The European Community introduced the first Community model physical driving licence on 4 December 1980. Since then, the rules relating to the Community model have become the cornerstone of the most advanced driving licensing structures in the world, covering more than 250 million drivers. This Directive should therefore build on the accumulated experience and practice and lay down harmonised rules on the Union standards for physical driving licences. Physical driving licences issued within the Union should, in particular, provide a high level of protection against fraud and forgery, by means of anti-forgery measures, and the possibility to incorporate microchips or QR codes.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
