Two rules shape the Danish route to a lorry-and-trailer licence more than any others. The first is language: since the Danish rules on test languages changed, no interpreter may sit in on a driving test, and both the theory and practical tests must be taken in Danish, English, Faroese, Greenlandic, or German. The second is age. The licence itself normally requires you to be 21. Still, the professional qualification route you choose can bring that down to 18, so you have to plan the licence and the qualification together.
The entitlement is called kørekort til kategori C/E in Danish, and official pages describe it as a licence for a large lorry with a large trailer (stor lastbil med stort påhængskøretøj). Elsewhere in Europe the same category is written CE or C+E.
C/E in Danish law: a lorry over 3,500 kg towing more than 750 kg
The Executive Order on Driving Licences (Kørekortbekendtgørelsen) defines the categories. Its section on category C covers motor vehicles with a permitted total weight (tilladt totalvægt) above 3,500 kg, built to carry no more than eight passengers besides the driver. A category C driver may already tow a trailer, but only one, with a permitted total weight of up to 750 kg.
C/E removes that trailer ceiling. The section on category C/E allows a combination (vogntog) made up of a towing vehicle covered by category C and one or more trailers whose permitted total weight exceeds 750 kg. On Danish roads that means a tractor unit with a semi-trailer, a rigid lorry pulling a heavy drawbar trailer, and any other pairing in which a large lorry tows more than 750 kg. The same section extends C/E to some smaller combinations, such as a category B or C1 vehicle with a large trailer, and, for holders of a category D bus licence, to certain bus combinations. That last extension is narrowly worded, so read the section itself before relying on it.
The licence sets the vehicle type, not the weight.
Nothing in the C/E definition puts an upper limit on the weight of the combination. That does not permit driving anything that can be coupled together. Maximum weights, axle loads, lengths and heights come from separate Danish vehicle and road rules, from the registration of each tractor unit and trailer, and from special permits for abnormal loads. A C/E holder who drives an overloaded or oversized combination is breaking those rules, whatever the licence says.
Borgerservice issues the licence; Færdselsstyrelsen sets the frame.
The municipal citizen service, Borgerservice, takes your application and issues the licence. The Danish Road Traffic Authority, Færdselsstyrelsen, administers the national rules and also publishes the application form. Because the rules are national, the requirements are identical in Copenhagen, Aarhus and a rural municipality. What changes from place to place is practical: how soon Borgerservice can give you an appointment and which nearby driving schools teach the heavy categories.
The Faroe Islands and Greenland are part of the Kingdom of Denmark but run their own licensing. According to the Nordic information service Info Norden, Faroese licences are issued by the vehicle authority Akstovan, while in Greenland licences go through the police and the self-service portal Sullissivik, with a shorter list of categories (B, C and D). Everything below concerns Denmark itself.
C before C/E, and B before C
There is no direct step from a car licence to an articulated lorry in Denmark. The Executive OOrder’sC/E section says a C/E licence may only be issued to someone who has obtained category C, and the borger.dk page on lorry licences adds that category C itself requires category B. The practical result is two heavy courses in sequence, which many learners book with one school as a single planned run.
Why your qualification route decides whether you drive at 18 or 21
Danish law sets 21 as the normal minimum age for C/E. The same section of the Executive Order sets out two exceptions that allow issue from 18.
The first applies to anyone who obtains the licence in connection with acquiring the basic professional qualification under the rules for professional drivers. Until that driver turns 21, the licence may only be used in line with those professional rules. The second covers people employed in, conscripted to or volunteering for the armed forces, the Home Guard or the state emergency management service. Their licence can also be issued at 18, but until 21 it applies only to driving in that service.
For civilian drivers, the first exception matters, and it depends on how the qualification is gained. The Executive Order on Qualification Requirements for Certain Drivers in Road Transport describes two ways. One is a basic qualification test, made up of theoretical and practical tests taken at an approved training centre. The other is intensive basic qualification training: at least 140 hours, including at least 10 hours of individual driving and 11 first-aid lessons, ending with a written test and, for goods transport, a practical test on securing loads.
The routes lead to different ages. Chapter 2 of the qualification rules lets holders of a certificate from the basic qualification test drive goods vehicles requiring C and C/E from 18. Holders of a certificate from the intensive course may do so from 21. A school leaver who wants to drive combinations commercially before 21 therefore needs the test route. For a driver already 21, the difference falls away.
Chapter 2 contains one more age-related provision: learners on an approved vocational education programme may carry out national transport for a limited period during their training, provided they hold the right licence. Borger.dk also notes that someone taking a lorry licence as part of an education, and who already holds category B, can begin the process from 17 years and 9 months. The licence itself is still issued only once the age condition is met.
Residence of 185 days, and why it is not a right to work
A Danish licence is available only to people whose normal residence is in Denmark. The borger.dk guidance on foreign driving licences in Denmark defines normal residence as living in the country for at least 185 days a year because of work, study or personal ties. The transport advice pages of DI, the Confederation of Danish Industry, say the same: you must live in Denmark to obtain a Danish licence. Borgerservice may ask applicants who are not Danish or Nordic citizens for proof, such as a residence document, a residence permit or evidence of study.
Residence in this sense is a licensing test only. Applying for a licence does not produce a residence permit, a work permit or a job, and drivers from outside the EU and EEA must settle their right to work with the immigration authorities separately.
Timing the digital medical certificate and the application
Every application for a new lorry category needs a medical certificate (lægeattest). Borger.dk explains that it is digital: you complete your own part on borger.dk, then see your doctor, who fills in the rest. The certificate may be no more than six months old when you hand in the application. A certificate arranged months before a driving school place becomes available can expire unused, and a new one means a second doctor’s fee, paid by you and separate from the official licence fee.
Borger.dk lists what goes to Borgerservice:
- application form P23, available from the Færdselsstyrelsen website
- your current driving licence, which is taken in when the new card is issued
- a licence photo measuring 35 x 45 mm, with the head between 30 and 36 mm high
- the completed digital medical certificate
The photo is checked against the Executive Order’s photo requirements: a straight-on picture, no headwear, both eyes visible, the mouth closed, even lighting, and a light background. A rejected photo costs time that the six-month certificate can ill afford.
Thirteen theory lessons, 18 driving lessons, three modules
Driving schools (køreskoler) provide C/E training, and their instructors are approved for the heavy categories. Not every school teaches lorries, and fewer have a combination vehicle for C/E. The school also books your practical test and provides the vehicle.
The Executive Order on Driver Training and Driving Tests (Bekendtgørelse om køreuddannelser og køreprøver) fixes the minimum training for C/E at 13 theory lessons and 18 practical driving lessons, arranged in three modules. Module 1 carries the most theory, at least seven lessons, alongside at least five practical ones. Module 2 is balanced, with at least five of each. Module 3 turns almost entirely to the road: at least one theory lesson and at least eight practical lessons.
These are floors rather than estimates. Reversing and coupling a combination are where learners most often need more than the minimum, and the instructor, not the timetable, decides when you are ready to be tested.
The final lessons at a køreteknisk anlæg
The same Executive Order requires the final driving instruction for the lorry categories, C/E included, to take place at an approved driving-technical facility (køreteknisk anlæg). This is a closed site where learners practise handling in difficult conditions without other traffic. Not all schools own such a site, so ask where yours sends learners and whether the session is included in the quoted price.
The theory test waits for module 2, then an 18-month clock starts
Under the Executive Order on Driver Training and Driving Tests, the C/E test has a theory part and a practical part. The theory test for the lorry categories may be taken only after modules 1 and 2 are complete, so it comes well into the course rather than at the start.
Once passed, the theory result is valid for 18 months. Put that alongside the medical certificate’s six-month limit and a learner is working to two clocks at once: one that runs from the doctor’s visit to the application, and one that runs from the theory pass to the practical test. Neither is tight for steady learners; both bite for anyone who pauses for months between modules.
The practical test takes place in the school’s vehicle and assesses whether you can drive the combination safely and within the traffic rules, including the manoeuvres. You can retake a failed test after a waiting period set by the rules, and a retest usually brings another fee and extra lessons. We couldn’t confirm the waiting period for C/E from the legal text we examined, so ask the school for the current figure before you book.
No interpreter: the five languages Danish tests accept
Lovguiden, the Danish legal information service, reported that interpreters are no longer available at driving tests. Theory and practical tests for every licence category can now be taken only in Danish, English, Faroese, Greenlandic or German.
An experienced driver may therefore sit the test in a second or third language, with nobody to help with a technical term in a theory question or an examiner’s instruction on the road. The sensible response is to learn the vocabulary of brakes, coupling, loading and signs in the test language during the course, not in the final week. We could only verify the language rule for driving licence tests. Training centres running the professional qualification may work differently, so ask them directly.
One 1,600 kr fee, and everything the school charges
The official cost is simple. Borger.dk states that the test and the issue of a licence for a small or large lorry and a large trailer cost 1,600 kr. That was the figure on the Borger. dk lorry licence page when this piece was prepared; fees are adjusted periodically, so check before you pay.
The rest of the bill comes from private providers. The driving school charges for theory and practical lessons, the session at the driving-technical facility and use of the vehicle for the test. The doctor charges for the medical certificate, and the photo is extra. A training centre charges separately for the professional qualification unless an employer, a job centre or a vocational programme pays. We found no reliable published price from a Danish school for C/E training, and no official national price exists, so we don’t give an example figure here.
Without a benchmark, the quote itself has to do the work. Ask at least two or three schools for a written quote and compare the same things across them: whether they teach both C and C/E and can plan the two together, which combination vehicle you will train and test in, where the driving-technical facility session is held and whether it is included, whether the 1,600 kr fee is inside the price or paid separately, what an extra lesson and a retest cost, and whether the school can arrange the professional qualification or works with a training centre that does. These questions are practical advice, not legal requirements.
From paper licence to plastic card
Borger.dk sets out the application in four stages: choose the category and check that you meet the conditions, sign up with a driving school, apply through Borgerservice in your municipality, then complete the training and pass the tests. Once you pass, you receive a temporary paper licence, valid in the Nordic countries, while the plastic card is produced. You can then collect the card or have it sent by post.
Denmark also offers a digital licence in an app. The Danish motoring organisation FDM points out that a digital licence is not yet accepted everywhere abroad, so carry the physical card on international work.
The chaufføruddannelsesbevis: the separate right to drive for pay
The licence decides which vehicles you may drive. Driving goods vehicles for a living normally also requires a professional qualification, set out in Denmark in the Executive Order on Qualification Requirements for Certain Drivers in Road Transport (Bekendtgørelse om kvalifikationskrav til visse chauffører i vejtransport). The proof is a driver qualification certificate, the chaufføruddannelsesbevis. Older material often calls it a kvalifikationsbevis, and in the rest of Europe the same qualification is commonly known as Driver CPC or code 95. We could not confirm whether Denmark marks code 95 on the licence card itself or relies on the separate certificate, so a driver who needs to show it abroad should ask the issuing training centre.
DI’s page on qualification training for drivers explains that the requirement extends beyond haulage for hire. It also covers companies moving their own goods, and it applies to self-employed operators. The regulation exempts some vehicles and uses, including emergency vehicles and vehicles limited to 45 km/h, so a driver whose work sits near those edges should check the wording rather than assume either way.
The certificate is also more flexible than the licence in one respect. A driver qualified for one goods category does not need a separate certificate for another, so the qualification gained for C carries across to C/E. Moving between passenger and goods work is handled by a shorter course of at least 35 hours, with a theory test limited to the new subjects.
Drivers who held a lorry licence before the qualification rules began to apply to goods drivers have acquired rights under the transitional provisions in chapter 2, which exempt them from the initial qualification. The regulation text we examined confirmed that exemption but did not clarify how periodic training applies to each driver, so anyone in this group should ask a training centre.
35 hours every five years, and a three-month window to renew
A chaufføruddannelsesbevis lasts five years. To keep it, chapter 4 of the qualification rules requires periodic training (efteruddannelse) of at least 35 hours, spread over five days. The Danish format is fixed: a two-day mandatory module, a two-day sector-specific module, and a one-day elective, with each training day lasting at least seven hours. Some reductions are available to drivers who have completed other training required by EU law, such as dangerous goods training.
Timing matters here as well. DI explains that periodic training completed within the three months before the current certificate expires produces a new certificate with a full five years’ validity. Leave it until later, and you risk a period when the licence is valid, but you may not drive goods vehicles for work.
A five-year licence, with a medical at every renewal
Heavy categories expire much sooner than a car licence. FDM’s licence categories page says C1, C1/E, C, and C/E are, as a rule, valid for five years at a time until the holder turns 70. DI confirms the five-year renewal period up to 70 and adds that renewing a lorry category always requires a medical certificate.
After 70, the periods shorten. FDM’srenewal guide describes validity stepping down with age until it reaches one year from 80. FDM is a motoring organisation rather than an authority, so treat its figures as a guide and confirm with Borgerservice, which handles renewals, often by appointment.
The licence and the chaufføruddannelsesbevis run on separate cycles that don’t have to line up. A valid licence does not rescue an expired certificate, and a valid certificate does not keep an expired licence alive. Professional drivers need to track both dates.
Bringing a heavy licence from abroad: EU cards stay, most others mean a test.
Borger.dk says a licence issued in an EU or EEA country, including Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, does not as a rule have to be exchanged when you move to Denmark. A driver who arrives with a CE on another EU card can keep driving on it while it’s valid. Still, Danish authorities handle renewal differently if Denmark becomes your country of normal residence.
Non-EU and non-EEA licences are treated differently, and the borger.dk guidance on foreign licences sets out a tiered system. You must have normal residence in Denmark before you can exchange at all. While establishing residence, borger.dk states, you may drive on the foreign licence for up to 180 days, and a licence not written in Latin letters must be accompanied by an international driving permit or a translation into Danish, English or French. Countries on Denmark’s group 1 and group 2 lists can exchange category B without a test, but every other category requires testing, one category at a time. Licences from all other third countries can be exchanged only after a controlling driving test (kontrollerende køreprøve), with a theory and a practical part. A medical certificate is needed when the licence was issued outside the EU, EEA, Faroe Islands and Greenland, and in certain other cases.
For a heavy-vehicle driver from outside the EU and EEA, the upshot is that the car entitlement may transfer easily, while C and C/E do not. Borger.dk notes that no instruction is required before a controlling test, but for C/E you will in practice need a driving school vehicle to take it in, and lessons are advisable. The exchange fee listed on borger.dk is 520 kr, which is a small part of the real cost once you factor in the vehicle and lessons. An international driving permit does not help here: it only translates the licence it accompanies and adds no categories. Ask Borgerservice which categories will appear on your Danish card before assuming they all carry over.
Faroese and Greenlandic licences, where the sources disagree
Borger.dk treats licences from the Faroe Islands and Greenland like EU and EEA licences for exchange: B without a test, other categories with testing. Info Norden’s page on Greenland describes the route differently, saying a Greenlandic licence remains valid for 180 days after a move to Denmark and is then exchanged through a test or two lessons with a Danish instructor. We could not reconcile the two accounts, so confirm the current requirement with Borgerservice before you plan around either.
The qualification applies to foreign drivers too.
DI notes that the professional qualification requirement covers EU citizens and non-EU citizens employed by companies established in an EU member state when they drive in Denmark. A foreign licence or foreign qualification is still only about driving, however. Permission to work, employment terms and the posting of workers are handled under separate law.
A licence, certificate, tachograph card, and ADR are four different things.s
New drivers regularly treat these as one package. The C/E licence says which vehicles you may drive. The chaufføruddannelsesbevis says you hold the professional qualification to drive goods vehicles for work. A tachograph driver card records driving and rest times in vehicles fitted with a digital or smart tachograph, and it is a separate application; we did not confirm which Danish body issues it. An ADR certificate is needed only for dangerous goods and comes with its own training and test, though it can shorten periodic training, as noted above. Driving and rest time rules sit outside licensing altogether.
What FDM says the new EU rules will change
Already adopted, a new Driving Licence Directive will replace the current EU Driving Licence Directive after a transposition period lasting several years. FDM’s summary of the new EU rules mentions lorry driving from 18 for drivers with the required qualification certificate, a common EU digital licence and the option of shorter validity for older drivers.
None of that applies in Denmark yet. The country still has to write national rules, and until it does, the Executive Orders described above govern every test and every licence issued. Someone starting C/E training now should plan on the current rules.
A Danish order of steps
- Hold category B and category C, or book C first.
- Choose the qualification route that matches your age and your plans: the test route if you want to drive combinations commercially from 18.
- Get written quotes from schools that teach C/E and from a training centre for the chaufføruddannelsesbevis.
- Arrange the digital medical certificate so it is under six months old when you apply.
- Submit form P23, the photo and your current licence through Borgerservice.
- Complete modules 1 and 2, pass the theory test, then finish module 3 and the session at the køreteknisk anlæg within 18 months of that pass.
- Pass the practical test in one of the five permitted languages, and hold the chaufføruddannelsesbevis before you drive goods for pay.
An uddannelsesbevis and CE together mark the point when job hunting starts, and FastDriver.eu is one job portal where drivers can register a driver profile and search current transport vacancies. It has no say over licences or qualifications and cannot promise a job, a visa or a work permit.
Gaps left by Færdselsstyrelsen’s unreachable pages
Færdselsstyrelsen’s own pages could not be opened while this piece was prepared, so the process above rests on borger.dk, Lovguiden’s reproductions of the current Executive Orders, DI and FDM. The retest waiting period for C/E, how code 95 is shown in Denmark, and the issuer of the tachograph card remain unverified. Færdselsstyrelsen, through Borgerservice in your municipality, has the final word on every point here, and fees and Executive Orders can change after publication.
Official sources
- borger.dk: Kørekort til lastbil
- borger.dk: Udenlandsk kørekort i Danmark
- Executive Order on Driving Licences, C/E age rules (Lovguiden)
- Executive Order on Driver Training and Driving Tests (Lovguiden)
- Executive Order on Qualification Requirements for Drivers (Lovguiden)
- New EU Driving Licence Directive (EUR-Lex)
FAQs
- What is a category C/E licence in Denmark?
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- Can I get a C/E licence at 18 in Denmark?
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- What does the intensive qualification course in Denmark include?
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- Do I need a separate qualification for C and C/E in Denmark?
- Are older lorry drivers exempt from the qualification in Denmark?
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- Do my C/E licence and qualification expire together in Denmark?
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- Do I need a tachograph card as well as C/E in Denmark?
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- Can FastDriver.eu help me find C/E work in Denmark?
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