OPINION OF MR REISCHL — CASE 16/78 CHOQUET

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

Under German law an official driving licence is required for the purpose of driving motor vehicles and, in the case of vehicles for which a licence is required, driving without any such driving licence is punishable by imprisonment or a fine (Articles 2 and 24 of the Straßenver-kehrsgesetz (Law on Road Traffic) of 19 December 1952). According to Articles 6 and 7 of the Paris Convention on Motor Traffic of 24 April 1926 in conjunction with Articles 4 and 5 of the Regulation on International Motor Traffic of 12 November 1934 as amended by the Regulation of 18 April 1940 and also an announcement of 15 November 1952, holders of foreign driving licences — whether they are foreign nationals or German citizens — are entitled, if they possess a driving licence issued by another country or an international driving licence, to drive a motor vehicle within the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany for a period of one year after crossing the frontier or from the date of issue of their driving licence. Thereafter, a German driving licence must be obtained. In this connexion Article 15 of the Straßenverkehrszulassungsordnung (regulation governing the issue of licences to drive road vehicles), as amended by the announcement of 15 November 1974, reads:

Mr Choquet, who is a French citizen, after completing his military service remained in the Federal Republic of Germany as a civilian worker (electrician) and has clearly been resident there since January 1976. He holds a French driving licence issued on 22 November 1968 but does not have a German driving licence. In October 1977 he was involved in a motor accident near Reutlingen. On 3 December 1977 the Amtsgericht (Local Court) Reutlingen convicted him summarily in connexion with that accident. He was fined DM 1600 for dangerous driving and driving without a driving licence and the court ordered that he was not to be granted a driving licence for 11 months.

After an appeal had been lodged against that conviction the Amtsgericht Reutlingen entertained doubts as to whether driving without a German driving licence was a punishable offence or — to put it in another way — as to whether nationals of the Member States of the EEC had to obtain a German driving licence for the purpose of driving a motor vehicle in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Amtsgericht is of the opinion that foreign nationals applying for such a licence might encounter linguistic difficulties and incur considerable expense. This would frequently cause foreigners who wished to avoid that obligation to transfer their residence abroad from the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, either temporarily or permanently. Therefore the German rules and regulations might be regarded as contravening the provisions of the Treaty on freedom of movement and freedom of establishment (Article 48 et seq. of the EEC Treaty) or be said to disregard the obligation to act in a manner favourable to the Community (Article 5 of the EEC Treaty) and the prohibition of discrimination contained in Article 7.

These considerations caused the Amtsgericht to stay proceedings and by an order of 13 February 1978, pursuant to Article 177 of the EEC Treaty, to refer the following question to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:

My opinion on this question is as follows:

1 Translated from the German.