September the 18th, 2020 - You only need to say the word ''MUP'' to send a shiver down the spine of anyone who has spent hours sitting on a (probably broken) plastic chair in an airless room clutching a number, awaiting their fate dealt at the hands of a friendly clerk. It seems, however, that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has forced Croatia to abandon several draconian practices and move more quickly towards the digitalisation the rest of the EU enjoys when it comes to handling administrative problems, and a brand new process when it comes to the issuing of Croatian driving licenses has now been announced.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of September, 2020, as of September the 24th, 2020, when issuing a Croatian driving license for the first time, citizens will no longer have to enclose their certificate of having passed their driving exam issued by the Croatian Auto Club, instead, MUP (the Ministry of the Interior) will obtain the certificate electronically. A bold move indeed for an institution which is very well known for its somewhat bizarre love of paperwork and stamps.
The Ministry of the Interior recently published this more than welcome news which will certainly delight new drivers in the Official Gazette as an amendment to the ordinance on Croatian driving licenses. The new ordinance on Croatian driving licenses will, as stated, enter into force on the 24th of September, 2020.
By amending the regulations and drafting a technical solution, it is possible for the Croatian Auto Club, as an authorised professional organisation that issues certificates which attest to a person having passed their driving exam, to keep records of passed driving exams in an electronic form, and police administrations or police stations that issue Croatian driving licenses will be able to access and obtain that certificate electronically, without the need for individuals to bring yet another piece of paper with them when making their application for the license.
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