From September 1, Driver's Licenses in Armenia Will Be Available in Digital Format

From September 1, driver's licenses and vehicle registration certificates will be available in digital format in Armenia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has set two main goals in the field of public service delivery: to provide more digital services to citizens while undoubtedly improving the quality of service delivery. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Armen Ghazaryan in an interview.

Addressing the fact that driver's licenses and registration certificates will now also be available in digital format, he noted: “In order to make the opportunity to acquire and operate a vehicle available in the digital domain, we inevitably had to go down this path, so that driver's licenses and registration certificates would exist in the digital domain.”

“Now let me explain this with a practical example. The majority of our drivers have accounts on the roadpolice.am website. From September 1, our regulations will come into force. Once a person is identified and logs into this system, they will see their digital driver's license. What practical benefits does this provide them in real life? We know that there is a relevant article in the Administrative Offenses Code that if a driver does not have their driver's license and other documents with them, an administrative fine is imposed; however, if they present the documents on the same day, it is canceled. When a digital driver's license exists, that provision will not be applied to the individual, as the person can be identified by other means, and this fine will not be imposed on them.

This is the first step because the logic of having documents in the digital domain is still maintained. That is, when we say 'digital driver's license,' we mean that it is still a document, but it exists in the digital domain. I would like to mention that in the near future we aim for the data itself to have legal force, not just the document, meaning that the fact of a person's right to drive being recorded in the digital domain will suffice to avoid such fines and for conducting other vehicle-related transactions,” emphasized Armen Ghazaryan.

He also noted that a new regulation is in effect based on drivers' proposals, according to which citizens can choose their preferred date to take theoretical or practical exams for obtaining their driver's license for a fee. He recalled that currently, if a person fails the theoretical or practical exams for the first time, they can retake them after seven days, and for each subsequent failure, they must wait 30 days.

“Now we have set certain state tariff limits, whereby a person can pass these exams earlier by paying the corresponding fees,” he added.