Avakov promises to negotiate with France on mutual recognition of driver's licenses
The Mutual Recognition Agreement stipulates that Ukrainian citizens who legally reside in France and French citizens who legally reside in Ukraine will be able to exchange their national driving licenses for similar documents from their country of residence. Similar agreements already exist between Ukraine, Italy and Spain, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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This was discussed during the meeting of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov with the Minister of Internal Affairs of France Gerard Collomb, the press service of the Ukrainian department reports.
“Until now, with a Ukrainian driver’s license you could drive for no more than a year in European countries, and then you had to get a national license by passing theoretical and practical exams and paying from 600 to 1 euros.
Considering how many Ukrainians live and work in France today, the issue of simplifying and reducing the cost of the procedure for mutual recognition of national rights and their exchange ceases to be a special case; it is very important and relevant for us. Therefore, we will make every effort to formalize an agreement on the mutual exchange of driver’s licenses with France,” Avakov said.
At the same time, the new agreement does not repeal the rule of law, according to which Ukrainians in Italy, Spain, and Italians and Spaniards in Ukraine do not have the right to use national driver’s licenses for more than a year after receiving official registration.
However, now the exchange will be carried out without passing theoretical and practical exams and, accordingly, without paying for them.
The exchange procedure will take some time, since special checks will be carried out to determine the validity or authenticity of the documents. When issuing a new driver's license, the Ukrainian one will be confiscated.
The agreement on the mutual exchange of driver's licenses applies to citizens of Ukraine who legally reside in Italy, Spain, have been residents of the country for less than four years and have a valid Ukrainian driver's license.
However, invalid or counterfeit documents cannot be exchanged. Citizens who, for health reasons, are unable to drive vehicles will not be able to use the license exchange procedure. And also the exchange is limited only to those categories of vehicles that are specified in national rights.
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