I am hearing rumours that the current arrangement of being able to use any EU issued DL in Spain is to end in November and everyone (inc EU residents) will have to obtain a Spanish DL - anyone got the facts with a link to an official source?

Cant find anything on the dgt website.

Information relating to the validity of EU licences in Spain…

http://dgt.es/portal/es/oficina_virtual/conductores/canje_permisos/?tit=Permisos v?lidos para conducir en Espa?a.

Relevant info in first para below…

Permisos v?lidos para conducir en Espa?a.

Son v?lidos para conducir en Espa?a los permisos expedidos en pa?ses de la Uni?n Europea y el Espacio Econ?mico Europeo (Islandia, Liechtenstein y Noruega).

Adem?s, en determinadas condiciones, son tambi?n v?lidos para conducir en Espa?a los siguientes permisos de conducci?n:

1. Los nacionales de otros pa?ses que est?n expedidos de conformidad con el Anexo 9 de la Convenci?n de Ginebra, o con el Anexo 6 de la Convenci?n de Viena, o que difieran de dichos modelos ?nicamente en la adopci?n o supresi?n de r?bricas no esenciales.
2. Los nacionales de otros pa?ses que est?n redactados en castellano o vayan acompa?ados de una traducci?n oficial del mismo.
3. Los internacionales expedidos en el extranjero de conformidad con el Anexo 10 de la Convenci?n de Ginebra, o de acuerdo con el modelo de Anexo E de la Convenci?n Internacional de Par?s, si se trata de naciones adheridas a este Convenio que no hayan suscrito o prestado adhesi?n al de Ginebra.
4. Los reconocidos en particulares convenios internacionales en los que Espa?a sea parte y en las condiciones que se indiquen en los mismos.

Condiciones para su validez:

La validez de los distintos permisos enumerados anteriormente, estar? condicionada a que se hallen dentro del per?odo de vigencia, su titular tenga la edad requerida en Espa?a para la obtenci?n del permiso espa?ol equivalente y, adem?s, a que no haya transcurrido el plazo de seis meses, como m?ximo, contados desde que sus titulares adquieran su residencia normal en Espa?a.

Transcurrido dicho plazo, los mencionados permisos carecen de validez para conducir en Espa?a, y, si sus titulares desean seguir conduciendo, deber?n obtener permiso espa?ol, previa comprobaci?n de los requisitos y superaci?n de las pruebas correspondientes, salvo que, por existir un convenio con el pa?s que expidi? el permiso, sea posible su canje por el espa?ol equivalente.

Mind you, if Rajoy’s PP mob get into power in November anything could happen!

fb

It now appears that the need for the ‘health check’ has been done away with
“There is no need to have a Spanish driving medical certificate (Certificado de Aptitud) if you are driving on a UK licence during its validity or for a replacement Spanish licence when the UK licence expires. If you have received a fine specifically for not having a Certificado de Aptitud, please contact your nearest consulate”
(from UK in Spain site http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-spain/cars )

I can understand this if you keep the British DL (well sort of, because EU says you have to comply with your country of residence’s rules and regs) but to not need it for a Spanish DL I find amazing when as far as I know it is still a requirement for the Spanish to obtain it.

We got Spanish licences last year on the basis of the following information.  EU licences, as far as I understand it, are OK in Spain but they must be valid.  In order to be valid they must be up to date and that includes the photocard.  When you move house (in or out of the UK) you are obliged to tell the DVLC your new address, the DVLC will not accept a foreign address.  Your address must be your place of residence not a friend or family member address.

This appears to translate to the following rules for those RESIDENT in Spain

If you move permanently to Spain you can go on using your UK (EU) licence but you should take it at the Commisaria de Police to register your new residential address.

Once the licence or photocard come up for renewal you should get a Spanish licence as you have no residence in the UK for the renewal.

If you don’t do that your licence isn’t valid and should you have an accident you may provide your insurance company with the excuse they need to deny your claim.

Also - don’t think the DVLC won’t know.  My husbands licence came up for renewal before mine and he got a Spanish one, we presume the reminder to our old address was sent back ‘no longer at this address’.  When, six months later, mine came up for renewal the DVLC sent a renewal notice to the address of a friend of mine, DVLC had got it from our bank!.  Big brother is watching.

The process isn’t as bad as people make out though it is a bit costly.  A medical at a local health centre, blood pressure, medication questions, sight and hearing tests and a sort of computer game reflex test.  Then everything to our gestor who got us a temporary licence from ‘taffico’ until the new one came.  We think worth it for peace of mind.  We are both in our sixties and the new licence is valid until we are seventy.

And in summer last year Traffico insisted that we have the health check to get the Spanish licence - although our Gestor said if we had had more time left before the renewal date for the photocard they ‘may’ not have done.

The previous post is more or less correct but registering your DL is optional and you now only have two years after taking out residencia to change your licence (or sooner if it is due to expire of course)

I have an article on the new Driving Licences law being published on Thursday in March edition TIM (The Inland Magazine)
My article is based on information supplied by Spanish solicitors based in Alicante who have been in discussion with the Alicante Tr?fico office.
The magazine is distributed in the Alicante area and also online here:
http://issuu.com/timadmin

Thanks Rob, glad we bit the bullet and transferred ours.  I did a lot of research at the time but things here change all the time.  What puzzles me is that I understood that Europe as a whole was moving towards standardising licences so that you could use them anywhere.  How on earth do we keep up with all this?  I know lots of people who use UK licences and are resident - in fact many told us not to bother getting Spanish ones.  The bit about registering your licence at the Comissaria was based on advice from the DVLC - their web sight says (or did at the time) that you MUST register a change of address (I think within six months?) in order for your licence to be valid, that you cannot register an address abroad and therefore, in order to comply and keep your licence valid you must register locally (my paraphrasing).

Ah well it keeps us on our toes doesn’t it?

Hi SunnyM - well done for exchanging your DL to Spanish. In my opinion anyone who is serious about living in Spain as a permanent resident should have made this move as it is ultimately a legal obligation anyway.

I know people are renewing using a UK address and I don’t understand why because they could have serious problems with insurance and or fines.

Yes it can be difficult to keep up with changes but it stands to reason that all EU governments will want residents to adopt a DL from the country in which they are resident. 

Hopefully my article will help everyone understand what is going on. The March TIM is out now, if you can’t pick one up read online here see pg 8
http://issuu.com/timadmin/docs/march12