Talk:European driving licence

General

May I just ask just what makes the EU driving license a UK road topic? This article belongs somewhere in the general EU sphere, as UK is just one of the countries already using or planning to introduce the not so new EU license - mine has been issued as replacement for a stolen old fashioned "booklet" type in June 2006 Sic? (talk) 13:17, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Class BE - Handling in Germany

The License Class BE does not require their owners to be at least 17 years old, but 18. Licenses made with 17 years are called "Begleitetes Fahren" as sait above, and do only include the Class B, not Class BE. Class BE has to be done afterwards, and the updated license is valid from the 18. birthday on. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.254.55.199 (talk) 14:53, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Hello, even class BE can be done at an age of 17. Like a B-licence driver, a "Begleiter" has to be with the driver. No further limitations. If someone passes BE, he automatically has B, because BE is an upgrade of B. --91.51.185.235 (talk) 00:01, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

Norway and USD

In Norway it is not unusual to end up paying in excess of 4,000USD for a driving licence.

You have to pay for licences in US dollars in Norway?! Marnanel (talk) 18:26, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Austria

I don't know to which other EU countries it applies, but driving age in Austria is 17, not 18 (drivers under 18 are required to display an L17 shield and have additional restrictions, such as 0.00 alcohol level while driving). All holders of a regular "B" (car) category driving license that have been in possession of this license for 2 years, can get an "A" (motorcycle) license (restricted to 125 cc, 11 HP) without passing any additional official tests - they only have to demonstrate their ability to drive such a motorcycle to a recognised driving instructor. Additional room is left on the back of the EU license for a remark within the "A" category. Austrian authorities have assured all drivers in possession of a driving license valid for holder's lifetime that EU - wide move to periodical renewing will not apply to them - for good or for bad. (I personally prefer the Croatian system, where licenses have to be periodically renewed once the driver reaches the age of 65 and extensions are subject to a medical check-up, but this is quite a bit off topic) Sic? (talk) 13:08, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

The information displayed about the "L17" in Austria is simply wrong. The text was copied from the German model. Austria has two different concepts of how to get a drivers licence. 1. The normal one: Theory and 12 lessons. Then a theoretical and a practical test, you get your licence at age 18. 2. The L17: Theory and 12 lessons, then 3000km accompanied, then a theoretical and a practical test, you get your licence at age 17. I would edit it myself, if my English were better. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.123.32.127 (talk) 22:04, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Italy

Italian police (unilaterally) has yet unchallenged right to fine drivers from any country by temporarily taking away their license. Failure to voluntarily report to the local police and surrender the driving license can result in impoundment of the car causing the offence (which is most commonly speeding on motorways, caught on police cameras), disregarding nationality, license plates country of origin or even who was actually driving the car. This can, quite naturally, happen only if the same car is spotted again by license plate scanning cameras within Italy. Sic? (talk) 13:08, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Factual accuracy dispute

Someone apparently mixed up the new credit card style licences with a common European appearance that are now being issued by most Member States with a truly European driving licence, i.e. a licence issued under the authority of the EU instead of the Member State, and with a common European driving licence database, which is only to be issued from 2013. I remember this article stating that something like a year ago, something apparently went wrong in the time in between. Fentener van Vlissingen (talk) 20:12, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I've done some research: the current common European licences are issued on the ground of Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences, in effect since 1 July 1996. The new Directive 2006/126/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on driving licences (Recast) will replace Directive 91/439/EEC on 19 January 2013. There even seems to be a pre-1996 Directive as Directive 80/1263/EEC was repealed on 1 July 1996 by virtue of Directive 91/439/EEC. I will edit the article accordingly when I have time... Fentener van Vlissingen (talk) 20:29, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

foreign exchange

Any word on what non EU countries will be able to exchange for this EU licence? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.120.169 (talk) 08:21, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

In general, any licence can be transferred. If a test is required (depending also on the class) is entirely up to each EU member state. Treysis (talk) 01:02, 18 July 2019 (UTC)

BRITISH DRIVING LICENSE NOT ACCEPTED AS PROOF OF IDENTITY IN EU

I have a new British Driving license, according with the EU specification, that I present as proof of identity for credit card transatcions throughout Europe. I have now hit a problem. The supermarket Al Campo has a new policy and no longer accepts this, insisting on a passport, but only for British, not French or German customers. Does this break EU law? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.208.112.40 (talk) 12:07, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

A European driving licence has never been a proof of identity, it currently only functions as a driving licence. Only a passport or a European identity card are proof of identity. But I still think a supermarket can set its own rules, it doesn't matter in that respect whether the authorities accept something as a proof of identity. Fentener van Vlissingen (talk) 13:16, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Hi, I live in Madrid and regularly use my UK driving licence as proof of identity at Al Campo and other places when making a credit card payment. I have had no problems so far. ~~Stephann Wensink~~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.179.120.4 (talk) 16:55, 29 December 2009 (UTC)

Hello, I live in the US. I have had a comercial drivers licence for 24 years. How do I get the right to drive comercially in EU?98.30.153.197 (talk) 04:07, 17 November 2011 (UTC)
In short, you need to get a full new license. Given prior experience I'm certain a driving school can give you a custom deal for the course. Test fees and such still apply though. /Christian, BE CE DE in Sweden.

L & S

Can someone add or link to information on what classes L and S mean? Iðm confused. Pollodiablowiki (talk) 01:45, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

L is in Germany the Licence for Tactors or Harvesters. Here in austria the same Class is "F". S is a new class for slow 4 weel vehicles like Microcars of Quads with <45 km/h in Germany. Both are Classes of the german System, not EU Classes. --Schuttwegraeumer (talk) 14:08, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

See here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrerschein_und_Fahrerlaubnis#Zus.C3.A4tzliche_deutsche_Fahrerlaubnisklassen —Preceding unsigned comment added by Schuttwegraeumer (talk • contribs) 14:13, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

A1 Limits

I dont know a country but Germany with a speed Limit of 80 km/h for A1 Motorcycles if the rider is younger than 18. Its a german limit and not a limit of the european driving licence classes. The shown Fahrerlaubnissklassen.png is from Germany. --Schuttwegraeumer (talk) 14:03, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

This limit was removed after the EU reform got valid on 19 January 2013. --91.51.182.44 (talk) 12:53, 24 January 2013 (UTC)

The meaning of "all"

How come the section named Categories valid in all EU countries includes categories which are not defined in the directive and which are only valid in a few countries? Furthermore, the table says that both B and BF17 include M, L and S, but L and S are not listed in the table. There is a note claiming that B "does not include S in Norway", but B does include S (snowmobile) in Norway. Finally, the table says that CE includes T, but T is not defined. In Norway, T is included in BE (up to 25,000 kg), C (no trailer) and CE (no restrictions). DES (talk) 16:22, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Consistency in article, included categories with upgrades and other issues.

A few issues with this article:

Can anyone find a source that proves that passing a D+E test also upgrades C1 to C1+E? And equally that C1+E upgrades D to D+E?

I know for a fact that passing D1+E does not upgrade C1 to C1+E so I am going to remove it.

Secondly can we remove all these Ts and Ms and Ls? They are not EU-wide categories and therefore completely defeat the point of the article. And as interesting as the German/Austrian BF17/L17 licence information is, they are not EU-wide categories and at the very least does not belong in the table of 'Categories valid in all EU countries'.

Also, D1 vehicles are not defined as less than 8 metres long (yet...until 2013. I don't know what the transitional arrangements will be for existing D1 holders). So I am removing it from the table.

Intermess (talk) 18:29, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

All mention of upgrades should be deleted from this article as, in general, there are no 'free upgrade' categories in EU law. Such upgrades are a matter of national law.

The upgrades being talked about are likely those applying in the UK via the The Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/2864), specifically Regulation 45 and Schedule 9.

The main 'free upgrades' are:

• D+E is granted to holders of category D who pass a C+E test
• D1+E is granted to holders of category D who pass a C1+E test
• D1+E is granted to holders of category D1 who pass a C+E or C1+E test
• B+E is granted to holders of category B who pass any '+E' test

Bus tests do not upgrade lorry entitlements and '1' subcategories cannot upgrade a full category. The article is therefore wrong to claim that D+E could add C1+E, or that C1+E could add D+E (even in the UK).

Regulation 45 also gives a whole bunch of complicated rules to do with upgrading of 'automatic transmission only' entitlements (i.e. removing restriction code 78) by passing tests in a vehicle with manual transmission. These complex rules may allow you to add categories whilst removing an unwanted 'automatic only' restriction or may make it easier to add categories (especially for lorry drivers wanting to add bus categories). Notably:

• Holders of B 'automatic only' get the 'automatic only' restriction deleted from category B if they pass a manual test on category B+E, C, C+E, C1, C1+E, D, D+E, D1 or D1+E
• Holders of C+E (manual) get both D (manual) and D+E (manual) if they pass a category D (automatic) test
• Holders of C (manual) get D (manual) if they pass a category D (automatic) test; they are subsequently granted D+E (manual) if they take a category C+E (manual) test

It is important to note that the version of the Statutory Instrument I have linked to does not incorporate subsequent amendments; unfortunately there is no free source of amended Statutory Instruments.

Wheelybloke (talk) 20:30, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Changes since January 2013

I have the impression that much information in the article (for example with respect to category B) is outdated. The new directive allows drivers with a B licence to tow heavier trailers, as long as the combination of car and trailer does not exceed a total maximum authorised mass of 3500kg. Can somebody please double check? http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-10_en.htm Cristiklein (talk) 22:17, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

Older paper driving licenses (Pre-1996 European driving licence)

There is no mention of the fact that several countries issued paper driving licenses, without photos. This is a fact, and should definetly be mentioned. People in countries that for a long time have issued liceses with photos, do not understand that licenses have been issued without photos - and that most of these are still valid.

The list of specimens is not complete. I would like a link to be added, to the page where the norwegian road authorithy describes _all_ currently valid drving licenses in the EEA are, with examples. Link avoids the troubles of getting acceptance for copyright reasons. The link is http://www.vegvesen.no/_attachment/58649/binary/2667 and it is a pdf file. Is it ok if I add this link?

The english used in the text is very academic and fiddiult to read for anyone from a non-native-english-speaking european country (not a global perspective), and the language should in many parts be made easier to understand.

There should be a section about (a) how to transfer the driving license to another (EU) country, and (b) how to get a driving license for foreigners moving to europe. --Janwikifoto (talk) 11:54, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

• "how to transfer the driving license to another (EU) country?" a source says it can be done as a Voluntary exchange or as an Obligatory exchange
• "how to get a driving license for foreigners moving to europe?" Foreign (non EU) licences are only recognised member state authority by member state authority. https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/vehicles/driving-licence/driving-licence-exchange-recognition/index_en.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.136.214.158 (talk) 10:33, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

References

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Participating members

According to the section Participating member states, under History, Switzerland is not a participating member in the EEA, and thus does not participate in the conventions on the European driving licence. The picture next to this piece of text suggests otherwise though, having coloured in Switzerland green (indicating it IS member of EFTA), and saying "The 31 participating member states, including 28 EU (blue) and 3 EFTA (green)." Maybe an accurate picture would be in place here? AwesomeSauceLtd (talk) 13:27, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

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Crisis averted: The so-called copyvio wasn't.  Stepho  talk  04:31, 27 September 2022 (UTC)

==Article issues and classification--

The article does not pass the B-class criteria (#1): The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. The article has more than one Nov 2011 "Citation needed" tag and at least one May 2020 "Citation needed" tag. -- Otr500 (talk) 21:08, 13 February 2023 (UTC)