- The digital driving licence will be stored in the EU Digital Identity Wallet on your phone and is intended to be valid throughout the EU.
- The plastic card is not going away — both formats are intended to be legally equivalent.
- This is still a draft: feedback is possible until 14 July 2026, and the rules must be finalised under the Directive by 26 November 2026 at the latest.
The driving licence is set to move to the smartphone. The European Commission has published a draft that describes in detail how the digital driving licence is to work in practice. It forms part of the new Driving Licence Directive (EU) 2025/2205, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 22 October 2025, which replaces the old rules from 2006. The digital driving licence is therefore one building block of the major reform of European driving licence rules. One thing upfront: the text has not been adopted — it is a draft which, according to the Commission, expressly does not represent an official position.
What changes with the digital driving licence?
In future the driving licence will also be available in digital form, stored on the phone and recognised across the entire EU. It will be held in the EU Digital Identity Wallet, the digital wallet that the EU also intends for other credentials. The draft sets out the rules under which this digital driving licence is issued, verified and managed, so that it works identically across countries, wallet providers and the authorities carrying out checks.
How does the mobile driving licence work technically?
The digital driving licence uses an international data format called ISO/IEC-mdoc, based on the standard ISO/IEC 18013-5:2021. This format was designed specifically for digital credentials and ensures that the driving licence remains readable across borders. It is issued as a so-called qualified electronic attestation of attributes, a digital credential with a particularly high level of trust. This links the driving licence to the EU rules on digital identities laid down in the eIDAS Regulation.
What data does the digital driving licence contain?
At its core the digital driving licence contains the same details as the familiar plastic card. These include first and last name, date and place of birth, the issue and expiry dates, the authority that issued the licence, the licence number, the photograph and, where available, the signature and the home address. In addition there are the driving licence categories together with their respective dates and any restrictions in code form. There is also a field for administrative notes in which the authorities can record, for example, limitations or remarks about a revocation.
Does the old card licence remain valid?
Yes. The draft treats the plastic card and the digital driving licence as equivalent — the card is not being abolished. The two are not two different driving licences but two versions of the same licence, which must contain exactly the same information, both as regards driving entitlements and validity.
In addition, the principle of “one holder, one licence” applies. This does not refer to having both a card and a phone version side by side — that remains permitted. It concerns the case where someone exchanges or replaces their licence, for example when moving to another EU country. In that case, the old and the new licence should not both be valid at the same time — only the new one should be. The digital version is updated accordingly, and the previous licence loses its validity.
What happens if the phone is off or the battery is dead?
The draft does not explicitly address this everyday scenario. However, the texts make clear that the actual driving entitlement and its digital display are two different things. The right to drive does not depend on whether the phone is currently working. And because the plastic card continues to exist as an equivalent alongside, the driving entitlement can still be proven with the card.
Anyone who cannot show anything at all — because the device is off or the battery is dead and they have no card with them either — will in practice probably be treated like someone who has left their driving licence at home. Today this is an administrative offence punishable in Germany with a warning fine of ten euros, and the licence generally has to be presented to the police after the fact. Although this is not specified for the digital driving licence, it seems likely that a dead phone will be treated similarly.
How is the authenticity of the licence verified?
Authenticity is to be verified technically, not by the naked eye. According to the draft, the authorities carrying out checks should not rely on appearance but should verify authenticity and validity using technical procedures under the eIDAS Regulation and via the EU driving licence network. Which authority is entitled to issue a driving licence in the first place is to be clarified by a list of trusted authorities maintained by the Commission. How the licence looks visually is determined by the wallet providers; the countries report their requirements to the Commission.
How this is to work in practice at the roadside, however, remains open — and this is where it gets difficult. Under current law no one is required to hand over their smartphone during a check. Showing it — yes; handing it over — no. As a rule the police may only seize a phone by court order, based on the German Code of Criminal Procedure (Sections 94, 98 StPO), and without an order only in cases of so-called imminent danger. But if the device stays in the driver’s hand, an officer can essentially only look at the screen — in other words, verify only visually, which is precisely what the draft intends to avoid.
A technical workaround would be conceivable: the app could display a changing code, such as a QR code, which the officer’s device reads contactlessly and verifies in the background. The phone would remain in the driver’s hand throughout. However, no such procedure is specified in the draft. How the technical verification is to work without handing over the device will therefore probably only become clear during national implementation.
How long is the digital driving licence valid?
Two things need to be distinguished here: the technical validity of the digital version and the actual driving entitlement. The authorities may issue the digital version with any technical lifespan. When it expires, only the display on the phone stops working — the driving entitlement itself is completely unaffected. You may therefore continue to drive; the digital version simply needs to be reissued.
When is the digital driving licence suspended?
The digital driving licence can be suspended — that is, rendered unusable — for quite different reasons. It is worth clearly distinguishing two cases here.
In the first case the suspension is purely technical or organisational and says nothing about the driving entitlement. This applies, for example, when the associated wallet loses its attestation or when the licence is exchanged or replaced in another country. The digital version then stops working, but the right to drive remains. In the case of an exchange, for example, you receive a new licence in the new country, and the old digital one is deactivated.
The second case is different. If your driving entitlement is actually revoked — for example after speeding or another serious offence — then it is not simply the digital version that is gone. In this case you lose the right to drive altogether, and the digital driving licence is suspended because it reflects precisely this missing entitlement. Anyone who continues to drive regardless is driving without a driving entitlement. The distinction is therefore important: a mere suspension never takes away your right to drive, but when the right to drive is revoked, suspension is the logical consequence.
How does a revocation work across borders?
Because you cannot simply confiscate a phone like a plastic card, there is a dedicated procedure for this via the EU driving licence network. If a country wants to confiscate a driving licence under its national law, an authorised body can notify the issuing country via the network. The issuing country then suspends the existing digital driving licence and notifies the driver. On request it issues a new digital driving licence, which however carries a note about the confiscation. This note remains as long as the confiscation is in effect — the digital driving licence thus openly indicates that it is currently not valid. For a German driver whose licence is confiscated in France on 12 March 2027, for example, the entry would read along the lines of: “Confiscated in France on 12 March 2027, valid until 12 June 2027.” Only when this period has passed does the driver receive a digital driving licence without this note again. National law is not affected — a country can therefore still also seize the plastic card.
Can you avoid the suspension by simply showing the plastic card?
No, at least not that easily. Behind the question lies an understandable thought: the digital version can be suspended remotely, whereas the plastic card cannot. Someone who claims to have lost the card but does not hand it in actually keeps it and could continue to show it at a check even though their licence was revoked long ago.
The problem, however, is that the card alone proves nothing. Anyone who has lost the right to drive has lost it — a piece of plastic in a pocket does not bring it back. Via the EU driving licence network the validity of a driving licence can be verified regardless of the format, and a revocation will be visible no matter which document is presented. And anyone who continues to drive despite a revocation is no longer committing a mere administrative offence but a criminal one.
What happens when exchanging a licence or with licences from third countries?
When a licence is exchanged in another EU country, the existing digital driving licence is suspended so that no one ends up with two valid licences. The exchanging country first checks via the EU driving licence network in which formats the licence exists, then notifies the issuing country and, if necessary, requests the surrender of the plastic card. The issuing country verifies the notification, suspends the digital driving licence and ceases to reissue it. For licences from countries outside the EU, the exchanging country is to enquire whether the licence also exists in digital form and ask the third country to suspend it. For purely digital licences without a plastic card, the draft sets out specific conditions under which such a licence can be deemed to have been surrendered.
Reporting obligations of the member states to the European Commission
The member states are to notify the Commission within one year of the entry into force which authorities issue digital driving licences in their country. This includes, among other things, the name of the authority, the country code, contact details, the web address with the applicable conditions, the results of interoperability tests and the certificates with which the digital signatures can be verified. If anything changes, it must be reported immediately. In addition, the issuing bodies must inform the Commission about security incidents affecting the issuance or validity of the licences.
When is the digital driving licence coming?
The draft does not set a fixed start date, because it has not yet been adopted. According to the Commission, feedback is possible from 16 June 2026 to 14 July 2026, and this feedback is to feed into the final version. Adoption by the Commission is planned for the second quarter of 2026. The overarching Directive (EU) 2025/2205 requires the Commission to adopt the detailed rules on appearance, system interoperability, testing, data and security of digital driving licences by 26 November 2026 at the latest. The regulation is to enter into force on the twentieth day after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.
