According to reports in Portugal, the countries that will benefit from the move are those part of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), as well as the remaining Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations who do not already benefit.
This means licence holders from Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica, United States, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland and Turkey will all be able to use their licences in Portugal without having to switch.
As it stands, only licence holders from the EU, EEA and UK have this right.
It is believed the move is intended to reduce the administrative burden placed upon Portugal’s clerks working in public offices across the country.
The full details regarding the scheme are yet to be published, thus it is not yet clear whether there are any exceptions for HGV licences. If there are not, the change in the law would make it a little easier for Portuguese hauliers to employ drivers from abroad for domestic transports.
Photo: Tomás Rodríguez Ontiveros, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
