International Drivers License?

(Sufaud) wrote in message m...
B wrote in message . ..
On 25 Jul 2004 00:33:34 -0700, (Sufaud) wrote:

But my original point was that a IDL is senseless if one's home
license is anyway in the language of the country you'd be likely to
drive in.

Since the IDL is a translation, that's certainly true.

And EU rights supersede local law:

I'm willing to believe this is true also, but the original poster
wasn't European.

Like my old French one, I
think my wife's Geneva license is in French only; the Italians could
scarcely demand that she have an Italian translation of it, or they'd
be setting up a licence check at the exit of the Alpine tunnel and
reaping a vast fortune in fines.

That certainly doesn't follow from what you've said. They don't ask to
see an IDL unless they have some other reason to ask to see your
license.

The correct answer is here, thanks to a link posted by somebody else

"Situations relating to third countries (outside the EU)

"You have a driving licence issued by a country located outside the
European Union.

"Member States are not obliged to recognise such a licence, even if
it has already been recognised by one of them. It is necessary to
contact the competent national authority in order to determine whether
the licence is recognized.

"You hold an international driving licence.

"The validity of this licence within the EU depends on the possession
of a national driving licence issued by a Member State. The latter
has to be valid.*

"Within the EU, the principal function of the international driving
licence is to facilitate the comprehension of licences issued outside
the EU. With respect to EU licences has mutual recognition already
been facilitated with the adoption of Commission Decision
2000/275/EC on equivalences between certain categories of driving
licences (as rectified by Commission Decision 2002/256/CE).

"For holders of EU- or EEA-licences, an international driving licence
does not have any specific added value for driving within the EEA. it
always has to be shown together with the Community model national
driving licence. Moreover, a Member State can never require a person
to hold an international driving licence when this person is holder
of a community-model national driving licence."

[Switzerland presumptively counts as an EEA jurisdiction in view of
the new treaties, although the Web page is dated "25-09-2003".
http://www.europa.admin.ch/nbv/expl/uebersicht/e/ ]

(Sufaud) wrote in message m...
B wrote in message . ..
On 25 Jul 2004 00:33:34 -0700, (Sufaud) wrote:

But my original point was that a IDL is senseless if one's home
license is anyway in the language of the country you'd be likely to
drive in.

Since the IDL is a translation, that's certainly true.

And EU rights supersede local law:

I'm willing to believe this is true also, but the original poster
wasn't European.

Like my old French one, I
think my wife's Geneva license is in French only; the Italians could
scarcely demand that she have an Italian translation of it, or they'd
be setting up a licence check at the exit of the Alpine tunnel and
reaping a vast fortune in fines.

That certainly doesn't follow from what you've said. They don't ask to
see an IDL unless they have some other reason to ask to see your
license.

The correct answer is here, thanks to a link posted by somebody else

"Situations relating to third countries (outside the EU)

"You have a driving licence issued by a country located outside the
European Union.

"Member States are not obliged to recognise such a licence, even if
it has already been recognised by one of them. It is necessary to
contact the competent national authority in order to determine whether
the licence is recognized.

"You hold an international driving licence.

"The validity of this licence within the EU depends on the possession
of a national driving licence issued by a Member State. The latter
has to be valid.*

"Within the EU, the principal function of the international driving
licence is to facilitate the comprehension of licences issued outside
the EU. With respect to EU licences has mutual recognition already
been facilitated with the adoption of Commission Decision
2000/275/EC on equivalences between certain categories of driving
licences (as rectified by Commission Decision 2002/256/CE).

"For holders of EU- or EEA-licences, an international driving licence
does not have any specific added value for driving within the EEA. it
always has to be shown together with the Community model national
driving licence. Moreover, a Member State can never require a person
to hold an international driving licence when this person is holder
of a community-model national driving licence."

[Switzerland presumptively counts as an EEA jurisdiction in view of
the new treaties, although the Web page is dated "25-09-2003".
http://www.europa.admin.ch/nbv/expl/uebersicht/e/ ]

Frank F. Matthews wrote:

I think that the idea was that since German is a regional language of
Italy a license in German should not need a translation. Either that or
Italy should give up their German speaking areas.


This is not correct. Italy cares that citizens living in German speaking
areas may use German regularly while dwelling with authorities. But
outside German speaking areas, authorities are not bound to accept
German and they won't.

A similar situation happens in Switzerland. Switzerland has four
official languages (Italian, French, German, Rumantsch).
Say you get a fine in Ur canton (German speaking) that gets contested in
a local court. If you send your documentation, say, in Italian or
French, the first thing that will happen is that it will be translated
into German - at your expenses - for the local court to understand (I am
quoting a case I heard on Swiss television). This in spite of Italian
and French being national languages in Switzerland (but not official
languages in that specific canton).

--
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy e-mail:

Frank F. Matthews wrote:

I think that the idea was that since German is a regional language of
Italy a license in German should not need a translation. Either that or
Italy should give up their German speaking areas.


This is not correct. Italy cares that citizens living in German speaking
areas may use German regularly while dwelling with authorities. But
outside German speaking areas, authorities are not bound to accept
German and they won't.

A similar situation happens in Switzerland. Switzerland has four
official languages (Italian, French, German, Rumantsch).
Say you get a fine in Ur canton (German speaking) that gets contested in
a local court. If you send your documentation, say, in Italian or
French, the first thing that will happen is that it will be translated
into German - at your expenses - for the local court to understand (I am
quoting a case I heard on Swiss television). This in spite of Italian
and French being national languages in Switzerland (but not official
languages in that specific canton).

--
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy e-mail: