The cardboard driving license will no longer be recognized in France, replaced by a plastic version, itself in the hot seat according to the latest work of the European Union which is working on a dematerialized version!
“So, did you get your pink paper?” This is how, a few years ago, a learner driver was asked if he had passed his driving test. This is no longer the case since 2013, when the driver’s license made of pink cardboard paper gave way to the plastic magnetic card. Smaller, the size of a credit card, it has many advantages: durability, security, ease of checking the points of your driving license online, European standardization… But for many drivers, all those who have obtained their license before September 2013, it is this pink paper, formerly “certificate of capacity” (and already printed in pink!), introduced in the 1890s before officially becoming a driver’s license on December 31, 1922, which gives them the right to drive a motorized vehicle (other than cars without a license).
This famous pink paper, which certainly does not evoke much to the young generation, nevertheless lives its last moments, or rather its last years. Because if it cohabits today and has been for a decade with the bank card format driving license, the “pink license”, equipped with three folding flaps since 1955, is doomed to disappear. On January 19, 2033 precisely, the date from which the cardboard driving license will no longer be recognized in France, replaced by a plastic version, itself in the hot seat according to the latest work of the European Union which is working on a dematerialized version!
Ten years, this leaves time for the many owners of the paper version driving license to take the steps to be able to exchange it for its plastic version. The free procedure should be done only on the internet, via the ANTS website (Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés). The government is still rather vague on the steps to be taken. “To date, no decision has been taken regarding his replacement before 2033. You do not have to ask for his replacement”, is it specified on the website of the Ministry of the Interior. Today, this change of licence, only possible in the event of loss, theft or deterioration of the cardboard licence, is coupled with the payment of a stamp duty of 25 euros. Those most attached to their cardboard driving license – for which there was no validity period unlike the new format which must be renewed every 15 years – therefore still have a few years ahead of them before changing it.
After 2033, the license will no longer have any value during a roadside check and will therefore logically expose you to a fine for failure to present your license. This fine is currently set at 11 euros but can be increased to 38 euros. The driver unable to present a driving license then has 5 days to submit this document to a police or gendarmerie station, under penalty of a fine of 135 euros. Even worthless from 2033, this pink driver’s license could well become a collector’s item. Their owners will always be able to keep them in their memory box, to tell their children or grandchildren about the day they got their precious “pink paper”…
