They were introduced to replace the 110 different plastic and paper driving licences of the 300 million drivers in the EEA.

A driving licence issued by a member state of the EEA is recognised throughout the EEA and can be used as long as it is valid, the driver is old enough to drive a vehicle of the equivalent category, and the licence is not suspended or restricted and has not been revoked in the issuing country.

It also required an applicant to meet the minimum standards of physical and mental fitness to drive.

The directive stipulated that it is mandatory to have the normal residence in the Member State issuing the licence.

[10] The Decision made some adaptions to the directive, notably: the distinguishing sign issuing the licence is encircled by an ellipse instead of being printed on the European flag, the words "driving licence" in Icelandic and Norwegian languages were added, and the words “European Communities model” were replaced by “EEA model”.

However, with the exception of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (which uses 'standard' French driving licences) and Wallis and Futuna (which is the last remaining French territory still issuing non-credit card sized licences), all Overseas Collectivities of France have followed EU harmonisation standards, as well as the 'EEA model'.

However, none of the EEA countries currently require IDPs for visitors staying shorter than 12 months.

[17] On 1 March 2023, the European Commission released a proposal to modernise the legal framework surrounding driver training, examination, licences and cross-border enforcement of driving offences.

[18] Specifically regarding driving licences, the measures presented included: These proposals would have to be considered through the usual EU legislative procedure before coming into effect.

[18] In July 2019, Norway was the first EU/EEA country to issue a mobile version of its driving licence using a proprietary app on a nationwide basis.

Since then, mobile driving licences have been available in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

[19] The fields for "restrictions" (number 12) contain numeric codes which are used to convey additional information that goes beyond the licence categories.

One common entry in field 13 is 01.06, indicating that the driver must wear glasses or contact lenses.