Since Friday 16 December, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, through the National Agency for Land Transport (ANaTT) in collaboration with Anip, has launched the biometric driving licence. More secure and durable, the new format does not generate any additional costs over the old rates.
A new format of driving licence. This is the driving licence, which is moving from a three-part paper format to a more secure and durable biometric format, similar to a bank card. The new format does not generate any additional costs on the usual fees charged by the ANaTT for obtaining a driving licence, card renewals or duplicates. This means that the old tariffs remain in force, according to the explanations given in a press conference by the Acting Director General of ANaTT, Mr. Alain Hinkati and the ANIP representative manager Cyrille Gougbedji, at ANaTT headquarters last Friday.
“From now on, one cannot have a biometric driving licence without having provided one’s NPI. In addition to the administrative documents, a document showing the results of blood grouping tests must be provided by the user. To prevent the parameters from deteriorating, the driving licence card is now valid for ten (10) years,” they said.
On the other hand, for users who hold the old licence formats, the Acting Director General of ANaTT pointed out that the introduction of the new licence format does not mean that the old licences are no longer valid. The old permits remain in force and are still valid. A sufficiently long transition period will be given to allow everyone to have the new driving licence formats before further action is taken on whether or not to use the old licences. They invite the holders of the old format not to rush to the ANaTT offices to request the new format.
Alain Hinkati also added that those who were admitted to the licence exams organised in 2022 and who obtained certificates of success, will be able to take possession of their biometric driving licences as of this Monday, notably at the level of all the annexes of the Anatt. According to the speakers, this new format of driving licence offers several guarantees. “This biometric licence card is equivalent to a national identity card. There will be no need for the holder to go and get the national biometric identity card again. However, for digital uses that go beyond the size of the driver’s licence card, the citizen may need the national biometric identity card, which is an electronic smart card,” says Cyrille Gougbédji.
