This week, in parallel, Mendoza and Nación advanced with reforms that could be key in terms of the renewal of the driver license. Although they are not yet a reality, both are about to become reality. But they present differences and points in which the changes can end up generating confusion. For example: Nación seeks to ensure that there are no expirations (but there are updates every five years) and Mendoza seeks to extend validity periods up to 10 years. The Government seeks to get the provinces to adhere, although each jurisdiction has the last word when talking about transit.
On the one hand, the province of Mendoza The Legislature unanimously approved the half-sanction of a project by Alfredo Cornejo that seeks to extend the validity of the driver’s license for 10 years. The governor’s plan could be approved in the coming days by the Senate and directly become law. From that moment it will be a reality that the license stop having a maturity of 5 years (as it currently is). The ten-year validity will apply until the person turns 65 years of age. From there, from 66 to 75 years old, the license will last 5 years, and for those over 75 it will last 3 years.
Another of the reforms proposed Mendoza is that as a requirement for the renovation No more than one year must have passed since the license expired. If this time limit is exceeded, it must be processed as a new license. At the same time, a 50% fee is proposed for those over 65 years of age (who have to renew more and more often) and the debt free of infractions must be presented.
Nation seeks to eliminate in-person renewal; but in Mendoza it would still be valid.
A point of confusion may be the following: Mendoza requires that you must declare under oath that you do not suffer from cardiological, neurological, psychopathological or sensory conditions to drive and you must also pass a psychophysical medical examination to determine physical, visual, auditory and mental fitness to drive. In contrast, the Government of the Nation proposes that the driver be the one to carry out the examination with his own doctor and directly present it digitally.
According to the Minister of State Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger, the reforms for the license renewal At the national level they will be published in the coming weeks. The Milei official indicated that the developments will be significant and revealed that what the Government seeks is that no procedure be carried out in a manner in personas happens in the United States, where it is done mostly digitally.
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“You have to check that you are psychophysically well, that your eyes are fine and that you hear well. The driver will be able to send this with a certificate and the procedure will not be done in person,” said Sturzenegger. As mentioned previously, the Mendoza reform seeks for the psychophysical examination to be approved in person at the municipal headquarters that is responsible for checking the driver’s status. What will be done in person, according to the national reform, is the renewal of the card for those over 65.
The validity times can also be a point of confusion: Mendoza, as explained, proposes that it be every 10 years. Nación, on the other hand, will propose in the coming days that the licenses do not expire, but that they do update to know the driver’s health status every 5 years; although without going to the municipal headquarters to certify the extension.
Transit is one of the powers delegated from the Nation to the provinces and from the provinces to the municipalities, in some cases such as controls. The municipalization of procedures is what the Milei Government seeks to attack, since they understand that in these cases it is used as a collection tool. In this case, the Nation will seek to get the provinces to adhere, but the jurisdictions have their autonomy in these cases. Mendoza seems to have anticipated and will seek to enforce his own modification.
When facing its own reform almost at the same time, it does not seem that Mendoza will be able to take the national changes to include them in its traffic law, so the changes approved in the coming days in the Legislature will govern despite the insistence of Nation to the provinces.
What the Nation took as a basis and precedent is the project of the PRO representative Patricia Vázquez, who seeks that the licenses They do not have an expiration date, but the documentation must be presented “free of charge” every five years to guarantee the good health of the driver. Clarification: the medical check-up must be paid individually, what should not be paid would be the national fees. In Mendoza, municipal taxes and CENAT control will continue to be paid for serious infractions committed (or not).
Mendoza’s change for drunk drivers
According to Alfredo Cornejo’s project document, the drivers Those who drive drunk and are fined by the Police will receive another setback: they will not be able to access the “benefit” of renewing their license every 10 years. In the event of being fined for drunk driving, they will continue with the current renewal regime, which provides for a validity of only 5 years in the driver license. Drunk drivers are not contemplated in the Mendoza reform.
Regarding this type of infractions, the national reform does not provide for a “reduction of benefits” for the drunk drivers.
What about professional licenses?
Drivers, taxi drivers, taxi drivers, drivers of applications such as Uber/Cabify and truck drivers, for example, must have a professional license that is renewed every two years. In the provincial reform, no changes are foreseen in this type of cards, although in the national one, according to reports, it could be reformed by requesting that they be granted without an expiration date and with the mandatory electronic nature of a sworn declaration, physical fitness and medical certificate every five years .
