Driver's licenses in Ukraine will be issued for 15 and 5 years instead of the current 30 - Ministry of Internal Affairs

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved changes to the rules for issuing driver's licenses and allowing citizens to drive vehicles. Now, driver's licenses will be issued for 15 and 5 years depending on certain categories instead of the current 30 years. This was reported by Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko, as reported by UNN. 

The government has approved changes to the rules for issuing driver's licenses and allowing citizens to drive vehicles. The main goal of these changes is to gradually bring Ukrainian rules into line with European standards and increase road safety 

Driver's licenses will now be issued for different periods depending on the vehicle category:

• 15 years - for drivers of motorcycles and passenger cars (categories A1, A, B, B1, BE);
• 5 years - for drivers of freight and passenger transport (categories C, CE, C1, C1E, D, DE, D1, D1E, T).

After the restoration of mandatory medical examinations when exchanging a driver's license, regular confirmation (every 15 years) of health status will become one of the important elements of allowing driving. Special attention is paid to drivers who carry out passenger and freight transportation, given the increased level of responsibility on the roads. They will exchange their licenses every 5 years with a mandatory medical examination 

He added that previously issued permanent driver's licenses remain valid until the date indicated on the document, and also when exchanging a driver's license (every 5 or 15 years), there is no need to retake exams, unless otherwise provided by law.

Addendum

The Minister emphasized that the resolution comes into force from the day of its official publication, but currently the document is not available on the Government Portal. 

In January of this year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs published a draft resolution "On Amendments to the Regulation on the Procedure for Issuing Driver's Licenses and Allowing Citizens to Drive Vehicles", according to which, as previously noted, the validity period of a license for categories A1, A, B1, B and BE is 15 years, and the validity period of a license for categories C1, C1E, C, CE, D1, D1E, D, DE is 5 years. 

Note that currently, a driver's license, regardless of category, is issued for 30 years. 

However, drivers who are issued a license for the first time receive it for two years with corresponding restrictions, in particular a speed limit of no more than 70 km/h. 

According to the draft resolution published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this provision is excluded. 

The draft also states that the period for which a person is deprived of the right to drive vehicles or temporarily restricted in such right does not extend the validity period of the driver's license. 

Also, the validity period of an international driver's license is limited to the expiration date of the national driver's license for the corresponding vehicle category or the expiration date not exceeding three years from the date of issue of the international driver's license, whichever expires earlier. 

In addition, the resolution determines that persons temporarily staying on the territory of Ukraine have the right to drive vehicles if they have an international driver's license and a driver's license of a foreign state that meets the requirements of the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic:

• citizens of Ukraine who temporarily or permanently reside abroad, provided they present a document confirming the person's right to temporary or permanent residence abroad; 
• foreigners and stateless persons who are legally temporarily staying on the territory of Ukraine, provided they present a document confirming the person's right to temporary stay on the territory of Ukraine;
• foreigners and stateless persons who are legally temporarily or permanently residing on the territory of Ukraine - within one year from the date of obtaining the person's right to temporary or permanent residence in Ukraine, provided they present a document confirming the person's right to temporary or permanent residence on the territory of Ukraine;
• foreigners who are employees of diplomatic and consular missions of foreign states, international organizations, representative offices of international organizations, other foreign organizations, if provided for by international treaties of Ukraine, and family members of employees of such institutions. 

Also, the draft resolution stipulates that a driver's license of a foreign state also includes a driver's license with the distinguishing mark "SU" (USSR), issued in the republics of the former Soviet Union, except those issued in the Ukrainian SSR.

Currently, the norm is in effect according to which "a driver's license of a foreign state also includes a driver's license with the distinguishing mark "SU" (USSR), issued in the republics of the former Soviet Union". 

Reminder 

Citizens of Ukraine who have survived Russian captivity or illegal deprivation of liberty as a result of the war can restore for free a lost driver's license or vehicle registration certificate at service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.