Article 41. Driving Permits

(Provisions applicable from 29 March 2011)

1. (a) Every driver of a motor vehicle must hold a driving permit;
    (b) Contracting Parties undertake to ensure that driving permits are issued only after verification by the competent authorities that the driver possesses the required knowledge and skills; the persons authorized to check if drivers have the necessary knowledge and skills must have appropriate qualifications; the contents and procedure of both theoretical and practical exams are regulated by national legislation;
    (c) Domestic legislation must lay down requirements for obtaining a driving permit. In particular, it shall specify the minimum ages for holding a permit, the medical conditions to be fulfilled and the conditions for passing the theoretical and practical exams;
    (d) Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as preventing Contracting Parties or subdivisions thereof from requiring driving permits for other power-driven vehicles and mopeds.

2. (a) Contracting Parties shall recognize:
          (i) Any domestic permit conforming to the provisions of Annex 6 to this Convention;
          (ii) Any international permit conforming to the provisions of Annex 7 to this Convention, on condition that it is presented with the corresponding domestic driving permit, as valid for driving in their territories a vehicle coming within the categories covered by the permits, provided that the permits are still valid and that they were issued by another Contracting Party or subdivision thereof or by an association duly empowered thereto by such other Contracting Party or one of its subdivisions;

    (b) Driving permits issued by a Contracting Party shall be recognized in the territory of another Contracting Party until this territory becomes the place of normal residence of their holder;
    (c) The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to learner-driver permits.

3. Domestic legislation may limit the period of validity of a domestic driving permit. The period of validity of an international permit shall be either no more than three years after the date of issue or until the date of expiry of the domestic driving permit, whichever is earlier.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2:
    (a) Where the validity of the driving permit is made subject by special endorsement to the condition that the holder shall wear certain devices or that the vehicle shall be equipped in a certain way to take account of the driver’s disability, the permit shall not be recognized as valid unless those conditions are observed;
    (b) Contracting Parties may refuse to recognize the validity in their territories of driving permits held by persons under eighteen years of age;
    (c) Contracting Parties may refuse to recognize the validity in their territories, for the driving of motor vehicles or combinations of vehicles in categories C, D, CE and DE referred to in Annex 6 and Annex 7 to this Convention, of driving permits held by persons under twenty-one years of age.

5. An international permit shall be issued only to the holder of a domestic permit for the issue of which the minimum conditions laid down in this Convention have been fulfilled. An international driving permit shall only be issued by the Contracting Party in whose territory the holder has his normal residence and which issued the domestic driving permit or which recognized the driving permit issued by another Contracting Party; it shall not be valid for use in that territory.

6. The provisions of this Article shall not require Contracting Parties:
    (a) To recognize the validity of domestic permits issued in the territory of another Contracting Party to persons who had their normal residence in their territories at the time of such issue or whose normal residence has been transferred to their territories since such issue;
    (b) To recognize the validity of domestic permits issued to drivers whose normal residence at the time of such issue was not in the territory in which the permit was issued or who since such issue have transferred their residence to another territory.