragraph 5): they may access the information needed to check the tax and contribution obligations arising from the activity, "or receive it", under an implementing regulation, and the practical arrangements may be set out in a technical protocol with the IMT. Failure to comply with the duties to provide or transmit this information is a separate offence, article 25(2)(ff), processed by the AT or the ISS and attributable to the platform manager, the operator or the driver, depending on the duty breached.
Obtaining data automatically: less paperwork for the applicant
The new article 20-B deals with another side of the same idea. When the data and documents needed for an application are already held by the Public Administration, it is the IMT that obtains them on its own initiative, electronically, through the Public Administration Interoperability Platform or another legal mechanism (paragraph 1). The law gives as examples good repute, national criminal record certificates, tax status and social security status (paragraph 2).
The applicant must provide the data needed for the lookup and, where the law requires it, give consent (paragraph 3). If automatic retrieval is not possible, because of a technical failure, the lack of an electronic mechanism or because the information is not held by the State, the IMT notifies the applicant to submit the documents within a deadline it sets (paragraph 4). If the applicant does not, the application is rejected or the permit is not renewed (paragraph 5). For the criminal record of those who have lived abroad, article 11(3) to (6) has specific rules, explained on the page aboutdriver good repute.
What depends on an implementing regulation
Almost all of the actual operation. Article 20-A(7) refers to an implementing regulation from the government minister responsible for mobility "the technical definition of the data to be transmitted, deadlines, frequency, communication formats, access profiles, access control mechanisms, operation logs, audit trails, encryption measures, data retention and deletion and other security measures". The terms of access for the AT and the ISS also depend on an implementing regulation (paragraphs 5 and 6).
The law does not say what happens to validation between entry into force and the publication of that regulation. The duties to check the requirements and to block those who fail them (articles 14 and 20(5)) are already in force. What is missing is the technical instrument intended for meeting them. Follow the status on the page aboutimplementing regulations yet to be published.
Is the IMT data-sharing platform already up and running?
The law creates it in article 20-A, but the technical definition of the data, deadlines, formats, access profiles and security measures depends on an implementing regulation (portaria) from the government minister responsible for mobility (paragraph 7). Until that regulation is published, there are no technical operating rules. Platform managers have 120 days from 1 September 2026 to demonstrate their technological capacity, which includes integration with the IMT databases.
Does the driver have to register on this platform?
No. Mandatory membership applies to electronic platform managers (article 20-A(2)). The driver still signs up with the platform manager, Uber, Bolt or another, and it is that company that validates the driver’s details with the IMT, using the number of the TVDE or taxi driver certificate, or the driver’s registration number.
Can the passenger look up this data?
No. The data-sharing platform serves public bodies and platform managers. What the passenger can check is the QR code on the TVDE sticker, which only confirms four items: authorised vehicle, registration plate, operator licence number and valid TVDE insurance (article 12(14)).
Will the Tax Authority now know how much I invoice as a driver?
The law allows the Tax Authority (AT) and Social Security (ISS) to access or receive the information needed to check the tax and contribution obligations arising from the activity, including the tax and operational identification of active drivers, their associations and periods of activity. The specific terms, including which items are covered, depend on an implementing regulation, after consulting the AT and the ISS (article 20-A(5) and (6)).
What fine does a platform risk if it does not join or transmits incorrect data?
Failure to comply with the duties to join, connect, transmit, update or share data, and communicating inaccurate, incomplete or outdated data, is the offence in article 25(2)(aa), with a fine of 5,000 to 44,000 euros for legal persons, processed by the AMT and attributable to the platform manager.