Spanish government paves way for Moroccan driver's license equivalence for professionals

The Spanish government gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for Moroccan professionals to use their Moroccan driving licenses on Spanish soil without taking a theoretical and practical test.

The Iberian executive expressed its support for the recognition of the Moroccan driving license without a prior theoretical test for professionals, with the exception of applicants for the equivalence of driving licenses in classes C (trucks), C+E (with trailer), D (buses) and D+E (with trailer).

“Moroccan drivers applying for the exchange of driving licenses equivalent to Spanish class C, C+E, D and D+E licenses, must pass a driving test on a road open to general traffic, using a vehicle or combination of vehicles whose driving is authorized by the said licenses,” said the official Spanish Bulletin on this subject.

With this authorization, the Spanish government is paving the way for reciprocal recognition of driving licenses. As a reminder, Spain had published the announcement of this reciprocity measure in the Official Bulletin on March 23.

The news will now have to be submitted to the Spanish Parliament for final approval. As a reminder, this change is not a new measure, dating back to February 2019.

Spain’s Directorate General for Traffic (DGT) has initiated a proposal to amend point 4 of the agreement between Spain and Morocco on the reciprocal recognition and exchange of national driving licenses formalized on March 8, 2004, which specified that Moroccan professional drivers would be subject to an additional theoretical and practical test, whereas Spanish professional drivers were not required to do so.

The Spanish Council of Ministers specified that Spain was bound by an “exchange of notes” amending the previous agreement between the two countries on the reciprocal recognition and exchange of national driving licenses.

On February 6, the said Council of Ministers had already approved the signing of the exchange of notes constituting this agreement, which took place in Madrid on February 29 and March 6, 2024. The Spanish government points out that since the amendment was made, it has been applied provisionally since April 7.

The reason for the change is a need for skilled labor among Spanish transport and freight companies, who made the request to offset the number of vacancies for qualified drivers in the sector.

However, the announcement did not go down well with Spain’s far-right, who were quick to criticize the measure. According to the extreme right, Moroccan driving licenses and Moroccan drivers are not at the same level as those in their own country.