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Driving Licence Categories
I have recently (March 2013) exchanged my UK driving licence for a Belgian licence. As I passed my test before 1997 in the UK, I had C1, C1E, D1, and D1E (trucks up to 7500Kg and busses up to 16 seats, both with a trailer) categories on my licence for the life of the licence (until age 70 in the UK).
On my new Belgian driving licence there is no expiry for category B, but I now have an expiry of approx 18 months after the licence was issued for categories C1, C1E, D1, and D1E, meaning that these will no longer be valid after December 2014.
Does anyone know why this is, and what I need to do if I want to keep these categories on my licence? Is it a medical requirement, do I need to pass further tests, or are these categories being phased out to only allow a full C or D category?
Thanks!
2 things here --
One is that you have to pass a medical in Belgium every 5 years
2nd is there is a new regulatuion that you need 35 hrs of training before September 2015
My renewal after I took a medical - the licence had teh wrong dates of my licence starting - Had to get it changed - apparently teh new system is producing a large portion of incorrect licences!! (the response of my commune who wanted me to wait 5 years to get a corrected one - I declined that offer and insisted on having it changed)
In my case my expiry is 18/4/18 but I have to have 35 hours of tuition before 9/9/15 for teh bus side and then 35 hours before 9/9/16 for teh 7.5tone side.
However -- on doing a good deal of internet searching on various belgium gov sites - These tests are only if you are employed or in business driving up to 7.5 tone or a 16 seater. If it is your private vehicle for your use and family - you can still drive one for the full 5 years (and hire one etc)
When I changed my licence -- I was granted 5 years from the date I exchanged for teh extra categories - In your shoes -- I would go back to teh commune and get them to double check and have some print outs from teh govt web site with you (I haven't the adress - took me a couple of hours of searching)
Good luck
The expiry date for C1/C1E/D1/D1E should be 5 years after your REGISTERED date of arrival in Belgium (which is the date that your commune advised the Bureau des étrangers of your arrival after receiving confirmation that the contrôle de police had taken place).
Note incidentally that your D1/D1E entitlement is no longer subject to restriction 1/101 and that the B entitlement no longer expires at age 70.
According to my commune, the switchover to the new plastic licences has made the exchange of licences much simpler as the screen sequence "asks" all the right questions and automatically calculates your new entitlement including expiry dates.
Belgian licences now have to be renewed every 10 years in accordance with EU requirements but your entitlements which remain "in date" just carry over to the renewed licence.
Just as an addon to BECASSE answer -- The screen info on the computer link at my commune was correct -- the actual licence that arrived was not - my commune blamed the new licence issuing system
