This rule was quite rightly brought in after accidents with non-current pilots, who had non-pilot passengers.
Bolleaux. The rule was brought in, in pursuance of continued pointless JAA/EASA regulation which will ultimately strangle GA to death for a proven 100% zero safety benefit until the EU bureaucrats who come up with this crap eventually have nothing left to regulate and disappear up their own a*ses.
The same goes for biennial flights, night ratings, annual MEP tests and all the other stuff we managed just as safely without for decades. ( And now they want periodic retesting by examiner as well....
) It's no wonder we cant encourage people to enter GA or stay there after qualifying, or that 75% of pilots chuck it all in after the first 5 years.