New Rules For Exchange Of Driving Licences In The North

The Motor Vehicles (Exchangeable Licences) Order (Northern Ireland) 2009 comes into operation on October 12.

It will give the Department of the Environment greater flexibility in exchanging licences issued by other countries and brings the law in the North into line with the rest of the UK. The legislation covers the exchange of licences for small vehicles, such as cars and motorcycles.

The Minister explained: "Under existing legislation, if a country was designated for the exchange of driving licences, all licences issued by that country had to be accepted. This sometimes prevented countries from being designated because they exchanged licences with another country where the driving tests standards are not accepted as satisfactory by the UK. Under this new legislation, such licences can be excluded from the exchange arrangements of a designated country.

"Under the new legislation any driver coming to live in Northern Ireland, who holds an acceptable licence issued by one of the designated countries, can exchange that licence for a Northern Ireland licence, without having to pass a Northern Ireland driving test."

The new legislation adds six new countries to the list of designated countries, namely Canada, the Falkland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Monaco, South Africa and the Republic of Korea. These countries have been assessed as having driver training, testing and licensing systems which meet the rigorous standards applied throughout the Untied Kingdom.