Spain scraps regulation and brings change to driving licences

The code appears on the back of some driving licences and means that the holder may only drive vehicles with automatic transmission. The restriction, which forms part of a harmonised European system of licence codes, currently applies to anyone who takes and passes their practical driving test in an automatic vehicle. However, it will disappear in the coming years.

The new EU directive 2025/2205 will remove code 78, which remains in force for now and requires drivers who take their test in an automatic car to repeat the practical test in a manual vehicle if they want to obtain the corresponding entitlement.

Once the new rules take effect, a seven-hour course will be enough for drivers who passed their test in an automatic car to drive manual vehicles as well. The training will focus on using the clutch and gear lever. "This will make the automatic car the main gateway to driving," Sergio Olivera, president of the national confederation of driving schools (CNAE), says in an article published by the DGT.

At present, drivers who take their test in an automatic car must repeat the practical test in a manual vehicle to gain the corresponding entitlement.

In recent years, automatic cars have become increasingly common on Spanish roads. The arrival of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles, together with a growing range of models without manual gearboxes, is changing drivers’ habits and beginning to affect driving schools. These developments have created a need to change the existing rules.

In the publication, the DGT also highlights what it sees as the advantages of automatic cars over manual vehicles in terms of safety, comfort, efficiency and environmental impact.

"Modern automatic vehicles accelerate better, use less fuel, produce fewer emissions and maintain more consistent performance. Not because the engine is different, but because the transmission manages power more efficiently," driving instructor Sergio Fernández says in the aforementioned article.

The European directive received approval at the end of 2025, but Spain will not implement it immediately. Member states have until 26 November 2028 to pass their national legislation transposing the directive, while the overall deadline for applying the new rules is 26 November 2029.

The DGT and the Spanish Interior Ministry support the measure. However, driving schools cannot yet issue this direct conversion because Spain must first publish its transposing legislation in the official state gazette (BOE) and formally bring the relevant national technical regulations into force.

Access the broad Spain national news archive