There is a specific case in which the driving license is no longer recognized as an identity document. In fact, it is not always allowed.
How many times have we used the driver’s license as an identity document for convenience or not to inconvenience an identity card that is perhaps too worn or that we have simply forgotten at home? Certainly many, but it is good to pay attention because it is not accepted as such in all cases. At least not anymore.
The latest update of the Italian law that regulates the use of a driving license as an identity document, to be precise article 35 of Presidential Decree 445/2000, establishes a specific case in which this is no longer permitted. Let’s see which one.
Driving license as an identity document? Possible, but not in this case
Let’s start with the good news, in the sense that it is precisely the article we have quoted that confirms that we can use the driving license as an identification documentat least as far as Italy is concerned.
“In all cases where an identity document is required, it can always be replaced by a equivalent identification document. Passports, driving licences, nautical licences, pension booklets, qualifications for the operation of heating systems, firearms licences, identification cards are equivalent to the identity card, provided they have a photograph or stamp or other equivalent signature, issued by a State administration.”
However, the problem concerns, paradoxically, all the recently issued licenses in the European format. If previously the driving license in paper format was issued by the Prefecture, a body of the Ministry of the Interior, today it is an operation carried out by the Civil Motorization for a document that since 2013 it does not even bear the person’s home address.
But don’t worry because not even the elimination of this last figure has changed things: the driving license issued on Italian soil maintains its equivalent nature of identification document like an identity card.
What then is the case when this is not possible? In the event we prepare to face a trip abroad. In that case, we must not forget that the licence, unlike the identity card, it does not appear as a valid document for expatriation purposesincluding the countries of the European Union.
At least in theory, the license should be accepted for flights that operate exclusively on Italian territory, but we know very well that this is not always the case because some companies have the right to refuse boarding if the identity card or the passport for passenger identification.
To answer the question, therefore, yes, the driving license is generally recognized as an identity document for all the operations for which it can be used on Italian territory. If you are traveling abroad, however, it is advisable not to show up at the border or at the airport with only a driving licence: in that case there is a real risk of being rejected.
