Why Azerbaijan's some driving licenses are not recognized abroad? - OPINION

Baku. 6 April. REPORT.AZ/ "Azerbaijan's driving licenses will soon be recognized abroad".

The Head of Division at the Main Traffic Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), Kamran Aliyev told Report.

He noted that there is no serious problem with the recognition of Azerbaijan's driving license abroad.

Aliyev said that each country has its own legislation regarding driving licenses: "Personally, I used my driving license in foreign countries and it was known everywhere. If they make such statements, they must prove that some of our citizens had problems with our driving license abroad ".

Police Colonel noted that each state has its own legislation in this regard: "In Azerbaijan, these issues are regulated by law. For example, citizens of foreign countries or Azerbaijanis who have been given a driving license abroad can travel to Azerbaijan and use driving license within a month. Then those people must get a national driving license in Azerbaijan. The same law is applied in Germany, Spain or in other European countries. In other countries, law on driving licenses may be different. This does not mean that our driving licenses do not meet the requirements of the convention acts and not recognized."

Traffic expert, director of the law firm "Digesta" Arshad Huseynov told Report that there are two reasons why some Azerbaijan's driving licenses are not recognized in foreign countries.

According to him, the first is coming from the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, adopted in 1968:

Annex 6.6 (Domestic Driving Permit) of Vienna Convention reads: All the entries on the permit shall be made only in Latin characters. If other characters are used, the entries shall also be transliterated into the Latin alphabet.

Since 7 letters in our alphabet are not Latin letters, these letters are not eligible for convention. Because in our licences such words are not repeated.

The second reason is the amendment to Annex 6 was published in the new edition in 2004 and the new edition came into force in 2011. According to the change, the data in the card should be sorted by paragraphs. This norm is violated in our driving licenses. The violation of this order also makes our passports useless in foreign countries”.

The expert said that the new licenses adapted to the convention: According to Section VIII of Article 35 of the Law “On Road Traffic” of the Republic of Azerbaijan, no fees required to exchange driving license that has incorrect writing”.