The government of the Russian Federation approved a bill restricting citizens’ access to driving licenses from September 1, 2023, Kommersant learned.
The law contains additional restrictions on obtaining a driver’s license. So today you can open category D or D1 (buses and minibuses) without any driving experience. The Ministry of the Interior considers this approach incorrect and, referring to foreign experiences and statistics, proposes opening this category only if there is one year of driving experience in a car or truck.
Restrictions will also apply to persons who have been deprived of their right to drink driving. Today, such citizens return the certificate only after the expiration of the period determined by the court (up to two years). However, there are situations where the perpetrator was caught drunk, while he was deprived of all his rights. Today, the court can impose a penalty in the form of an administrative detention of 15 days under part 3 of art. 12.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. After serving, the citizen takes an exam with the traffic police and returns the rights. The changes bring change: within a year of the court ruling, the offender is no longer allowed to take an exam with the traffic police.
Foreigners must exchange their national driver’s license for Russian one no later than one year after receiving a residence permit in the Russian Federation or a Russian passport.
Today, the explanatory notes state, some foreign citizens use perpetual rights granted in their home country and therefore fail a medical examination (in Russia, a medical certificate is required once every ten years when exchanging certificates).
If a foreigner has one of the bus or freight categories open, he will have to untrain at a Russian driving school in order to obtain Russian rights. Today it is prohibited for foreigners to work in passenger transport (taxi, buses) on the basis of foreign rights. An exception is made for citizens of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, who want to add Armenia to the list.
This bill can not be passed for a long time – the first version appeared in 2019.