Traffic > Drunken driving and drugs > Intoxicants and the right to drive

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    • Intoxicants and the right to drive
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  • Driving licences

Intoxicants and the right to drive

The police are not authorized to issue or renew a driving licence if the applicant cannot refrain from driving while under the influence of alcohol. Applicants who have earlier been diagnosed as having an alcohol dependency can have their driving licence issued or renewed if they can prove with a certificate issued by a specialist doctor and through regular medical check-ups that they have been off alcohol for a specified period.

Neither can a driving licence be renewed if the applicant is dependent on substances that affect the central nervous system or uses them regularly even without being dependent on them. The police will ascertain when processing the driving licence application whether the applicant has an intoxicant dependency. The applicant may be required to provide a specialist doctor’s certificate or a certificate from a doctor who is an expert in intoxicant abuse.

In order to prove that an intoxicant dependency no longer exists, the police will require a doctor’s certificate from:

• holders of a short-term driving licence following the first offence of drunken driving, aggravated drunken driving or driving under the influence of some other intoxicant, unless the police for some special reason consider it unnecessary
• other driving licence holders following the second offence of drunken driving, aggravated drunken driving or driving under the influence of some other intoxicant, provided these have occurred during the last three years
• driving licence holders who have been convicted of drug-related crimes involving use of illegal drugs
• intoxicated driving licence holders who have been taken into custody if there is reason to believe that they would endanger traffic safety. This is the case if the holder of a short-term driving licence has been taken into custody in a state of intoxication twice, or the holder of any other driving licence three times, during the last six months.

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