Spencer Platt/Getty Image Brussels puts the brakes on Finland’s young drivers There’s a patchwork of rules across the EU on allowing young drivers to drive light four-wheel vehicles.

Finland wants to allow 15-year-olds to whizz around the countryside in lightweight cars. Brussels says that’s a bad idea.

A government proposal set to come into force November 1 has run into legal trouble with the European Commission, which argues that the plan — which would see teenagers as young as 15 able to drive vehicles with no specific training — is not permissible under EU law.

After the Commission threatened to launch infringement proceedings against Helsinki if it proceeded with the legislation, Finland’s president on Friday signed off on plans to push back the law to November 2020 to give the government a year to consider whether it can find a legal way to implement the rules.

The idea is to allow 15-year-olds to drive cars weighing less than 1,500 kilograms, and which are limited to top speeds of only 60 kilometers per hour. The government argues that will improve road safety for young people, in particular by giving those in rural areas the opportunity to move around in safer circumstances.

But the Commission says the cars exceed EU restrictions on the types of four-wheeled vehicles that can be operated under a moped license. Finland’s plan would have added light cars to the category for slow-moving tractors.

EU rules put the minimum age to drive under a moped license at 16 but give countries leeway to lower that to 14 — contributing to a patchwork of regulations.

Teens would need no additional driving training to obtain the license, a fact that has not gone down well with safety campaigners.

“The assumption is that you can best protect children by putting them inside a car. But we know that young, particularly male, drivers present a high risk while driving,” Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the road safety lobby the European Transport Safety Council, said in a statement Wednesday.

“As the numbers of youngsters driving increase, parents may also take the view that the roads are no longer safe for their children to walk or cycle. The risk is that even more end up driving.”

Finland’s cyclists association lodged a complaint with the Commission against the reform this year, arguing that the move would jeopardize pedestrians and cyclists’ safety and encourage car use.

Young drivers

Other countries also allow young people to drive but the type of vehicle, the speed they can drive and the requirements all vary. EU rules put the minimum age to drive under a moped license at 16 but give countries leeway to lower that to 14 — contributing to a patchwork of regulations.

France allows 15-year-olds to drive traditional cars under supervision anywhere in France. The government lowered the age at which applicants can get unrestricted driving licenses to 17 this year.

France, along with Portugal, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, also grants 14-year-olds moped licences, also known as AM licences and, tellingly, “no license” licenses.

AM licenses were initially for two- and three-wheelers, but were expanded to also include “light cars,” four-wheelers that have a maximum speed of 45 kilometers per hour and weigh less than 425 kilograms. In some countries the license can also be used for tractors — which is how Finland wanted to pass its reform — highlighting how the license is becoming a catch-all for new types of vehicles that meet power and speed limitations. Established carmakers like Toyota and the PSA group sell four-wheel cars to moped license holders in Italy and France.

Further, another EU law, Regulation 168/2013 setting up a framework for motorcycles, allows for some countries not to require any permits at all on certain four-wheelers. In France they’re called voitures sans permis — cars without permits —and people born before 1988 don't require any qualifications at all to drive them. Those born after (so younger than 30-31) need eight hours of training, without a driving test.

In announcing the plan to delay, the Finnish government on Thursday said the extra year would allow it “to find out as soon as possible whether a solution in line with the driving license directive can be found to the satisfaction of the Commission.”

“If no solution is found, it is possible that the government will later propose to repeal the law,” it said.

CLARIFICATION: This article has been updated to clarify that cars that could be driven by 15-year-olds would have to weigh less than 1,500 kilograms.

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