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A driving licence in Poland (prawo jazdy) is a document issued by the relevant government agency, regional or local government, confirming the rights of the holder to drive motor vehicles.
Contents
History of driving in Poland
With the proclamation of independence in 1918, the first Polish licences were issued. In 1921 the first Polish Highway Code was passed.
In today's Poland the conditions for entitlement is defined by the law of 20 June 1997 — the Road Traffic Act (Ustawa Prawo o Ruchu Drogowym).
The licences are produced in Poland by the Polish Security Printing Works (Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych).
Appearance
Licence used by drivers who are residents of the associated countries of the European Union have a standard look and contain the information of the driver, common to all countries, developed in 1998. Exceptions to this general rule apply to small parts of this document. Polish driving licences issued from the late 1990's comply with these standards.
Licence is embedded in a transparent plastic the shape and size of a credit card (85.6 × 53.98 mm (ID-1 standard ISO / IEC 7810)), which makes counterfeiting very difficult and ensures longevity.
After 1 May 2004 (the date of Polish EU accession), Polish driving licences were slightly changed:
The licences issued before 1 May 2004 remain valid (do not have to be exchanged).
EU driving licence
In 2006 the European Parliament adopted a directive 2006/126/EEC providing for a uniform driving licence in all Member States. New driving licences are issued from 19 January 2013. In Poland, the new driving licences are mandated by the law of 5 January 2011—the Motor Vehicle Drivers Act (Ustawa o Kierujących Pojazdami; Journal of Laws No. 30, item 151), that came into force on that day.
The existing licences will expire in 2033 and will have to be exchanged for the new ones by that date.
Confusion with Irish driving licences
In February 2009, the Irish police force (Gardaí) was investigating a recidivist who received numerous traffic tickets at different addresses when they determined that Gardaí had mistaken the words "Prawo Jazdy", Polish for "driving licence", for the name of the motorist. In October 2009, the Irish police force was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in literature for this series of mixups.