The Ministry of Transport has approved Order TRM/59/2025, dated January 16, regulating the driver certificate for conducting international public road freight transport.
Regulation (EC) No. 1072/2009 establishes the requirement for transport operators holding a Community license to obtain a driver certificate when employing legally contracted drivers or those made available to the operator. However, this requirement does not apply to citizens of a European Union Member State or long-term residents under Council Directive 2003/109/EC of November 25, 2003.
Since this regulation applies within the European Economic Area (EEA) and has been incorporated into the EEA Agreement, drivers who are nationals of Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway will also be exempt from needing this certificate.
Additionally, as compliance with labor and social obligations of transport companies is already verified when granting transport authorizations, the scenarios in which the driver certificate is mandatory have been revised. Consequently, the certificate will only be required for international road freight transport when the driver is a national of a third country outside the EU and EEA and does not hold long-term resident status in the EU.
The new order also introduces administrative simplifications, such as consulting documentation through public records and eliminating the requirement to submit a report from the Provincial Traffic Department on the validity of driving licenses issued by foreign authorities.
Order TRM/59/2025 expressly repeals the previous regulation (Order FOM/3399/2002) and establishes the following key provisions:
a) Certificates for third-country nationals are limited to international road freight transport. They will not be required for domestic transport services, passenger transport drivers, or long-term residents.
b) Certificates issued under Order FOM/3399/2002 will remain valid until their expiration date.
c) The requirements for issuing the certificate remain unchanged, except for the removal of the Provincial Traffic Department report when the driving license was issued by a foreign authority.
d) The Administration may verify compliance with requirements electronically when the relevant records are operational.
e) Order FOM/3399/2002 is expressly repealed.
f) The new regulation came into effect on January 29, 2025.
With this regulatory update, the Ministry aims to align Spanish regulations with the European legal framework and reduce the administrative burden on transport companies.
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