You're in group 2: that's the group for C, CE, D and DE.
When: an exam before the licence is first issued, then again at every renewal.
Under which system: the one in the country where you normally live.
Watch for: Member States may set stricter standards than the European minimums.
What follows is what European law requires, quoted verbatim from the source. It isn't medical advice and says nothing about your specific situation.
Whether you're fit to drive is for the examining doctor alone, and the decision on your licence sits with the competent authority in your country. If you have doubts, go there, not to a website.
Group 1 and group 2 are two different regimes
The directive splits drivers into two groups. Group 1 is the ordinary licence. Group 2 is the heavy categories: C, CE, D and DE. As a truck driver, the group 2 column of Annex III applies to you throughout, and it's the stricter one.
That split runs through the whole annex. Wherever you find a figure online without saying which group it belongs to, that figure is useless to you.
When you get examined
For group 1, an exam only applies if something turns up:
Group 1: Applicants shall be required to undergo a medical examination if it becomes apparent, when the necessary formalities are being completed or during the tests which they have to undergo prior to obtaining a driving licence, that they have one or more of the medical disabilities mentioned in this Annex.
Directive 2006/126/EC, Annex III, point 3. Accessed 26 August 2026.
For group 2 it's different, and this is the core of this page:
Group 2: Applicants shall undergo medical examinations before a driving licence is first issued to them and thereafter drivers shall be checked in accordance with the national system in place in the Member State of normal residence whenever their driving licence is renewed.
Directive 2006/126/EC, Annex III, point 4.
Two things are stated here. An exam before the licence is first issued, so before you get your C. And after that, a check at every renewal, under the system of the country where you normally live.
That last part matters if you live in one country and work in another. It's the country of your normal residence that sets the system, not the country your employer is in.
Your country may set the bar higher
The standards set by Member States for the issue or any subsequent renewal of driving licences may be stricter than those set out in this Annex.
Directive 2006/126/EC, Annex III, point 5.
This is the sentence to hold onto for everything else you read here or elsewhere. What's in the directive is a minimum. Every country may go beyond it, and several do.
So if you come across a European standard and your examining doctor applies something stricter, that isn't automatically a mistake. It can simply be the national implementation.
What the annex covers
Annex III addresses, among other things, eyesight, hearing, disorders of the locomotor system, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological disorders, obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, psychiatric disorders, alcohol, drugs and medicines, and kidney disease.
Two of these we cover on this site with the legal text alongside, because they come up most often for drivers:
- Eyesight and licence group 2, with the requirements for visual acuity and field of vision
- Sleep apnoea and your licence, with the review intervals
Who actually decides
Not the directive, and not a website. The directive sets minimum standards, the national system fills them in, the examining doctor makes the assessment, and the competent authority decides on your licence.
If you have a condition or take medication and wonder what it means, take that to the examining doctor. That's not only the safest route, it's the only one that leads to a valid ruling.
What's coming: Directive (EU) 2025/2205
On 22 October 2025 the EU adopted a new driving licence directive, Directive (EU) 2025/2205. It replaces Directive 2006/126/EC, but not yet.
Directive 2006/126/EC is repealed with effect from 26 November 2029, except for Article 6(4), point (c), thereof, which is repealed with effect from 26 November 2027.
Directive (EU) 2025/2205, Article 30(1).
Until 26 November 2029, Directive 2006/126/EC as transposed nationally still applies. Everything above on this page is current law. References to the old directive afterwards are read as references to the new one, per the correlation table in Annex VII.
For you as a driver: the values that affect you don't change materially through the transposition. What changes is the numbering of where things are found. We'll review this page again before 2029.
Sources
- Directive 2006/126/EC on driving licences, Annex III (minimum standards of physical and mental fitness), points 3, 4 and 5. EUR-Lex
Legal text quoted verbatim from the consolidated English version on EUR-Lex, accessed 26 August 2026. Annex III has been amended on points since 2006; the points 3, 4 and 5 quoted here are unchanged. For eyesight and sleep apnoea, later text applies, see the guides on those topics. Member States may set stricter standards, so national requirements can go further than what's stated here.
Stuck? See where there is still room.
Drivers report what they see themselves. Parking full, traffic, hazard, roadworks. Open the app and stop driving alone.