EC publishes evaluation of the Directive on driving licences

The European Commission has published an evaluation of the current European Directive on driving licenses (Directive 2006/126/EC). The Directive aims to align EU rules on driving licences and improve road safety, allowing the free movement of citizens and reducing driving licence fraud. The evaluation assessed the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU value added of the Directive between 2006 and 2018.

The findings of the analysis are that while progress was likely made in terms of improving road safety, more efforts were needed in light of the ambitious EU targets; that the Directive is likely to have been beneficial to free movement but some differences across the EU still remain; that there remains significant potential for simplification and reduction of administrative burden; that there is limited evidence of reduced driving licence fraud and driving licence tourism; and that the current provisions of the Directive on driving skills and knowledge do not sufficiently reflect new technological solutions. Read the Executive Summary in full.

The report concludes that the main benefit of the Directive as compared to what could have been achieved through bilateral and international cooperation is related to the increased harmonisation of driving licence rules across Member States.

The Commission will take the results of this evaluation of the current Directive on driving licenses into account in its planned revision of the Directive, which is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022.