Having done the correct thing and registered our licences that were issued in our original countries of origin with the Spanish authorities (host nation) we though that would be the end of the matter until the date of reissue of our licences was due. However that was not the case.
Recently one of us received an “Aviso” from the local Traffico office stating they wanted some money to keep some of the classes of vehicle up to date. We believed this was illegal under EU rules.

We wanted to find the relevant page, preferably in Spanish, to show the local traffico that they were wrong. Again this is not the case. It now seems that they can in fact charge “taxes” whenever the host country wishes too.
First of all the following EU web site was found.

Here it states and we quote:
However on the following page from the same site;
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/home/d...les/002_en.htm
It states, again quoting:So it turns out that you cannot avoid these extras, so called taxes. This second statement seems to contradict the straightforward principle of mutual recognition. Bugger!
Maybe the first link should be added to the free beer section?

The bit from DVLA I put in the free beer does include....

You should however check with the appropriate driving licensing authorities where you are now resident for information on any conditions that the host member state may stipulate.

I will put your link in also.

Had you chosen to exchange your licence for a Spanish one then you have found that it is valid for different periods to your UK licence. This means that you would have to renew it more frequently, usually every 5 years but more frequently for certain vehicle categories.

By choosing to keep your UK licence and register it you still have to meet the same conditions as a Spanish licence holder, particularly with regard to periodic medical checks (which cost about 37 euros).



What you are paying is not so much a tax as a renewal fee.

Fred what you have stated is not true, in our case.

Having moved here in 2004 and had the traffico stamp added within a month they have now said that they want money for one class..’C’.
Within the next year another class will have to be paid for. They want money before the licence is due.

The point of the posting to say that the EU law states your host country should respect the conditions under which your DL has been issued, but on the other hand your host country can still change you fee/taxes (call it what you want) for you to meet local obligations.

That last point has never been made clear on all of the informative web sites we have seen. We just thought it should be made clear on this forum as there are so many questions as to what a person should after moving here.

The link to the EU’s web sites home page on our original posting went missing…sorry folks.

We both do not have U.K. driving licenses, but they are issued within the EU

You say that you had your licence endorsed in 2004 - the law has changed more recently than that.

As I have said before, to avoid all these complications it is preferable to just exchange your licence for a Spanish one.

I exchanged my British licence for a Spanish one when I got my residence permit 'Oh... just over 20 odd years ago', I have never paid anything else apart from the very reasonable renewal fee for my Spanish licence when it needed to be renewed.

Thanks or the info Fred,
As usual with EU laws nothing is clear, like this page…
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/home/d...les/006_en.htm

It seems that your host country can refuse to allow a person to drive a moped or a tractor if they want to. They can also insist on ‘call for exchange’ of your DL if they want to. This is done under special circumstances but what they are it does not say.

We still cannot find a reference to the 2004 law you quote. Anyhow we are going to the traffico in Lugo any day soon so hopefully it will all be sorted, with the payment of a free/tax.

I didn't quote a 2004 law - I said that the law had changed since 2004.

The original law was dated 30th May 1997 and was modified to include the new rules about exchanging/registering licence on 27th January 2006.

You can read the relevant changes here

http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_d...rd62-2006.html

So it appears the Spanish were braking EU laws, (when don’t they).



An EU law set up in 1991 is not implemented until 2006! We are not surprised.




Thanks for the information.

Well in a lot of instances countries have the option to 'opt out' of parts of the EU law/constitution.

So they may not be breaking any EU law just using their opt-out concession.

That's why fundamentally the EU is a joke as we can all pick and chose what we do and do not like out of the laws/constitution.

At least that's how I see it