Official Journal of the European Union

C 355/6

(Case C-224/10) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Directive 91/439/EEC - Mutual recognition of driving licences - Withdrawal of the national driving licence issued by the Member State of residence and issue of a driving licence for vehicles in categories B and D by another Member State - Refusal of recognition by the Member State of residence - Obligation to hold a valid licence for vehicles in category B at the time of issue of the licence for vehicles in category D)

2011/C 355/09

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Party to the national criminal proceedings

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Landgericht Baden-Baden — Interpretation of Articles 1, 5(1)(a) and 8(2) and (4) of Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences (OJ 1991 L 237, p. 1) and of 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) — Driving licence for category B issued by a Member State to a national of another Member State before a decision to withdraw the national licence but after the facts which justified that withdrawal — Extension of that licence, by the Member State of issue, to category D after expiry of the period during which no new national licence could be applied for — Possibility for the Member State of residence to refuse to recognise the validity of that licence, basing that refusal on the lack of a valid licence for category B at the time when the licence for category D was issued

Operative part of the judgment

Articles 1(2), 5(1)(a), 7(1)(b) and 8(2) and (4) of Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences, as amended by Commission Directive 2000/56/EC of 14 September 2000, do not preclude a host Member State from refusing to recognise a driving licence for vehicles in categories B and D issued by another Member State, first, if the holder of that driving licence was granted the right to drive vehicles in category B in disregard of the normal residence condition and after his driving licence issued by the first Member State had been confiscated by the police authorities in that first Member State but before the right to drive was withdrawn by court order in that first Member State, and, second, if the holder of that driving licence was granted the right to drive vehicles in category D after that withdrawal by court order and after the expiry of the ban on the issue of a new driving licence.

(<span class="note">1</span>) OJ C 221, 14.8.2010.