A provisional political agreement reached today by the Council and European Parliament will ensure that serious road traffic offenders will soon be held responsible throughout the EU for their offences, independently from the member state where these offences were committed. Under the current rules, member states that did not issue a driving licence may restrict the right to drive of a serious road traffic offender only within their own territory. Only the member state that issued the licence can restrict the right to drive throughout the whole EU. Therefore, currently, when a driver commits a serious road traffic offence in a member state (‘member state of the offence’) other than the member state that issued the license (‘member state of issuance’), the offender may not be able to drive in the member state of the offence but can continue to drive everywhere else in the EU. However, with new rules agreed today, the member state of the offence will have to inform the member state of issuance of the driving disqualification enforced. The member state of issuance will then be obliged, under specific conditions, to impose a similar driving disqualification on the offender, making it effective throughout the EU. Specific rules for the implementation of driving disqualifications in the EUThe agreed directive will help ensuring a high level of protection for all road users in the EU, assuring the implementation of driving disqualifications imposed because of serious driving offences such as: - drink-driving or driving under the influence of drugs,
- speeding offences;
- or a conduct infringing road traffic regulations and causing death or serious injuries to others.
When the member state of the offence imposes a driving disqualification of at least three months on the driver, and all course of action by the driver against that decision has been exhausted, the member state of the offence has to notify the member state of issuance using a standard certificate via the EU driving licence network (RESPER). The member state of issuance will then notify the driver – when possible – within 20 working days of receival of the notification and will decide whether to implement the disqualification. In certain cases, for example if the member state of issuance has reasons to believe that the right to be heard of the driver was not respected, the member state of issuance may decide to exempt the driver and not implement a similar driving disqualification.. Next stepsThis provisional agreement will now need to be endorsed by the member states’ representatives within the Council (Coreper) and by the European Parliament. It will then be formally adopted by both institutions following legal-linguistic revision. BackgroundAn important element of the policy on road safety is the consistent enforcement of sanctions for road traffic offences committed in the EU. As the result of the free movement of persons and a subsequent rise in international traffic, driving disqualifications are increasingly imposed by member states other than the driver’s member state that issued their driving license. However, these disqualifications are currently only enforced within the member state where the traffic offence occurred. In 2019, about 40% of cross-border offences were therefore committed with relative impunity. At the informal meeting of transport ministers in Valletta in March 2017, EU member states called for action on the issue of mutual recognition of driving disqualifications concerning non-resident drivers. As part of the European Commission’s Road Safety Package, the Commission proposed the directive on driving disqualifications in March 2023, addressing the gap in the implementation of these driving qualifications in the EU. The Road Safety Package not only entails a directive on driving disqualifications, but also an update of the directive on driving licences and a directive amending the directive on facilitating cross-border exchange of information on road-safety-related traffic offences. | 
