Mobile driving licence (mDL) in Europe: status 2026

A mobile driving licence, or mDL, is your driving licence as a digital credential on your smartphone. In the EU it is on track to become part of the EU Digital Identity Wallet: Directive (EU) 2025/2205 introduces a digital driving licence that is issued into the wallet, while the physical card stays available on request. As of October 2026 the directive is law but not yet applicable, so what you can use today are national apps, which mostly work only at home.

What the new EU directive says

Directive (EU) 2025/2205 on driving licences was adopted on 22 October 2025, published in the Official Journal on 5 November 2025 and entered into force on 25 November 2025. Its key dates:

Date	What happens
25 November 2025	Directive enters into force
26 November 2028	Member States must have transposed it into national law
26 November 2029	The rules start to apply

The European Commission describes the digital licence as a fully digital document on a mobile phone or other digital device, issued through the EU Digital Identity Wallet. Physical licences remain available, particularly for people without smartphones or for journeys to countries that do not recognise digital documents (Commission announcement). Reports on the final agreement point to the digital licence becoming the default format after a transition period, with a uniform licence in the wallet expected around 2030.

The directive is wider than the digital part. It also introduces, among other things, an EU-wide accompanied driving scheme for 17-year-olds, a probationary period of at least two years for novice drivers, and mutual recognition of driving disqualifications for serious offences.

What exists today

Several countries already have their own mobile licence. According to the Commission’s documentation, mobile licences are available in Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Spain, and Norway issued one nationwide from 2019. Italy and Finland have plans. These solutions were built before the EU rules and use national apps. In general:

• They are not harmonised. They do not follow one common EU format.
• They are not valid outside the issuing country as proof of driving entitlement, for example at a roadside check or at a car hire desk.
• They may rely on a national eID for registration, such as ID Austria or MitID.

So if you travel, treat the app as a convenience at home and carry the physical card abroad. Ask your car rental company in advance if they accept a digital version.

How an mDL works technically

The technical basis is the international standard ISO/IEC 18013-5, published in 2021, which our standards page on mdoc and ISO 18013-5 explains in more depth. In short:

• Data model. The licence is an “mdoc”: a set of data fields such as name, birth date, categories and expiry, encoded in a compact binary format.
• Issuer signature. The licensing authority signs the data. A verifier checks the signature against the issuer’s certificate, so no live connection to the authority is needed.
• Device binding. The credential is tied to a key on your phone, which prevents simple copying.
• In-person presentation. The verifier’s reader and your phone set up an encrypted channel, typically triggered by NFC or a QR code and carried over Bluetooth.
• Selective disclosure. The reader asks for specific fields. You see the request and decide what to release. A bar that only needs to know that you are over 18 should not receive your address.

A companion specification, ISO/IEC 18013-7, covers presenting an mDL online to remote services. The EUDI Wallet supports mdoc alongside a second credential format, SD-JWT VC, which is covered in our page on SD-JWT.

Why the transition is slow

Three things have to line up before an EU-wide digital licence works in daily life. National law must be changed, which the directive allows until November 2028. National wallets must be live and able to hold a licence. And the people who check licences, from police officers to car hire staff, need readers or apps that understand the standard. Each step depends on the previous one, which explains why the application date lies in 2029 even though the technology exists today.

Privacy and security considerations

An mDL can be more private than plastic, because the user decides what to reveal. The privacy gain is real only if verifiers ask for the minimum. Watch for services that request all fields by default, and use wallets that show clearly what each request contains. Your lock-screen and wallet PIN matter as well: a stolen unlocked phone should not give access to your licence. For the wider picture, see our pages on EUDI Wallet privacy and EUDI Wallet security.

How it connects to age checks

A digital licence is one possible source of an age attestation. The EU’s age verification blueprint, covered in EU age verification, uses similar credentials so that a platform learns only that you are over a threshold, not your date of birth or name.

What to do now

1. Keep carrying the physical licence when you leave your country.
2. If your country offers a national mobile licence, try it for domestic use and learn how it handles privacy prompts.
3. Follow your national wallet launch on our EUDI Wallet timeline. The driving licence will arrive in the wallet only after the wallet itself exists and the directive is transposed.
4. When you renew your physical licence, ask whether the issuer already plans a digital counterpart.