The driver’s license in credit card format, deployed in France since 2013, includes several numbered sections on both sides. Box 11, printed on the back of the license, remains one of the least understood by holders. It pertains to the validity date associated with each category of vehicle held by the driver, a piece of information distinct from the general validity date of the license itself.
Harmonized codes and restrictions: what box 11 does not say alone
Most articles dedicated to the license focus on the visible content of box 11. Reading this column without cross-referencing it with the European harmonized codes, listed in the adjacent column 12, amounts to reading only half a sentence.
Column 12 contains numerical codes (01 for wearing glasses, 02 for a hearing aid, 78 for the restriction to vehicles with automatic transmission, for example). These codes specify the conditions under which the category mentioned in column 9 is valid until the date listed in column 11. Box 11 sets the duration, box 12 sets the conditions.
To find all the information on box 11 of the driver’s license, one must read the back of the license line by line, from column 9 (category) to column 12 (restrictions), passing through columns 10 (date of issuance) and 11 (expiration date).
Validity date category by category: why box 11 varies from line to line
The same license can display several different dates in column 11. The B license obtained in 2015 will have a distinct validity date from that of an A2 license obtained in 2020 by the same driver. Each line of the table on the back corresponds to a category, and each category has its own validity deadline.
The validity period also depends on the type of category:
- Heavy vehicle categories (C, CE, D, DE) require more frequent renewal, linked to periodic medical checks.
- Some additional mentions (accompanied driving, automatic transmission lifted after training) can lead to a new date in box 11 without changing the category itself.
Therefore, box 11 is not a single field: it is a table of dates. A multi-category driver must check each line separately.
Administrative renewal and box 11
When the date listed in box 11 has passed for a given category, the right to drive vehicles of that category is suspended until renewal. For light vehicle categories, the renewal is purely administrative (no medical visit or new driving test). The process is done online via the ANTS website.
For heavy vehicle categories, the date in box 11 coincides with the expiration of the medical certificate. Without a valid medical visit, the prefecture does not renew the corresponding line.
Physical license and digital license: box 11 versus mobile format
The deployment of the dematerialized driver’s license via the France Identité app changes how the license data is accessed. France Identité indicates that the digital license can be presented during a roadside check, just like the physical document.
In terms of displayed data, the mobile license retains the same fields as the plastic card, including validity dates by category. The difference lies in the update: on the physical card, a change of date in box 11 requires the issuance of a new document.
The European regulation on the mobile license
The equivalent of box 11 in the mobile license is not necessarily called “box 11”. The European regulatory framework refers to structured data fields, transmitted in the form of codes. The logic remains the same, but the vocabulary changes according to the medium.
Common reading errors on the back of the driver’s license
The most widespread confusion is taking the date listed in field 4b (front of the license) as the validity date for category B. Field 4b indicates the administrative expiration date of the license itself, not that of a particular category. Field 4b concerns the document, box 11 concerns the right to drive.
Another trap: an empty box 11 on a given line. A line without a date in column 11 means that the corresponding category has not been obtained by the holder, even if the line is printed on the license. The table on the back lists all existing categories, not just those held.
Finally, drivers holding an old pink three-part license will not find a box 11 on their document. This numbering is specific to the European card format. When exchanging the old license for the new format, the validity dates are recalculated and entered into the corresponding boxes of the new document.
The driver’s license concentrates, on a few square centimeters, a set of administrative and regulatory data, of which box 11 constitutes the temporal pivot. Correct reading avoids situations of driving without a valid document, an offense punishable by a fixed fine, even in the absence of suspension or cancellation of the license.
