(Case C-227/05)

First subparagraph of Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure – Directive 91/439/EEC – Mutual recognition of driving licences – Confiscation of driving licence in one Member State accompanied by temporary ban on acquiring a new licence – Licence issued in another Member State after the expiry of the temporary ban – Recognition and exchange of that licence in the first Member State – Presentation of a report on aptitude to drive required by national law

Freedom of movement for persons – Freedom of establishment – Driving licences – Directive 91/439 (Council Directive 91/439, Arts 1(2) and 8(2) and (4) (see paras 29, 32, 39, operative part 1-2)

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling – Bayerisches Verwaltungsgericht München – Interpretation of Art. 1(2) and Art. 8(2) and (4) of Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences (OJ 1991 L 237, p. 1) – Refusal to recognise the validity or the exchange of a driving licence issued, after the expiry of the temporary ban, by another Member State, against a holder whose national driving licence had been confiscated for driving under the influence of narcotics – Duty to take aptitude tests.

Operative part

1.The combined provisions of Article 1(2) and Article 8(2) and (4) of Council Directive 91/439/EEC of 29 July 1991 on driving licences, as amended by Council Directive 97/26/EC of 2 June 1997, preclude a Member State from refusing to recognise, within its territory, the right to drive conferred by a driving licence issued in another Member State and, accordingly, the validity of that licence, on the ground that the holder of that licence, whose licence had previously been confiscated within the territory of the first Member State, did not take the test for aptitude to drive required by the law of that State in order for a new licence to be supplied following the confiscation of the previous licence, where the temporary ban on obtaining a new licence imposed at the same time as that confiscation had expired when the driving licence was supplied in the other Member State.

2.The combined provisions of Article 1(2) and Article 8(2) and (4) of Directive 91/439, as amended by Directive 97/26, preclude a Member State, which has received a request, in circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, to exchange a valid driving licence supplied in another Member State for a national driving licence, from making such an exchange subject to the condition that the applicant take a new test of his aptitude to drive, required by the law of the first Member State in order to remove any doubts in that regard by reason of circumstances predating the acquisition of the licence in the other Member State.