Talking on a mobile phone without using a hands-free device while driving will incur a fine of 30 leva, the amended Road Traffic Act stipulates.

The act was passed in Parliament on second reading last Tuesday. The MPs decided not to change the speeding fines, but the drunken driving fines were doubled.

When first caught driving while drunk, a driver will be fined 100 to 300 leva and the driving licence will be confiscated for one year. The old fines ranged between 50 and 150 leva. A repeat offence will be fined 200 to 500 leva, up from the current 100 to 250 leva.

The fine for driving a car without a seatbelt or a motorcycle without wearing a helmet was also doubled and is now 20 leva.

The fine for exceeding the speed limit by 20 km/h or less remains 5 leva. Exceeding the limit by 20 to 30 km/h is fined 10 leva, and for each 10 km/h more, up to 50 km/h, 10 leva are added to the fine. Speeding that exceeds the limit by more than 50 km/h incurs a fine of 50 leva.

A suggestion from the opposition to reduce the privileges of parliamentary automobiles was quashed.

MPs will keep their traffic-diverting strobe lights alongside the vehicles of the emergency aid services, the police, the fire service, the national bodyguard service and the civil protection state agency.

In order to comply with EU standards, the categories of vehicles and driving licenses will be changed. They will be effective for newly issued documentation.

No replacement of already issued licenses and registration books will be necessary, as EU directives allow the use of both types.

The youngest age at which one will be eligible for a driving licence for motorcycles drops to 17 years from 18, according to the new act.

A driving licence for cars will be allowed to individuals 18 years of age or older, while 21 is the minimum age for licenses of trolley busses, trams, busses, mini buses and TIR trucks.

All companies that have declared road traffic assistance as their activity will have to be registered with the Roads Executive Agency (REA). Until now they were registered only in court and control over them was problematic.

Some road traffic assistance companies worked illegally and issued no receipts for cash payments.

To be able to register with the REA, companies will have to show they are not in bankruptcy proceedings, have available transportation and a telephone number.