Two things stand out for people who set out to drive articulated lorries in Andorra. The first is the medical. For professional categories, the Government requires a special certificate from the national health service’s medical review unit; alongside psychotechnical and laboratory tests, it includes a psychiatric assessment. The second is the paperwork: you do not file your own application for a first licence or a new category. The driving school does it for you online, and the Government’s procedures portal says so in no uncertain terms.
Behind both sits a larger fact. Andorra belongs to neither the European Union nor the European Economic Area, so EU driving licence law, EU mutual recognition of licences and the EU Driver CPC do not apply there automatically. The country has its own Traffic Code, its own permit regulations, its own professional certificate for drivers, and its own agreements with individual states. Heavy truck and trailer combinations, the category known as CE across most of Europe, fit into that separate system.
Andorra’s own rulebook, and the part of it that is hard to read.
Every licence procedure on theGovernment’ss e-tràmits portal names the same two texts. One is the Codi de la circulació, the Traffic Code law (Law 12 in the official numbering), which sets the general framework for traffic and driving permits. The other is the Reglament de permisos de conduir i autoritzacions administratives per conduir i del Registre de permisos de conduir, approved by Government Decree 226, which regulates licence categories, procedures and the national register of licences. The portal links to the Traffic Code in the Official Bulletin (BOPA) and to the driving permits regulation in the BOPA.
Professional drivers are subject to two further texts: the Road Transport Law (Llei dels transports per carretera) and a regulation on the initial qualification and continuous training of drivers, Decree 225, approved on the same day as the permits regulation. Both regulations are recent, so older guides and documents often describe categories and procedures that have since been replaced.
The decrees themselves are the weak point for anyone researching the rules from outside. The BOPA publishes them through a JavaScript application whose text could not be read for this article. As a result, the public record is silent on the minimum age for C and CE, any lower age for professional drivers, waiting periods between categories, test content and languages, retests, CAP training hours, the recognition of an EU Code 95 and medical intervals by age. The sections below note where each gap matters. In every case, the regulation holds the answer, and the Registre de permisos de conduir or a driving school can confirm it.
C2+E on older papers, CE on newer ones
In the harmonised European scheme, category C covers rigid goods vehicles with a maximum authorised mass (MAM) above 3,500 kg, and CE covers a category C towing vehicle coupled to a trailer or semi-trailer with a MAM over 750 kg. In everyday terms, that means articulated lorries and rigid trucks pulling heavy drawbar trailers.
Andorra used its own labels for a long time. The clearest record is the driving licence agreement with Luxembourg, published by the Andorran parliament in the Consell General bulletin. Its equivalence table matches Andorran C2 to European C and C2+E to European CE, C1 and C1+E to C1 and C1E, and D2 and D2+E to D and DE.
TheGovernment’ss current procedures use European-style names instead. The pages on professional medicals and homologation list categories B2, C1, C, D1 and D, and published statistics describe the heavy goods categories as C, C1 and CE. The C2 family is best read as the older set of labels, which is how it is treated here. Two national categories have no exact EU twin: B2, used for taxis and similar professional passenger work, and J, an accompanied driving permit for young drivers.
The category does not provide a weight allowance. CE has no upper MAM limit for the combination, yet no driver may take any combination onto the road. The real ceilings come from the rules on weights, dimensions, and axle loads; from the vehicle’s own documents; and, beyond the standard limits, from a specific permit. Andorra runs a separate procedure to authorise the circulation of goods transport and special vehicles, valid for up to one year.
The Government issues licences; the parishes do not
Andorra is divided into parishes, each with its own comú, but licensing is a national matter for the Govern d’Andorra. Some documents mention a “Servei de Circulació”; in Andorra, that name belongs to parish-level traffic services, for example in Andorra la Vella, which do not issue licences.
The relevant office is the Registre de permisos de conduir, the Driving Permits Register. It keeps the national register and processes applications, renewals, duplicates, certificates and the homologation of foreign licences. The procedure pages give its telephone number as 875 700, extensions 1298 and 1601, and its email address as permisosdeconduir@govern.ad. Signatures and photographs are taken at Government offices through the general Servei de tràmits, reachable on 150.
Three other bodies are involved. The Servei de Revisions Mèdiques of SAAS, the Andorran health and social care service, issues the special medical certificate for professional categories. The Government department responsible for transport handles the professional aptitude certificate, transport diplomas, tachograph cards and goods transport authorisations. Authorised driving schools (autoescoles) do more than teach: for a first licence, a category upgrade or a homologation with an exam, they file the application.
An NIA first, and residence for most of what follows
The threshold for applying is simple: any natural person with legal capacity who holds an NIA (número d’identificació administrativa, the Andorran administrative identification number). Your identity has to be registered with the Andorran administration before a school can file anything for you.
Residence then shapes the rest. PRADO, the EU’s public register of identity and travel documents, describes the Andorran licence card as issued to driving licence holders who are legally resident in Andorra. The tachograph card procedure requires the driver to be a habitual resident holding an Andorran heavy vehicle licence. Someone who lives in Spain or France and commutes is in a different position, covered further down.
Age and the order of categories
Decree 226 sets the minimum age for C and CE, not the procedure pages, and it would be a mistake to borrow the EU figures. Under EU law, the standard minimum age for C and CE is 21, with lower ages for some professionally qualified drivers. Andorra has not adopted EU licensing law, so confirm the Andorran figure before booking any training.
The category order is clearer in outline. The European structure reflected in the Luxembourg table builds CE on top of C (C2 in the older labels), and C on top of B. Expect to hold a car licence, then the rigid lorry category, then the trailer extension.
Start with the SAAS medical, psychiatric assessment included
The medical is the best-documented part of the Andorran heavy-vehicle route. For the professional categories B2, C1, C, D1 and D, the Government requires a certificat mèdic especial oficial, a special official medical certificate, from the Servei de Revisions Mèdiques of SAAS. It has three components: a psychotechnical test (prova psicotècnica) of reactions, coordination and similar abilities; an analytical test (prova analítica), meaning laboratory tests; and a psychiatric assessment (valoració psiquiàtrica).
You must request appointments in advance at 871 100. You need the same certificate again each time a professional category is renewed, and when a foreign licence with professional categories is homologated. SSAAS’ss fee isn’t listed on the licensing pages, so ask when booking.
Doing this first is sensible. The medical is the one requirement a candidate cannot train their way through, and finding out early avoids paying a school for lessons toward a licence that can’t be issued.
The driving school files your application
The Government portal is explicit about who submits a first licence application: “Aquest tràmit el gestionen les autoescoles i s’ha de fer íntegrament per via telemàtica”, meaning driving schools manage the procedure, and it is done entirely electronically. The same applies to increasing a category on an existing licence (augment de categoria), the route for adding a heavy category, and homologation with an exam. On prior requirements, the portal simply sends candidates to the school: "Per conèixer els requisits previs, cal adreçar-se a l'autoescola."
The upgrade page has one oddity. Its title is general, and it is listed apart from the specific A2 to A and J to B procedures, yet its description text talks about moving from A2 to A. It is treated here as the general upgrade route, but ask the school to confirm it is the procedure it will file for C and CE.
From thecandidate’ss side, the published steps for a first driving licence or an upgrade run in this order:
- Obtain or confirm your NIA.
- Enrol with an authorised driving school and ask for its list of prior requirements.
- Obtain the SAAS special medical certificate.
- Complete the training and pass the tests arranged through the school.
- Give your signature and photograph at Government offices, ideally after booking through the Government appointment system, which the portal recommends.
- Wait for the decision, which has a published maximum resolution period of 60 working days.
Those 60 working days are a legal ceiling on the administrative decision, not a forecast of how long qualifying takes.
Choosing a school when there is no official list
No official list of schools offering C and CE training was found, so none is named here, and no public page confirms that heavy vehicle practical tests are held inside Andorra. The system clearly provides for heavy categories, since statistics show Andorran drivers holding C, C1, and CE, and the medical, CAP, and tachograph procedures all refer to Andorran heavy licences. Where the heavy test takes place is a question for the schools.
The Government does publish the standard for instructors. The procedure for authorisation to work as a driving school instructor requires, among other things, that instructors are at least 21, hold a Catalan certificate at B2 level, have more than two years’ experience in the category they teach and work through a school. The Catalan rule raises a question every non-Catalan speaker should ask: Catalan is the official language, and the public pages do not say whether heavy vehicle tests can be taken in Spanish, French, or anything else.
A first conversation with a school should also cover whether it trains for C and CE itself, which lorry and trailer you would use, and what the price includes: theory and practical hours, test fees, vehicle hire for the test, retests and the filing.
The heavy test, as far as the public pages go
The procedure pages say nothing about test content. Heavy vehicle testing elsewhere in Europe usually means theory plus a practical test covering vehicle checks, coupling and uncoupling, reversing and manoeuvring a long combination, and driving on public roads. Treat that as a basis for preparation, not a description of the Andorran test.
The road element is where Andorra differs. Almost everything that reaches its shops, building sites and ski resorts arrives by lorry through the mountain crossings from Spain and France, on roads with steep gradients, tight bends, tunnels, sudden winter weather and heavy tourist traffic in peak seasons. Long descents with a loaded combination demand disciplined use of engine braking and retarders, and winter can make snow chains necessary. None of this is a published requirement, but it is worth asking a school for practice on long descents before the test.
Retest rules, the number of attempts and any waiting period after a failure are not published either. Because they change the real cost of qualifying, settle them with the school before signing up.
Government fees are modest and published; the rest is not.
The portal lists an official fee for each procedure, and the amounts are low. A first driving licence is shown at €0.00 on the first licence procedure page. Adding a category costs €24.66, as does a standard renewal. Homologating a foreign licence costs €65.94 by either route. A certificate of authenticity for an Andorran licence and the accreditation of the professional aptitude certificate cost €7.50 each, and a first digital tachograph cardcosts €112.55. Fees can be revised, so rely on the procedure page on the day you apply.
The higher costs sit outside those figures and aren’t listed in any public source. SAAS charges separately for the medical. Driving schools charge for tuition, practical lessons, the test vehicle and their administrative work, and any CAP training comes on top. No heavy vehicle course price from an Andorran provider was found, so no example is given. Itemised written quotes are the only fair basis for comparison: a cheap quote that leaves out the test vehicle or retests can prove the dearer one.
The CAP, Andorra’s certificate for professional work
A CE licence entitles you to drive the vehicle. Driving it for a transport company is a separate question, governed by Andorra’s own Certificat d’Aptitud Professional (CAP), the professional qualification for drivers of goods and passenger vehicles in categories C1, C, D1 and D. It rests on the Road Transport Law and on Decree 225. It is not the EU Driver CPC, although it occupies a similar place in the system.
The one CAP procedure published on the portal is the accreditation of the Certificat d’Aptitude Professionnelle, through which a driver asks the transport department to certify that they hold the initial CAP automatically (“d’ofici”). The applicant must be a professional driver in public goods or passenger transport, hold at least one of C1, C, D1, or D, and have worked for six months as a driver in a transport company. The application needs a form plus a company certificate in the format of Annex I of Decree 225. The fee is €7.50, and the maximum resolution time is two months.
This appears to be a recognition route for drivers already at work when the CAP regulation arrived, rather than a path for newcomers: someone who has just obtaineda CE has no six months to show. The public pages leave open how a new driver gains the initial CAP, how many training hours that involves, how long the periodic training cycle lasts, and whether an EU Code 95 counts in Andorra. There is no basis for assuming Andorra copies the EU pattern of 35 hours every five years, so anyone planning a move into Andorran haulage should ask the transport department first.
Tachograph card, driving time and dangerous goods
Andorra issues its own digital tachograph driver cards. The first tachograph card procedure requires the driver to be a habitual resident of Andorra holding an Andorran heavy vehicle licence for lorries or buses. The application includes a form and a recent colour photograph (35 by 40 mm); the fee is €112.55, and the maximum processing time is two months. Cards are renewed every five years, up to age 70. The procedure’s legal basis includes the Road Transport Law and the AETR agreement, which governs driving and rest times on international journeys. Working-time rules are separate from licensing, and an employer can decide which rules apply to its domestic work.
Dangerous goods add another layer. The portal lists professional transport diplomas for transport operator competence and for dangerous goods safety advisers under the ADR agreement. No procedure for the ADR driver training certificate appeared on the pages reviewed, so a driver aiming for hazardous-load work should ask the transport department how to obtain it.
Bringing a foreign licence: homologation, not recognition
With EU mutual recognition out of the picture, foreign licences enter the Andorran system through homologation. Which route applies depends on whether Andorra has an agreement or reciprocity with the issuing country.
Direct homologation, where an agreement allows it
The direct homologation procedure applies "quan és possible fer una homologació directa", when an agreement or reciprocity allows recognition without tests. Unlike a first licence, you file this one yourself: apply online with your NIA, attend Government offices for signature and photograph, and pay €65.94. The published maximum processing time is 48 hours. A licence with a professional category (B2, C1, C, D1 or D) needs the SAAS special medical certificate, so book that appointment well before the move.
Homologation with an exam, where nothing allows it
Without an agreement or reciprocity, the homologation-with-an-exam procedure applies. A driving school manages it entirely online, and the fee is again €65.94. The page does not say which tests are required for which categories; the school handling the file will know.
What the Luxembourg agreement shows
Andorra negotiates licence recognition country by country, and the Luxembourg agreement is the one whose text could be read in full. Under it, a licence from one party stops being valid for a new resident one year after they settle in the other. Holders can exchange licences without theory or practical tests, with exceptions; however, a medical certificate may be required for the categories requested. Only licences obtained before taking up residence can be exchanged, and the original must be returned to the issuing country. The agreement takes effect only after both sides complete their internal procedures, and it could not be confirmed whether that has happened.
Which other countries have agreements with Andorra, and on what terms for heavy categories, could not be verified. A CE holder planning a move should send the Registre a copy of the licence beforehand and ask specifically whether C and CE would survive homologation, rather than finding out after arrival.
An Andorran licence abroad counts as a non-EU licence.
The same logic runs in reverse. To Spain, France and every other EU country, an Andorran licence is a non-EU licence. The EU’s own guidance says each EU country decides for itself which non-EU licences it recognises and exchanges, and that a licence exchanged in one EU country may not be recognised in another. Anyone moving from Andorra to an EU state should check its exchange rules for heavy categories before leaving.
For trips abroad while resident in Andorra, the Andorran licence remains the document that counts. An International Driving Permit, when required, only translates a valid licence and never replaces it. When an authority or employer abroad wants proof of Andorran entitlements, the Government issues a certificate confirming the data on your Andorran licence for €7.50.
Renewal, with a new medical every time
According to PRADO, the Andorran licence card has a maximum validity of five years, with the exact expiry printed on the card. The renewal procedure costs €24.66 and has a maximum resolution period of 60 working days. For professional categories, every renewal needs a fresh SAAS special medical certificate with the same three components. Drivers over 65 follow a separate renewal procedure, at the same fee and with the SAAS medical.
The practical risk is timing. With up to 60 working days for a decision and an advance appointment for the medical, a renewal left to the final weeks invites a gap. An expired licence means you cannot legally drive, whatever the state of your CAP or tachograph card, and those two run on their own schedules, so keep all three expiry dates together.
You replace a lost or stolen licence through a duplicate procedure, which requires a certificate from the Andorran police or, if it happened abroad, a police report from that country.
Living in Spain or France and working in Andorra
Many people who work in Andorra live across the border, and many Andorran hauliers run services into Spain and France. For a driver living in an EU country, EU law decides where to get a licence: the country of normal residence, generally where you spend at least 185 days a year, with a special rule for students after six months of study. The EU’s Your Europe page on getting a driving licence explains the rule.
A driver living in Spain or France therefore trains and tests for CE under Spanish or French rules, with that country’s ages, medical standards and Driver CPC requirements. That is the neighbouring country’s process, not Andorra’s. A driver living in Andorra is not normally resident in Spain or France and cannot simply sit a CE test there; someone who already holds an EU CE licence and moves to Andorra goes through Andorran homologation, including SAAS medical.
A licence is also separate from the right to live or work in Andorra. Residence and work authorisations are an immigration matter for the Andorran authorities, and no licence, homologation or professional certificate grants them. Nor does an Andorran CE entitlement give a right to drive professionally in another country, or come with a job.
The haulage trade around the driver
Road haulage in Andorra is also regulated at the company level. The Government portal includes registration in the general register of carriers, authorisations for international goods transport and licences for sensitive goods, all obligations for operators rather than drivers.
Published figures are thin. Department of Statistics data reported by the news site Alto.ad put active driving licences in Andorra at 57,657 at the end of the most recently reported year, with women holding fewer than 5% of the professional categories. The report says nothing on driver demand or pay, and no figures on either are offered here.
A checklist for an Andorran CE
- Ask the Registre de permisos de conduir (875 700, extensions 1298 or 1601, or permisosdeconduir@govern.ad) for the current minimum age for C and CE and the order of categories.
- Book the SAAS professional medical on 871 100 before paying for training.
- Ask each school for an itemised quote, the test language, the test vehicle, its retest rules and which procedure it will file.
- After qualifying, ask the transport department how a new driver obtains the initial CAP and what periodic training applies.
- Apply for a tachograph card once you hold the Andorran heavy licence, and record the licence, CAP and card expiry dates together.
- Bringing a foreign licence? Send the Registre a copy and ask whether C and CE will be homologated before you move.
The weakest point in the public record is Decree 226 itself: the ages, test content and professional training hours it sets could not be read, and the status of the Luxembourg agreement and of any other licence agreements remains unconfirmed. The Registre de permisos de conduir has the final word on licences and homologation, and the transport department on the CAP and tachograph cards. Check fees and procedures on the Government’s transport procedures portal on the day you apply; this is not legal advice.
Holding a CE and a CAP is when FastDriver.eu becomes useful: it is a job portal for drivers and transport employers, where drivers can register a driver profile or browse vacancies listed on the site. It issues no licences, approves no qualifications and cannot promise work, a visa or a work permit.
Official sources
- Govern d'Andorra: transport procedures (e-tràmits)
- First obtaining of a driving licence
- Increase of category of a driving licence
- Direct homologation of a foreign licence
- Accreditation of the Certificat d'Aptitud Professional
- Driving permits regulation (BOPA)
- Your Europe: getting a driving licence in the EU
FAQs
- What is a category CE driving licence in Andorra?
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