7 April, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. Lithuania and other European Union countries have no claims to old-style Belarusian driving licenses, reports "Interfax-Zapad" citing the head of Lithuania's traffic police, Gintaras Alksninis. "We recognise and will continue to recognise these driving licenses – they comply with all road traffic conventions. There are no and have been no new regulations," he stressed. "It is a different matter if a driver arrives with a driving license issued in the USSR. That state no longer exists, and those licenses are no longer recognised," he added. Gintaras Alksninis noted that the hype surrounding driving licenses in Belarus is unclear to him. He also refuted the information that a notarised translation into the language of the country of stay would be required for an old driving license. "If a driving license has Latin script and a validity period, it means that no translation is needed, and it complies with the requirements of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic," stressed Gintaras Alksninis. New driving licenses have been issued in Belarus since 1 February 2011. The start of their issuance was marked by a rush – drivers formed queues lasting many hours, wishing to exchange their licenses. The queues were caused by statements made by traffic police representatives shortly before the issuance of new licenses, regarding the alleged illegitimacy of old driving licenses in the EU from 31 March 2011. -0-

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