The Fachkundeprüfung Verkehrsleiter is the EU transport-manager exam that road-haulage businesses in Germany need a qualified person to have passed under the Berufszugangsverordnung für den Güterkraftverkehr (GBZugV). It is built from three separate parts with three separate weights, and only one of those parts is the kind of knowledge test a multiple-choice tool can practise. Here is exactly what the regulation sets for all three, and what is left to your chamber.
How many questions are on the written exam?
There is no fixed nationwide question count. GBZugV never states a number of questions for the written knowledge-questions part. § 5 Absatz 6 leaves those details, along with the rest of the exam procedure, to the Industrie- und Handelskammer (IHK) you register with. The one figure the regulation does fix is a minimum working time: each of the two written parts, the knowledge questions and the written exercises and case studies, must run at least two hours.
How are the exam’s marks split?
Into three parts, and unevenly. § 5 Absatz 3 GBZugV sets:
- 40 percent for written knowledge questions (multiple choice and direct-answer questions),
- 35 percent for written exercises and case studies, and
- 25 percent for an oral examination.
A multiple-choice practice tool can only ever represent the first of these. The written exercises and case studies, and the oral exam, are not the kind of thing a set of four-option questions can stand in for.
What is the actual pass rule?
Under § 5 Absatz 4 GBZugV, the exam is passed once a candidate reaches:
- at least 60 percent of the total possible points across the whole exam, and
- no less than 50 percent in any single part.
Both conditions apply together. Scoring well above 60 percent overall does not save a candidate who fell under 50 percent in one part.
Can the oral part be skipped?
Yes, in two different situations, both set out in § 5 Absatz 5 GBZugV. The oral part drops away if the written parts were not passed at all, since there is nothing left to qualify for. It is also waived the other way: if a candidate already reached at least 60 percent of the total possible points from the two written parts alone, the oral examination is not required.
What eight subject areas are tested?
Annex I Part I of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 names eight areas, lettered A to H, and the written knowledge questions draw from all of them:
- Bürgerliches Recht (civil law): carriage contracts, liability for loss of goods or injury, complaints, and the CMR rules for international road carriage.
- Handelsrecht (commercial law): a merchant’s duties, business registration and bookkeeping, insolvency consequences, and the forms commercial companies can take.
- Sozialrecht (social law): employee representation, employment contracts, social security, and driving, rest, and working time rules.
- Steuerrecht (tax law): turnover tax on transport services, vehicle tax, tolls and usage charges, and income tax.
- Kaufmännische und finanzielle Leitung des Unternehmens (commercial and financial management): payment methods and credit forms, balance sheets and profit-and-loss accounts, costing, budgeting, marketing, insurance, and telematics.
- Marktzugang (market access): the permit and formation of a road haulage business, required documents, market organisation, and border formalities.
- Normen und technische Vorschriften (standards and technical rules): weights and dimensions, type approval and registration, emissions, maintenance, load-carrying equipment, combined transport, and special transports.
- Straßenverkehrssicherheit (road safety): driver qualification, traffic rules, vehicle condition, conduct after an accident, load securing, and road geography.
Neither Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 nor any chamber publishes an official question count per area. Any breakdown you see, including in a practice mock, is an estimate of how much of the syllabus each area covers.
Who administers the exam?
The Industrie- und Handelskammer (IHK) you register with, under its own Prüfungsordnung and following the procedure Annex I Part II of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 sets for the exam.
Every fact above comes directly from GBZugV, freely available at gesetze-im-internet.de, and from Annex I Part I of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009, consolidated version, on EUR-Lex. RiverMap Learning’s Verkehrsleiter practice app drills all eight subject areas of the written knowledge-questions component with original questions citing the provision behind each answer. It does not simulate the written exercises, case studies, or the oral exam, and says so plainly rather than calling itself exam preparation for parts it cannot represent.