New rules on driving permits and related regulations across the EU have been provisionally agreed by the Council and European Parliament.
The changes are contained in planned reforms to the EU’s driving licence directive and include the accompanied driving scheme for trucks and vans which is intended to help ease the shortage of professional drivers.
The minimum age for a driver to obtain a truck licence will be lowered from 21 to 18, and for a bus driving licence from 24 to 21, provided the applicant holds a certificate of professional competence.
In addition, under the accompanied driving scheme, young drivers aged 17 and above will be allowed to drive trucks under the supervision of an experienced driver – although it will be up to each EU country to decide whether or not to introduce this measure in their national legislation.
The directive’s reforms also include the Europe-wide introduction of digital driving licences and update the minimum requirements on the fitness of drivers.
This provisional agreement will now need to be endorsed by the member states’ representatives within the Council and by the European Parliament.
Once adopted, the revised directive will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU and member states will then have to transpose the directive into national legislation.
ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “ESTA broadly supports the measures relevant to our members and is pleased that the EU is trying to take action to help deal with the shortage of drivers.
“However, we would prefer that the accompanied driver scheme is uniformly enforced across all member states – leaving it to local governments to decide whether to adopt it or not will simply lead to unnecessary confusion and reduce its potentially positive impact on driver numbers.”
The official announcement from the European Parliament is here – https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20250324IPR27462/road-safety-deal-for-modern-eu-driving-licence-rules