On 8 November 1968, at the Hofburg, the UN Conference on Road Traffic opened for signature the Convention on Road Traffic. The conference, convened by the Secretary-General under ECOSOC resolutions 1129 (XLI) of 27 July 1966 and 1203 (XLII) of 26 May 1967, sat in Vienna from 7 October. The same day it also opened the Convention on Road Signs and Signals and adopted the Final Act. The texts, in a single copy, are equally authentic in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Depositary: the UN Secretary-General.

Article 8 states the principle: every moving vehicle, or combination of vehicles, shall have a driver, physically and mentally able. Article 37 requires, at the rear, the distinguishing sign of the state of registration — black letters on a white oval, or incorporated into the plate. Numbers are written in capital Latin letters and Arabic numerals. Parties recognise the legality of one another’s vehicles if they meet the requirements of the country of registration, including right-hand or left-hand drive.

Article 41 recognises a domestic permit drawn up in the national language (or with a certified translation), a domestic permit conforming to Annex 6, and an international permit conforming to Annex 7, presented with the domestic one. The international permit does not outlast the domestic permit. Parties may refuse recognition for persons under 18, and for categories C, D, CE and DE under 21. Learner permits are outside this rule.

Article 47: the convention entered into force twelve months after deposit of the fifteenth instrument of ratification or accession. The date was 21 May 1977. In relations between the parties, Article 48 replaces the Paris Conventions of 24 April 1926, the Inter-American convention opened at Washington in 1943 and the Geneva Convention of 19 September 1949. States not party to the 1968 text may remain with Geneva 1949. Ireland, Canada, the United States and China are examples of non-parties; Spain signed and has not ratified.

The European Agreement supplementing the convention was concluded at Geneva on 1 May 1971 and entered into force on 7 June 1979. Amendments came on 3 September 1993 and 28 March 2006. A later Article 34 bis, on automated driving systems, was accepted without deleting Article 8.

The authentic text is in the United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 1042, p. 17, registered as No. 15705. Depositary status: 36 signatories, 91 parties. Romania is a party.

The UN Treaty Office publishes the convention, chapter XI.B.19, with the Final Act of the Vienna conference.

Image: Perituss, Neue Burg (Hofburg), Vienna, 2014, CC0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Treaty text: Convention on Road Traffic, Vienna, 8 November 1968.