The short answer
Every licence issued before 2013 is being exchanged for the current EU card, in stages running to January 2033. For paper licences the deadline follows your year of birth, for older cards the year of issue. There is no test, no eyesight check and no medical examination involved.
The compulsory exchange has been running for years and affects practically everybody who passed before 2013. It is far more harmless than the word "compulsory" suggests — and it still gets missed regularly, because nobody sends a reminder.
What is exchanged, and for what
The document is exchanged, not the entitlement. Your classes carry over, your permission stays the same, and key numbers move with it. You receive an EU card valid for fifteen years — after which it is renewed, again with no test. The licensing authority for your place of residence handles it.
What your deadline hangs on
- Grey or pink paper licence: your year of birth decides
- Plastic card issued before 2013: the year of issue decides, not your year of birth
- The staging ends in January 2033, after which every old document is invalid
- Which date applies to you is something the licensing authority will tell you; it is not printed on the document
Not our learners — their parents and grandparents, sitting in the office while the training contract is filled in. The grey paper licence comes out of the wallet and the question follows. We send them on to the authority, but always with the same sentence attached: nothing terrible happens if the deadline slips, and you should still not let it come to that.
If the deadline passes
Then you are driving on an invalid document, but not without an entitlement. It is a minor offence with a small fine — no points, no ban, no loss of your permission to drive. It becomes awkward abroad, where a check takes the difference between an invalid document and a missing entitlement rather less calmly.
Nothing is lost in the exchange
Old classes and acquired rights are preserved and transferred under the applicable conversion rules. Anybody who obtained the old class 3 decades ago loses nothing — the card merely lists what already applied.
Not to be confused with converting a foreign licence: that is a different process, and the distinction is in converting or exchanging.
What to take away
The exchange is an appointment at the authority, not a test and not a risk to your entitlement. The only mistake available is postponing it until the document is needed on holiday.