F. v Stadt Karlsruhe.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2021:332
• Docket Number: C-47/20
• Date: 29 April 2021
• Celex Number: 62020CJ0047
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)

Provisional text

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)

29 April 2021 (*)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Transport – Driving licences – Withdrawal of the licence in the territory of a Member State other than the issuing Member State – Renewal of the licence by the issuing Member State after the withdrawal decision – No automaticity of mutual recognition)

In Case C‑47/20,

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court, Germany), made by decision of 10 October 2019, received at the Court on 28 January 2020, in the proceedings

F.

v

Stadt Karlsruhe,

THE COURT (First Chamber),

composed of J.‑C. Bonichot, President of the Chamber, L. Bay Larsen, C. Toader, M. Safjan and N. Jääskinen (Rapporteur), Judges,

Advocate General: P. Pikamäe,

Registrar: A. Calot Escobar,

having regard to the written procedure,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

– F., by W. Säftel, Rechtsanwalt,

– the Spanish Government, by S. Jiménez García, acting as Agent,

– the European Commission, by W. Mölls and N. Yerrell, acting as Agents,

having decided, after hearing the Advocate General, to proceed to judgment without an Opinion,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 2(1), the second subparagraph of Article 7(3) and Article 11(4) of Directive 2006/126/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on driving licences (OJ 2006 L 403, p. 18).

2 The request has been made in proceedings between F., a German national who holds a driving licence issued in Spain, and the Stadt Karlsruhe (City of Karlsruhe, Germany), concerning a decision of the competent German authorities refusing him the right to use his driving licence in Germany.

Legal context

European Union law

3 Recital 2 of Directive 2006/126 states:

‘The rules on driving licences are essential elements of the common transport policy, contribute to improving road safety, and facilitate the free movement of persons taking up residence in a Member State other than the one issuing the licence. Given the importance of individual means of transport, possession of a driving licence duly recognised by a host Member State promotes free movement and freedom of establishment of persons. …’

4 Under Article 2(1) of that directive, ‘driving licences issued by Member States shall be mutually recognised’.

5 Article 7 of the directive provides:

‘1. Driving licences shall be issued only to those applicants:

(a) who have passed a test of skills and behaviour and a theoretical test and who meet medical standards, in accordance with the provisions of Annexes II and III;

…

(e) who have their normal residence in the territory of the Member State issuing the licence, or can produce evidence that they have been studying there for at least six months.

2. (a) As from 19 January 2013, licences issued by Member States for categories AM, A1, A2, A, B, B1 and BE shall have an administrative validity of 10 years.

A Member State may choose to issue such licences with an administrative validity of up to 15 years;

…

3. The renewal of driving licences when their administrative validity expires shall be subject to:

(a) continuing compliance with the minimum standards of physical and mental fitness for driving set out in Annex III for driving licences in categories C, CE, C1, C1E, D, DE, D1, D1E; and

(b) normal residence in the territory of the Member State issuing the licence, or evidence that applicants have been studying there for at least six months.

Member States may, when renewing driving licences in categories AM, A, A1, A2, B, B1 and BE, require an examination applying the minimum standards of physical and mental fitness for driving set out in Annex III.

…

5. …

Without prejudice to Article 2, a Member State issuing a licence shall apply due diligence to ensure that a person fulfils the requirements set out in paragraph 1 of this Article and shall apply its national provisions on the cancellation or withdrawal of the right to drive if it is established that a licence has been issued without the requirements having been met.’

6 Article 11 of Directive 2006/126 is worded as follows:

‘1. Where the holder of a valid national driving licence issued by a Member State has taken up normal residence in another Member State, he may request that his driving licence be exchanged for an equivalent licence. It shall be for the Member State effecting the exchange to check for which category the licence submitted is in fact still valid.

…

4. A Member State shall refuse to issue a driving licence to an applicant whose driving licence is restricted, suspended or withdrawn in another Member State.

A Member State shall refuse to recognise the validity of any driving licence issued by another Member State to a person whose driving licence is restricted, suspended or withdrawn in the former State’s territory.

A Member State may also refuse to issue a driving licence to an applicant whose licence is cancelled in another Member State.

5. A replacement for a driving licence which has, for example, been lost or stolen may only be obtained from the competent authorities of the Member State in which the holder has his normal residence; those authorities shall provide the replacement on the basis of the information in their possession or, where appropriate, proof from the competent authorities of the Member State which issued the original licence.

…’

7 According to the first paragraph of Article 12 of that directive:

‘For the purpose of this Directive, “normal residence” means the place where a person usually lives, that is for at least 185 days in each calendar year, because of personal and occupational ties, or, in the case of a person with no occupational ties, because of personal ties which show close links between that person and the place where he is living.’

German law

8 Paragraph 13 of the Verordnung über die Zulassung von Personen zum Straßenverkehr – Fahrerlaubnis-Verordnung (Regulation on granting persons permission to drive on the road) of 13 December 2010 (BGBl. 2010 I, p. 1980), in the version applicable to the dispute in the main proceedings (‘the FeV’), is worded as follows:

‘For the purposes of investigating decisions on the issue or extension of a driving licence or on the imposition of restrictions or conditions, the authority responsible for issuing driving licences shall order

…

2. the production of a medical-psychological expert’s report, where

…

(c) the driver of a vehicle in circulation on public roads has a blood alcohol level of greater than or equal to 1.6 g per mille or a breath alcohol concentration of greater than or equal to 0.8 mg/l,

…’

9 Paragraph 29 of the FeV provides:

‘(1) Holders of a foreign driving licence may, to the extent permitted by their licence, drive motor vehicles in the national territory when they are not normally resident there within the meaning of Paragraph 7. …

…

(3) The right referred to in subparagraph 1 shall not apply to foreign driving-licence holders,

…

3. whose authorisation to drive in the national territory has been withdrawn, either provisionally or definitively by a court, or with immediate effect or definitively by an administrative authority, whose authorisation to drive has been permanently refused or whose authorisation to drive has not been withdrawn solely because they had surrendered it in the meantime.

…

… Points 3 and 4 of the first sentence [of subparagraph 3] shall apply to [European Union] or [European Economic Area] driving licences only if the measures referred to therein are entered in the driving fitness register and have not been withdrawn pursuant to Paragraph 29 [of the Straßenverkehrsgesetz (Law on road traffic; ‘the StVG’)].

(4) The right to use in the national territory a foreign driving licence granted after one of the decisions referred to in points 3 and 4 of subparagraph 3 shall be granted on application where the grounds for withdrawal have ceased to exist.’

10 Paragraph 3(6) of the StVG provides:

‘The rules on the issue of a new driving licence, following a withdrawal or a surrender, shall apply by analogy to the grant of the right, following a withdrawal or a surrender, to use a foreign driving licence again in the national territory, to persons having their normal residence abroad.’

The dispute in the main proceedings and the question referred for a preliminary ruling

11 F. is a German national. Since 1992, he has had a residence in Spain and another residence in Karlsruhe (Germany). It is apparent from the order for reference that the latter residence does not, however, constitute a normal residence within the meaning of Paragraph 7 of the FeV and the first paragraph of Article 12 of Directive 2006/126.

12 F. was convicted in Germany in 1987, in 1990, in 1995 and in 2000 for drink-driving. In 1990, his German driving licence was withdrawn as a result. On 21 October 1992, he was issued with a driving licence in Spain for, inter alia, categories A and B.

13 After having driven a vehicle while intoxicated in Germany on 12 December 2008, F. was made to pay a fine by an enforceable penalty order of 20 January 2009. By the same order, he also had his right to drive motor vehicles in Germany using his Spanish driving licence withdrawn, on the ground of unfitness to drive, and was prohibited from applying for a new driving licence for a 14-month period. Last, the driving licence that had been issued to him in Spain on 22 October 2007 was confiscated from him and sent to the competent Spanish authorities. Those authorities then promptly returned that document to F.

14 Moreover, on 23 November 2009, that is to say, during that 14-month prohibition period, the Spanish authorities issued F. with a new driving licence...