Commercial Passenger or Freight Road Operators must generally hold a licence to be in business. The rules are common throughout the European Union and require a business to nominate their professionally competent Transport Manager who understands the law and required standards.

The CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence) qualification is the yardstick by which the Department for Transport can judge this ability. The Secretary of State authorises various Examination Bodies to set exams to test that the necessary level of competence has been achieved.