You need two documents: the C or CE driving licence, and the driver CPC on top of it.
It can start at 18, provided you have that CPC. Not only from 21.
After that: 35 hours of periodic training every five years to keep your Code 95.
Two documents, not one
The biggest source of confusion first. The C licence says you're allowed to drive the vehicle. To carry goods for hire or reward with it, you also need the driver CPC: a base qualification you obtain, which then shows up as the familiar code on your licence:
the harmonised Union code, '95', provided for in Annex I to Directive 2006/126/EC, alongside the corresponding categories of driving licence: on the driving licence, or the 'driver qualification card'.
Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 10. Accessed 26 August 2026.
That's where the name everyone knows comes from: Code 95 is literally the number printed next to your category once you're qualified.
It can start at 18, and too few people know that
Drivers of a vehicle intended for the carriage of goods may drive: from the age of 18: a vehicle in driving licence categories C and C+E, provided that they hold a CPC as referred to in Article 6(1).
Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 5(2)(a)(i).
With the driver CPC in hand, you can drive a full combination internationally from your eighteenth birthday. The persistent idea that you have to be 21 doesn't hold for anyone who gets the qualification. For someone leaving school and wanting into this trade, that's a three-year difference.
Two routes to the qualification
The directive lets countries choose between two systems for the base qualification:
| Route 1 | Attend a course, concluded with a test |
| Route 2 | Tests only, theory and practical, with no compulsory course hours |
Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 3.
Which route and which exam body applies to you depends on your country. A medical exam is also part of it, since licence C sits in the stricter medical group. Exact steps, fees and timelines differ by country and change regularly; check those with the exam body itself.
After that: 35 hours every five years
Their duration must be of 35 hours every five years, given in periods of at least seven hours, which may be split over two consecutive days.
Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Annex I, Section 4. You take the first periodic training within five years of the CPC being issued.
Five sessions of at least seven hours, spread over five years, and your Code 95 stays valid. How that works in practice, what it costs, and what happens if you're late, is covered in the Code 95 guide.
And what will you earn?
Actual pay scales are set nationally through collective agreements and differ sharply by country; that's outside the scope of a European guide and best checked with the relevant national body or union for where you'll be driving.
Sources
- Directive (EU) 2022/2561 on the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers (codification), Articles 3, 5, 8 and 10 and Annex I. EUR-Lex
Quoted verbatim from the official English version on EUR-Lex, accessed 26 August 2026. National implementation (exam body, fees, medical exam) differs by country; this page gives the European framework that applies everywhere.
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