Brexit and the European driving licence register ‘RESPER/EUCARIS’

The RDW sometimes tends to indicate that the citizen could have read the necessary information about exchanging a driving licence on the website of the RDW. Whereby a driving licence from the EU/EFTA(EFTA) countries, or a country with which an agreement has been concluded, may have expired, but another country may not. This should therefore have been apparent to the applicant.

However, within Europe there is also a European driving licence register ‘RESPER’. RESPER is a facility for the EU-wide exchange of information and Legal and Administrative matters.

The UK still participating in EUCARIS/RESPER:

EUCARIS: European Car and Driving Licence Information System, RESPER: Réseau Permis de Conduire, are aimed at exchanging driving licence data. EUCARIS ties in with RESPER, allowing participating states to share their information.

It forms the IT infrastructure that several European countries use to exchange vehicle and driving licence information. Since its creation in the 1990s and formal anchoring in the EUCARIS Treaty, 32 countries have joined, including the United Kingdom.

The UK is therefore still formally affiliated with EUCARIS and is actively supplying driving licence data via RESPER.

This means that the UK still shares data on driving licences with EU countries on an annual basis for purposes such as verification, fraud prevention and mutual recognition.

The above already shows that the RDW can actively request and exchange data on driving licences in general and in particular those of those who wish to exchange their UK driving licence.

This failure not only appears to be in conflict with the aforementioned international agreement within the EU that was already concluded before Brexit, but that this will also continue after Brexit.

You have been warned and informed!

Hein Dudink/Lawyer