An Individual who wishes to drive in France must be of 18 years of age and must have a valid driving license (permis de conduire) in his possession. He should have his license on all trips and must show his license when demanded by an official.

A few foreign issued driving license are suitable for an indefinite period (provided some requirements are fulfilled) and a few are applicable for restricted period. A few may be exchanged for foreign licenses, provided a give-and-take license exchange agreement prevails.

The foreign issued license comes under three categories

Can be issued in France or alternatively exchanged for a French one, it can exchanged (applicable to every EU issue license – state of affairs apply),

Should be exchanged in France, within 1 year of residency.

Might not be exchanged. The bearer should undertake a complete driving test (practical and theory) in order to obtain a French driving license.

The European Driving License

The EU has funcitoned to harmonize the driving test standards and the emergence of the driving license so that the license that is issued in one nation will be acknowledged by the other member nations. Ever since from 1st Jan 1983, every driving license issued conform to the community pattern, however they may be in the form of paper or plastic and can appear quite dissimilar.

The council of members on March 2006, endorsed plans to create a solitary European driving license to substitute the 110 diverse patterns presently in reality all through the EU. The plan is to stage out nationwide licenses among 2012 & 2032. Eventually every new licenses will possess much shorter validity period (ten years is planned)