Downloading the driver card: how often and how

The driver card has to be downloaded at least every 28 days. That is set by Commission Regulation (EU) No 581/2010, which sets another limit for the vehicle unit: 90 days. The download is a signed copy of the data on the card, it is organised by the company with its download equipment, and the file is kept for at least twelve months.

Here is what the rules say, who is responsible for the download, what to do with the file and what Bus Center does with it: it logs it and watches the deadline, but it neither downloads nor reads it.

How often the driver card is downloaded

The maximum interval for the driver card is 28 days. Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 581/2010 sets it: the maximum period for downloading the relevant data must not exceed 90 days for the data from the unit installed in the vehicle and 28 days for the data from the driver card (our paraphrase of the official text).

“Relevant data” means any data recorded by the digital tachograph other than the detailed speed data. And the recitals of the regulation themselves explain that, to set these deadlines, only days with recorded activity should be counted.

In Spain, Order FOM/1190/2005 also remains in force. It regulates the introduction of the digital tachograph, and its consolidated text was last updated in March 2026. Its article 24 asks for drivers' cards to be downloaded, at the very least, in these cases (our own translation): when the driver leaves the company, when the card expires, before returning it to the issuing body where that is required, when the authorities request it, and at least every 31 days to ensure nothing is overwritten. Since the European deadline is shorter, whoever downloads every 28 days covers both.

Who downloads the card, and with what

The download is the transport company's job. Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 requires companies to ensure that all data is downloaded from the unit installed in the vehicle and from the driver card at the regular intervals required. Order FOM/1190/2005 spells it out (our own translation): the company that owns vehicles with a digital tachograph will download its units and its drivers' cards to any external storage medium.

Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 on tachographs defines “downloading” as copying, together with the digital signature, the data files from the memory of the vehicle unit or of the card, without altering or deleting any stored data. It is done with the company's download equipment; Spain's Ministry of Transport reminds us that the manufacturer of the digital tachograph supplies the software needed to download electronically to an external computer.

The driver is also entitled to their data. Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 provides that transport companies must also give the drivers concerned, on request, copies of the data downloaded from driver cards, together with printed versions of those copies.

What to do with the downloaded file

The file is kept in order and easy to find for at least one year. Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 requires companies to ensure that all data downloaded from the unit installed in the vehicle and from the driver card is kept for at least twelve months after it was recorded and that, if an inspector requires it, it can be accessed directly or remotely from the company's premises.

The Spanish order sets the same duty in other words (our own translation): a minimum of 365 days from the date of recording. And it asks companies to have the security mechanisms needed to guarantee the integrity, confidentiality and availability of the stored data.

In practice it is worth doing three things: keep the file exactly as the equipment generates it, without renaming it; keep it somewhere with a backup; and know at all times when each driver's last download was, because the next one depends on that date.

How Bus Center watches the 28-day deadline

Bus Center does not download the card: it logs the downloads you have already made. You upload to the company archive the .DDD files that your equipment generates, and the program records each download using only the data in the file name (type, date, holder and card), without opening its contents.

With those dates, the dashboard tracks the download deadlines: driver card, 28 days; vehicle, 90 days. Each driver appears with their last logged download and the days elapsed. In the tachograph section the download is flagged already in the last week of the deadline and, if the deadline is missed or no download is logged, the driver shows up in the alerts centre with the download overdue.

The program counts calendar days from the last logged download, not just days with activity. It is a more cautious count than the regulation's: if the driver has been on holiday, the alert may come sooner than necessary, but never later.

If a driver or a coach that is not yet in the program shows up in the downloads, Bus Center suggests adding it using the data carried in the file name.

What Bus Center does not do with the tachograph

Better to say it plainly: Bus Center does not download the tachograph, does not read the contents of the files, does not calculate driving or rest times and does not detect infringements. To analyse each driver's activity you use tachograph analysis software.

What Bus Center brings is that no download goes overdue without the office seeing it, on the same dashboard as the other expiry dates: ITV, licence, CAP (Spain's Driver CPC) and maintenance. The driving limits are explained in driving and rest times on a bus, and the download of the vehicle unit in downloading the vehicle's tachograph.

A routine so you never miss the deadline

A simple routine avoids almost every scare. This is one you can adapt:

• Set a day for downloading the cards, leaving a margin before the 28 days are up.
• Also download when a driver leaves the company or when their card expires; for the renewal, see how to renew the driver card.
• Upload each file exactly as it comes out of the equipment, without renaming it.
• Check the alerts centre before closing the week's planning.

You can see the rest of what the program does in the Bus Center features (in Spanish).

Sources consulted

Checked on 11 October 2026. We link to the original source so that you can consult the current text.

• Reglamento (UE) n.º 581/2010 de la Comisión, sobre los plazos máximos para transferir los datos de las unidades instaladas en los vehículos y de las tarjetas de conductor. BOE (copia del DOUE).
• Orden FOM/1190/2005, de 25 de abril, por la que se regula la implantación del tacógrafo digital (texto consolidado). BOE.
• Reglamento (CE) n.º 561/2006 del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, relativo a la armonización de determinadas disposiciones en materia social en el sector de los transportes por carretera. BOE (copia del DOUE).
• Reglamento (UE) n.º 165/2014 del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, relativo a los tacógrafos en el transporte por carretera. BOE (copia del DOUE).
• Tacógrafo digital: preguntas relativas a la descarga de datos. Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible.