Your Code 95 has expired

Two documents that run on separate clocks

This is the confusion that comes up most. Your C licence and your Code 95 each have their own expiry date, and those rarely line up. If your Code 95 expires, you don't lose your licence. You just can't drive for hire or reward anymore.

Driving a C vehicle privately stays fine, as long as your licence is valid. Driving for your employer doesn't.

The rule that applies when you come back after a break

This is the part that catches out anyone who's been out of the trade for a while:

Holders of the CPC as referred to in Article 6 or the CPC as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and the drivers referred to in Article 4 who have ceased the exercise of their occupation and who do not meet the requirements of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article shall undergo a course of periodic training before resuming the exercise of the occupation.

Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 8(4). Accessed 26 August 2026.

Note the word before. You can't go back to work first and pick up the hours along the way. The periodic training has to be finished before your first professional trip.

It makes no difference how long you've been out. Anyone who doesn't meet the requirements completes the periodic training first.

Why the deadline differs by country

Five years is the default, but it isn't a fixed European ceiling:

Holders of a CPC as referred to in Article 6 shall undergo a first course of periodic training within five years of the issue of that CPC. Member States may reduce or extend the period of time referred to in the first subparagraph, inter alia, so that it coincides with the date of expiry of the driving licence. The period may not, however, be shorter than three years or longer than seven years.

Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 8(2).

Countries may sit anywhere between three and seven years, often to make the date coincide with your licence. So never go by what a colleague from another country tells you, go by the date printed on your own document.

And after that, every five years, before the expiry date

A driver who has completed a first course of periodic training as referred to in paragraph 2... shall undergo periodic training every five years, before the end of the period of validity of the CPC certifying that the periodic training was completed.

Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 8(3).

Two requirements sit side by side here: every five years, and before the expiry date. Don't plan your training for the last few weeks, a course landing just after your expiry date still leaves you standing still in the meantime.

Where you're allowed to take the hours

For anyone living in one country and working in another, this matters:

Drivers referred to in Article 1, points (a) and (b), shall undergo the periodic training referred to in Article 7 in the Member State where they have their normal residence or the Member State where they work.

Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 9.

So you can choose between your country of residence and your country of work. That saves travel time, and sometimes money, since the price of the training differs by country.

One round of training covers your other categories

Drivers undertaking the carriage of goods or passengers by road who have completed courses of periodic training for one of the driving licence categories provided for in Article 5(2) and (3) shall be exempt from the obligation to undergo further periodic training for any of the other categories provided for in those paragraphs.

Directive (EU) 2022/2561, Article 8(5).

Hold both goods and passenger categories on your licence, and you don't have to do the periodic training twice. One round covers both, a saving a lot of drivers holding C and D never realise they have.

Watch for outdated information

Nearly every page about Code 95 still points to Directive 2003/59/EC. That directive has been repealed. Since 23 December 2022, Directive (EU) 2022/2561 applies, and every article number above comes from that text.

The substance has stayed largely the same, so anyone who knows the old rules is usually fine. But if you need to cite an article number to an inspector or an employer, cite the text that still exists.

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), Article 8 and Article 9. EUR-Lex

Quoted verbatim from the official English version on EUR-Lex, accessed 26 August 2026.