Swiss Federal Council revises rules for drivers

The Federal Council initially proposed measures to optimise the training and further education of drivers in 2017 with the changes to be implemented in stages until January 1st, 2021.

The key points at the time were the reduction of further training during the probationary period to one day, and the opportunity to acquire a learner's licence for passenger cars at the age of 17.

At its meeting on May 10th, the Federal Council decided on a second series of measures to further optimise the training and education of drivers.

Among other things, regulations relating to medical check-ups, practical tests and the withdrawal of a driving licence have all been amended.

The new measures will come into effect in stages from July 15th.

What are the most important changes?

For one, the so-called blue paper driving licence – which is not recognised in some countries – can now be exchanged for an ID card format until October 31st, 2024. Previously, drivers had time to swap their blue paper licence until January 31st, 2024.

Further to this, there will be a change within the driving licence categories. The term “Sitzplätze” (seats in English) will be uniformly replaced with “Plätze, (places), while Swiss driving licences in French will see “places assises” replaced with “places,” and the Italian equivalent “posti a sedere” will instead be shortened to “posti.”

This change will affect the driving authorisation of the ID card subcategory D1.

Future owners of subcategory D1 licences may no longer drive minibuses and company cars that only have 16 Sitzplätze (seats) but also have standing room. In the future, standing room will be counted towards the number of Plätze instead.

In Switzerland, standing room is only permitted for company cars and minibuses in the regional scheduled traffic of licensed transport companies. Anyone who wants to drive the vehicles mentioned in regional timetable traffic will have to acquire category D in the future.

However, individuals who own a subcategory D1 licence today do not have to acquire category D.

Both of these changes will come into effect on July 15th, 2023.

READ MORE: The dos and don'ts of driving in Switzerland

The newly introduced measures also stipulate that anyone over 75 years of age and  applying for a learner's or driving licence for the first time must undergo a medical examination from March 1st, 2024.

Previously, the age limit for this was 65 years.

And anyone who already has a learner’s licence or driving licence and wishes to acquire a new licence category no longer has to take an additional eye test from March 1st, 2024.

The new measures will also see the Federal Supreme Court’s decision, which is to uniformly prescribe the first medical check-up and the examination intervals, implemented from the same month. This is to ensure that the cantonal authorities treat all drivers equally.

Also, during the withdrawal of a learner's license or driving license, it is now no longer possible to issue a licence category that would have had to be withdrawn if it had already been obtained before the withdrawal took place.

There will also be a change in the quality of the practical driving test for acquiring a driving license for motorcycles (Cat. A) and for passenger cars (Cat. B): The driving tests for categories A and B will now see the drivers drive for at least 45 minutes on public roads in order to pass.

This means that practical driving test to acquire a motorcycle driver's licence will take longer (60 minutes per candidate instead of the previous 30 minutes) from March 1st, 2024.