Chương IV Công ước giao thông đường bộ: Người điều khiển phương tiện cơ giới

Chapter IV

DRIVERS OF MOTOR VEHICLES

ARTICLE 41

Driving permits

1. (a) Every driver of a motor vehicle must hold a driving permit;

(b) Contracting Parties undertake to ensure that driving permits are issued only after verification by the competent authorities that the driver possesses the required knowledge and skill;

(c) Domestic legislation must lay down requirements for obtaining a driving permit;

(d) Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as preventing Contracting Parties or subdivisions thereof from requiring driving permits for other power-driven vehicles and mopeds.

2. Contracting Parties shall recognize:

(a) Any domestic permit drawn up in their national language or in one of their national languages, or, if not drawn up in such a language, accompanied by a certified translation;

(b) Any domestic permit conforming to the provisions of Annex 6 to this Convention; and

(c) Any international permit conforming to the provisions of Annex 7 to this Convention;

as valid for driving in their territories a vehicle coming within the categories covered by the permit, provided that the permit is still valid and that it was issued by another Contracting Party or subdivision thereof or by an association duly empowered thereto by such other Contracting Party. The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to learner-driver permits.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph:

(a) Where the validity of the driving permit is made subject by special endorsement to the condition that the holder shall wear certain devices or that the vehicle shall be equipped in a certain way to take account of the driver's disability, the permit shall not be recognized as valid unless those conditions are observed;

(b) Contracting Parties may refuse to recognize the validity in their territories of driving permits held by persons under eighteen years of age;

(c) Contracting Parties may refuse to recognize the validity in their territories, for the driving of motor vehicles or combinations of vehicles in categories C, D and E referred to in Annexes 6 and 7 to this Convention, of driving permits held by persons under twenty-one years of age.

4. Contracting Parties may introduce in their domestic legislation a subdivision of the categories of vehicles referred to in Annexes 6 and 7 of this Convention. If the driving permit is restricted to certain vehicles within a category, a numeral shall be added to the letter of the category and the nature of the restriction shall be indicated in the driving permit.

5. For the purpose of the application of paragraph 2 and subparagraph 3 (c) of this Article:

(a) A motor vehicle of the category B referred to in Annexes 6 and 7 to this Convention may be coupled to a light trailer; it may also be coupled to a trailer whose permissible maximum mass exceeds 750 kg but does not exceed the unladen mass of the motor vehicle if the combined permissible maximum mass of the vehicles so coupled does not exceed 3,500 kg;

(b) A motor vehicle of the category C, or of the category D referred to in Annexes 6 and 7 to this Convention may be coupled to a light trailer without the resultant combination ceasing to belong to category C or category D.

6. An international permit shall be issued only to the holder of a domestic permit for the issue of which the minimum conditions laid down in this Convention have been fulfilled. It shall not be valid after the expiry of the corresponding domestic permit, the number of which shall be entered in the international permit.

7. The provisions of this Article shall not require Contracting Parties:

(a) To recognize the validity of domestic or international permits issued in the territory of another Contracting Party to persons who had their normal residence in their territories at the time of such issue or whose normal residence has been transferred to their territories since such issue; or

(b) To recognize the validity of permits as aforesaid issued to drivers whose normal residence at the time of such issue was not in the territory in which the permit was issued or who since such issue have transferred their residence to another territory.

ARTICLE 42

Suspension of the validity of driving permits

1. Contracting Parties or subdivisions thereof may withdraw from a driver the right to use his domestic or international driving permit in their territories if he commits in their territories a breach of their regulations rendering him liable under their legislations to the forfeiture of his permit. In such a case the competent authority of the Contracting Party or subdivision thereof withdrawing the right to use the permit may:

(a) Withdraw and retain the permit until the period of the withdrawal of use expires or until the holder leaves its territory, whichever is the earlier;

(b) Notify the withdrawal of the right to use the permit to the authority by or on behalf of which the permit was issued;

(c) In the case of an international permit, enter in the space provided for the purpose an endorsement to the effect that the permit is no longer valid in its territories;

(d) Where it has not applied the procedure for which provision is made in subparagraph (a) of this paragraph, supplement the communication referred to in subparagraph (b) by requesting the authority which issued the permit, or on behalf of which the permit was issued, to notify the person concerned of the decision taken with regard to him.

2. Contracting Parties shall endeavour to notify the persons concerned of the decisions communicated to them in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 1 (d) of this Article.

3. Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as prohibiting Contracting Parties or subdivisions thereof from preventing a driver holding a domestic or international driving permit from driving if it is evident or proved that his condition is such that he is unable to drive safely or if the right to drive has been withdrawn from him in the State in which he has his normal residence.

ARTICLE 43

Transitional provisions

1. International driving permits conforming to the provisions of the Convention on Road Traffic done at Geneva on 19 September 1949 and issued within in a period of five years from the date of the entry into force of this Convention in accordance with Article 47, paragraph 1 thereof shall be accorded, for the purposes of Articles 41 and 42 of this Convention, the same treatment as the international driving permits provided for in this Convention.

2. Domestic driving permits shall conform with the provisions of the amendment to Annex 6 within five years from the date of its entry into force. Permits issued during that period shall be mutually recognized until the expiry date inscribed therein.