CELEX: 
Language: en
Date: 2020-05-04 00:00:00
Title: COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) .../… amending Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on driving licences

EUROPEAN
                         COMMISSION
                                                 Brussels, 4.5.2020
                                                 C(2020) 2665 final
                       COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) .../…
                                     of 4.5.2020
   amending Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on
                                   driving licences
                              (Text with EEA relevance)
EN                                                                                 EN
 ---pagebreak---                              COMMISSION DIRECTIVE (EU) .../…
                                             of 4.5.2020
      amending Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on
                                           driving licences
                                      (Text with EEA relevance)
   THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
   Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
   Having regard to Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20
   December 2006 on driving licences1, and in particular Article 8 thereof,
   Whereas:
   (1)   The existing specific provisions concerning the Member States’ possibility to decide
         that no restriction to vehicles with automatic transmission shall be recorded on the
         driving licence of holders of a driving licence for vehicles of category C, CE, D and
         DE should be extended to holders of driving licences for vehicles of category BE, C1,
         C1E, D1 and D1E when the applicant already holds a driving licence obtained on a
         vehicle with manual transmission in at least one of the following categories: B, BE, C,
         CE, C1, C1E, D, DE, D1 or D1E.
   (2)   That extension should be carried out in the light of technical progress, in particular in
         order to take into account the development and increasing use, in the transport
         industry, of more modern, safer and less polluting vehicles equipped with a wide range
         of semi-automatic, automatic or hybrid transmission systems. Furthermore, the
         simplification of the existing restrictions on driving automatic vehicles would reduce
         the administrative and financial burden on stakeholders, including SMEs and micro-
         enterprises operating in the field of road transport.
   (3)   The requirements for test vehicle motorcycles of category A2 to be used during the
         test of skills and behaviour need to be adapted to technical progress, in particular to
         combustion engine and chassis development and to the wider use of electric
         motorcycles. The adaptation of the technical specifications for category A2 test
         vehicles should also ensure that applicants are tested on vehicles that are
         representative of the category for which the driving licence would be issued.
   (4)   Directive 2006/126/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.
   (5)   In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member
         States and the Commission on explanatory documents2, Member States have
         undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition
         measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the
   1
         OJ L 403, 30.12.2006, p. 18.
   2
         OJ C 369, 17.12.2011, p. 14.
EN                                                1                                                EN
 ---pagebreak---            components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition
           instruments.
   (6)     The measures provided for in this Directive are in accordance with the opinion of the
           Committee on driving licences,
   HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
                                               Article 1
   Annex II to Directive 2006/126/EC is amended in accordance with the Annex to this
   Directive.
                                               Article 2
   1.        Member States shall adopt and publish, by 1 November 2020 at the latest, the laws,
             regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive.
             They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions.
             They shall apply those provisions from 1 November 2020.
             When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this
             Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official
             publication. Member States shall determine how such reference is to be made.
   2.        Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions
             of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.
                                               Article 3
   This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in
   the Official Journal of the European Union.
                                               Article 4
   This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
   Done at Brussels, 4.5.2020
                                                For the Commission
                                                The President
                                                Ursula VON DER LEYEN
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 ---documentbreak---                          EUROPEAN
                         COMMISSION
                                                Brussels, 4.5.2020
                                                C(2020) 2665 final
                                                ANNEX
                                       ANNEX
                                        to the
                                Commission Directive
   amending Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on
                                  driving licences
EN                                                                                 EN
 ---pagebreak---                                                 ANNEX
   Annex II to Directive 2006/126/EC is amended as follows:
   (a)     Point 5.1.3 is replaced by the following:
           ‘5.1.3. Specific provisions concerning vehicles of category BE, C, CE, C1, C1E, D,
           DE, D1 and D1E
                  Member States may decide that no restriction to vehicles with automatic
                  transmission shall be recorded on the driving licence for a category BE, C, CE,
                  C1, C1E, D, DE, D1 or D1E vehicle referred to in point 5.1.2, when the
                  applicant already holds a driving licence obtained on a vehicle with manual
                  transmission in at least one of the following categories: B, BE, C, CE, C1,
                  C1E, D, DE, D1 or D1E, and has performed the actions described in point 8.4
                  during the test of skills and behaviour.’.
   (b)     In point 5.2, the second subparagraph of the second subtitle ‘Category A2’ is
           replaced by the following:
           ‘If the motorcycle is powered by an internal combustion engine, the cubic capacity of
           the engine shall be at least 250 cm3.’.
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