How to Get a Category CE Driving Licence in Monaco

Monaco tests its own lorry drivers. A resident of the Principality can sit the theory and practical tests for category CE before a Monegasque inspector and walk away with the entitlement to a Monegasque licence. What Monaco does not do is issue the professional qualification most haulage work also needs: its own licensing office says no one in Monaco awards it and sends drivers to French organisations instead. The licence route itself is also closed to many people who work in the Principality but live across the border in France or Italy.

For a resident, then, the path runs through a driving school, a doctor in Monaco and the Service des Titres de Circulation. For a commuter, it runs through the authorities of the country where they live.

Residence decides whether Monaco is an option at all.

The official page on heavy vehicle licences puts residence in the Principality first among the conditions for every heavy category, CE included. The document list backs this up in concrete terms: candidates supply a Monegasque identity card, or a passport accompanied by recent proof of address, and anyone who is not a Monegasque national adds a copy of their Monaco residence permit, the carte de séjour.

The heavy-licence page does not define residence any further. The closest definition on the same portal sits in the rules for exchanging foreign licences, which describe“normal residence” as living in Monaco for at least 185 days in a calendar year and treat it as acquired on the 186th day after arrival. That definition is written for exchanges, so a newly arrived resident should confirm with the office that it applies to them before paying a school.

The practical consequence is blunt. A driver who lives in one of the neighbouring French communes, or anywhere else outside the Principality, and commutes to a job in Monaco cannot obtain a Monegasque CE licence, no matter how long they have worked there. It is a common point of confusion, and it costs money when someone signs up with a school before checking.

Commuters from France and Italy take a different road.

For drivers living in France, the relevant procedure is the French one, described on the Frenchgovernment’ss official page on the CE licence. France also requires category C first and a minimum age of 21, but with exceptions for people following professional driver training, which Monaco’s page does not offer. Candidates in France pass a medical check before the tests and then a theory and a practical test. The residence rule there is different: EU and EEA citizens need personal or professional ties and at least six months of residence in France, while other foreign nationals need six months of residence in France and a valid residence permit.

That is France’s process, with French tests and fees, and nothing in it depends on where the driver works. Residents of Italy apply under Italian rules to the Italian licensing authorities for their area. That procedure is not described here.

The Service des Titres de Circulation runs the whole process.

Monaco keeps almost the whole licensing process in one office. According to its official directory entry, the Service des Titres de Circulation (STC), which the government translates as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Office, organises theory and practical tests, issues and renews licences, exchanges foreign licences, issues tachograph cards and professional transport licences, and also handles vehicle registration and the vehicle testing centre.

The office is at 5 Promenade Honoré II, 98000 Monaco. It sees the public by appointment only, Monday to Friday from 9:30 to 17:00, and its telephone number is +377 98 98 80 14. Procedures are published on MonServicePublic, the government portal that has replaced the older service-public-particuliers .gouv.mc address; old links now redirect. Its driving licence section has English pages alongside the French originals.

The law behind the process is the Monegasque Code de la route (Highway Code), read together with a ministerial decree on the issue and validity of licences. A new decree has recently replaced it. Its full text could not be opened for this article, but the STC’s procedure pages already refer to it, so the conditions described here are the ones the office currently publishes.

What CE covers, and what limits it

The heavy-licence page defines category C as motor vehicles with a maximum authorised mass (MAM) above 3,500 kg, built to carry no more than eight passengers besides the driver. Category CE combines a towing vehicle in category C with a trailer or semi-trailer with a MAM of more than 750 kg. In everyday terms, that means articulated lorries, and rigid lorries pulling a heavy drawbar or centre-axle trailer. That is what haulage employers across Europe mean when they advertise for “CE” or “C+E” drivers.

CE carries no upper MAM for the combination, which is sometimes misread as permission to drive any weight. It is nothing of the sort. What may actually go on the road is set by separate rules on maximum weights, axle loads, and dimensions in each country the vehicle travels through, plus local restrictions on particular streets or tunnels. In Monaco, where streets are narrow and steep in places, large-vehicle access depends on traffic rules and signage, not what the licence says.

The same page covers BE, D and DE but does not list the medium categories C1 and C1E; anyone who needs one of those should ask the STC.

Twenty-one, with no shortcut for trainees

The minimum age for both C and CE in Monaco is 21. In several EU countries, a driver can take the heavy categories at 18 with a full initial professional qualification, and France has its own exceptions for drivers in training. The Monegasque page mentions nothing of the kind, and nobody should plan around a lower-age route that the STC does not publish.

Age is only one gate. CE requires category C already on the licence, and C in turn requires B, as the official page for car licences confirms, along with residence and a driving school for that category too. The sequence is therefore B, then C, then CE, and each heavy step has its own theory and practical test.

Timing is slightly more generous at the start. A candidate may register with a driving school before reaching the minimum age, and can take the theory test in the two months before it. For CE, that means sitting the theory test from two months before the 21st birthday, provided the other conditions are met.

The driving school is the gatekeeper.

Private candidates have no route. The English version of the official procedure for heavy categories says the candidate registers in advance with a driving school, hands the application to the school, and the school forwards it to the STC. On test day, the candidate drives theschool’ss vehicle, a representative of the school is present, and the school tells the candidate where the test will take place.

Choosing the school is the first practical decision, and it is where the official information is thinnest. The STC publishes no list of schools offering lorry and trailer training, and it sets no minimum number of lessons for CE. This article names no school because no official source shows which schools in Monaco currently offer heavy vehicle tuition or have a CE combination available. The right questions to ask a school are simple: whether it can present candidates for C and CE, whether it has the vehicles, and where training and the test are held.

No official price for a CE course in Monaco exists, and we found no reliable commercial figure, so we don’t provide one here. Schools set their own prices, and the total depends on how many hours a candidate needs. A written quote should state the hours of practical tuition, whether the STC registration fee is included, the charge for the vehicle on test day, and the cost of extra lessons and a second attempt.

A doctor in the Principality, and a three-month clock

Every application for a heavy category needs a medical certificate from a doctor in the Principality of Monaco, issued within the previous three months. The STC uses its own form for this, listed as STC011 on the English version of the procedure page. A certificate from a doctor in France or Italy does not meet the requirement, as the office states.

The application file for C or CE, as the official page lists it, contains:

• the application form STC010, signed in the original;
• a copy of a Monegasque identity card, or a passport with proof of address dated within the last three months;
• for residents who are not Monegasque nationals, a copy of the residence permit;
• two recent colour identity photos, 35 x 45 mm, taken within six months on a light background;
• the original medical certificate, no more than three months old;
• payment of the official fee by cheque.

Two items on that list carry a three-month limit, and the file goes to the STC through the school rather than directly. A delay at the school can therefore push a certificate past its date. Booking the medical once the school has confirmed its timetable, rather than at the outset, avoids paying for a second examination.

Two theory scores to pass, then an hour with an inspector

The theory test is the ETG, the épreuve théorique générale. For heavy categories,s it is scored in two parts. Ten questions cover the category being applied for, and a candidate may get no more than two wrong. Forty questions cover the Highway Code and traffic rules, and the limit is five errors. Both thresholds must be met. BE is the exception: it has no category-specific questions.

A pass remains valid for five years from the test date. That gives you time to complete the practical test, or add another heavy category, without sitting the theory again.

Revision material needs some care. Monaco has its own Highway Code, close to the French one but a separate law, and books or apps built only on French rules may not match it in every detail. The official pages say nothing about the languages in which the ETG is offered or whether interpreters are allowed. If you’re not comfortable in French, ask the school before registering.

The practical test comes after you pass the theory. It lasts around 60 minutes and is driven on public roads with an Inspecteur des Permis de Conduire et de la Sécurité Routière, one of the STC’s driving licence and road safety inspectors. The official page does not describe a separate off-road manoeuvring test or publish a marking scheme, and it does not say whether the test is always held on Monegasque territory. The school is the source for what the inspector expects.

A fail, or a missed test without a valid excuse, means registering again. The STC charges a lower fee for a new test after a failure, an absence or an unexcused late arrival than for the first registration. Still, the school will normally charge again for lessons and the vehicle, and that is usually the higher cost.

Once the practical test is passed, it is the STC, not the school, that adds the category to the Monegasque licence.

What the STC charges, and what it does not

The office’s official fee schedule is set by ministerial decree. Registration for the tests costs €117 for every category except AM, A1 and B1, which are cheaper. A new test after a failure, an absence or an unexcused late arrival costs €32. A substantial change to a registration file costs €22, and renewing, amending or replacing a licence costs €23.

Several other charges matter to a lorry driver. Exchanging a foreign licence costs €117, as does a driving aptitude check, which is charged per category. An international driving licence costs €32. A tachograph driver card, or a duplicate, costs €251, the highest charge listed here.

None of these figures includes tuition, the school’s vehicle or the medical examination, which are paid to the school and the doctor. The schedule is revised by decree, so check the amounts above against the current version before writing a cheque.

Heavy categories expire based on age.

A Monegasque licence commonly shows different expiry dates for different categories, and the reason is medical. Light categories such as B remain valid until the age of 70 unless there is a medical contraindication. The heavy categories are shorter-lived: the heavy-licence page gives a maximum of five years, and the official renewal page sets out how that maximum shrinks with age for C, CE, D and DE. Up to 45, a renewal can last up to five years. Between 45 and 55, the ceiling is three years; between 55 and 60, it is two; and after 60, it is one.

Those are maximums. The authorised doctor decides the actual period within them, and the validity runs from the date of the medical examination. A driver in their late fifties should therefore expect a medical at least every two years, and an older driver every year.

Renewal requires proof of identity, the current licence, two identity photos and a medical certificate from an authorised doctor in Monaco issued within three months. The STC strongly encourages renewing online through its MonGuichet service; otherwise, you must book an appointment at the office and bring form STC010. Once the office receives the file, it issues a temporary licence valid for 15 days, so the holder can keep driving while the new card is produced; the new licence is then collected by appointment.

The temporary licence only helps if you apply in time. Once the heavy categories have expired, those vehicles may not be driven until the new licence is issued, so the medical is the step to book early.

Bringing a CE licence to Monaco: the 186th-day clock

A driver who already holds a CE licence from another country and moves to Monaco does not start again at B. The official exchange page sets out how a foreign licence is converted, and the timing is precise. Normal residence is fixed on the 186th day after arrival, and from that date the driver has twelve months to apply. After that window closes, the foreign licence is no longer valid for driving in Monaco.

Not every licence qualifies. The exchange is open to licences from states on a list set by ministerial decree, which the exchange page links to, and Monaco also has bilateral arrangements with some countries, published in its official journal. The answer can therefore depend on exactly where the licence was issued. That list could not be opened for this article, so a driver should check it, or ask the STC, before relying on exchange.

For heavy categories, the current practice is favourable. All categories shown on a foreign licence are carried over to the Monegasque licence, provided they are still valid. That was not always the case: the change is not retroactive, and licences exchanged before it only carried over the categories obtained by passing a test. Because heavy categories expire far sooner than car categories, this particularly affects lorry drivers: a CE entitlement that has lapsed on the foreign licence will not simply transfer, and renewing it in the issuing country first, where possible, is the cleaner route.

An exchange that includes heavy categories requires a medical certificate from an authorised doctor in Monaco, issued within the previous three months; applicants over 70 need one in any case. The file also includes proof of identity (a national identity card, passport or residence permit), the original foreign licence, a recent colour photo, and a certificate from the issuing country, less than three months old, confirming that the holder’s driving rights are neither suspended nor cancelled. A licence issued outside the EU must include a French translation by a sworn translator, and the French version of the page must mention an apostille for countries party to the Hague Convention. You can also request it through the STC’s online service for €117.

Missing the twelve-month deadline is not the end of the road. A driver more than a year past normal residence can take a driving aptitude check, the contrôle des aptitudes, before an inspector, after at least three hours of lessons with a driving school in Monaco. The fee is €117 per category, so a driver with C and CE to recover pays for two checks.

An exchange never adds a category the driver did not hold, and it does not carry across a professional qualification or an ADR certificate.

A professional qualification Monaco does not issue

Inside the EU, a professional lorry driver normally needs two things: the licence and the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (Driver CPC), recorded as code 95 or on a qualification card. Monaco is not an EU member state, so EU law does not automatically apply there, and the portal shows no equivalent Monegasque system for goods drivers.

The STC’s official FAQ on driving qualifications is direct about it. It says no organisation in Monaco issues professional transport qualifications and that drivers should contact the relevant French organisations. It adds that Italian professional transport qualifications may be recognised with a French translation, and that a transport company must hold professional qualifications for each transport activity it undertakes. That last statement appears to concern the obligations of companies and operators; it does not spell out what an individual goods driver based in Monaco must hold, or how a qualification is recorded for a Monegasque licence holder. It also does not mention code 95.

This is the largest gap in the official material. A resident who passes CE in Monaco may still lack what an employer needs, so the qualification question belongs with the employer and the STC before training starts.

Since the STC points to France, the French system is the likely reference—the regional environment and transport directorate for Provence-Alpes-C. The initial qualification is at least 280 hours and corresponds to professional diplomas or titles. In contrast, the accelerated initial qualification, the FIMO, is 140 hours. Periodic training, the FCO, takes 35 hours and is repeated every five years. A 35-hour bridging course exists for drivers moving between goods and passenger transport. Training centres must be approved, and drivers who complete the training receive a carte de qualification de conducteur, a driver qualification card.

ChronoServices produces the card. The driver qualification card does not state whether drivers living outside France can obtain one, and no official source confirms that a Monaco resident can complete a FIMO or FCO in France and receive the card. Ask a training centre that question directly before paying any fee.

If a French-model qualification does apply, it runs on its own clock. The Monegasque CE category is renewed on the age scale described above, while the French periodic training cycle is five years. Renewing one does nothing for the other.

The driver card is Monegasque; ADR is not addressed.

Tachograph driver cards, unlike professional qualifications, are issued in Monaco. The official tachograph card page sets two conditions: a valid Monegasque licence with category C and/or D, and normal residence in Monaco within the meaning of the AETR, the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles engaged in International Road Transport. The application uses form STC018, with a photo, an identity document and the licence. The card is valid for five years, belongs to the holder personally, and only one valid card may be held at a time.

The card records driving and rest times in a vehicle’s digital tachograph. It is neither a licence nor a qualification, and working-time and tachograph rules govern the hours separately from licensing.

Dangerous goods are a separate matter again. Carrying them requires an ADR training certificate, which the CE licence does not include. No official Monegasque page on driver ADR training was found, so ask the STC or the employer.

The same separation applies to work itself. A CE licence shows that its holder may drive a category of vehicle. It does not provide a job, a residence permit, a work permit or sponsorship in Monaco or anywhere else, and the STC has no role in residence or permission to work.

Leaving Monaco with a non-EU licence

A Monegasque licence is not an EU licence, and that matters to a driver who later moves to an EU country. France, the obvious example, explains on its official page on exchanging non-European licences that such a licence is valid only for a limited period after the holder acquires normal residence in France, that reciprocity with the issuing state is checked, and that heavy categories require either a medical opinion on fitness to drive them or a written renunciation of those categories. A CE entitlement therefore does not carry over automatically.

For shorter trips abroad, the STC’s driving licence FAQ strongly recommends an international driving licence, issued for €32. It is a translation that travels with the national licence and has no force on its own.

Across the border, EU member states are to transpose a new Driving Licence Directive over several years, together with changes to the Driver CPC rules. They will change the process in France and Italy, but they are not law in Monaco unless Monaco adopts equivalent rules.

The order of steps for a Monaco resident

1. Confirm residence in the Principality and, for non-nationals, a valid carte de séjour.
2. Hold category B, then find a driving school that can present candidates for C and CE and get a written quote.
3. Ask an employer and the STC which professional qualification the intended work requires, and where it can be obtained.
4. Book the medical with an authorised doctor in Monaco once the school’s timetable is fixed.
5. Pass the ETG and the practical test for C, then repeat both for CE.
6. Apply for a tachograph driver card with form STC018, and note the expiry date for the heavy categories.

Several points could not be confirmed from official material: whether any Monaco school currently trains for CE, which languages the theory test is offered in, where the practical test is held, and above all what professional qualification a Monaco-based goods driver must hold. The new licensing decree could not be read in full, and the list of exchangeable licences could not be opened. For residents, the Service des Titres de Circulation has the final word; for those living in France or Italy, the relevant authorities do.

Once the Monaco licensing steps and professional qualification are complete, drivers can create a driver profile on FastDriver.eu, a job portal, and browse lorry-driving vacancies; the site issues no licences, approves no qualifications, and does not promise work, a visa, or a work permit.

Official sources

• MonServicePublic: obtenir le permis de conduire poids lourd (French)
• Service des Titres de Circulation fee schedule
• MonServicePublic: how to exchange a foreign driving licence
• MonServicePublic: how to renew a driving licence
• MonServicePublic: FAQs on driving qualifications
• Government of Monaco: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Office