International Driving Permit in Ethiopia

🗓 Facts checked against Ethiopia's road-traffic law and official sources. Research last updated: 30 October 2026. You may copy this information only if you provide a link back to this page.

⚠ This page is general information about driving rules, not legal advice. Rules change, and each authority applies its own — confirm your case with the relevant authority before you drive.

ℹ We are a private company. We are not a government body, a licensing or issuing authority, or a treaty organisation, and we are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for any of them. The International Driver's Document we sell is a translation of your national driving licence: it is not a driving licence, and it is not a government-issued document.

• Driving in Ethiopia: key facts
• Do you need an International Driving Permit in Ethiopia?
• What side of the road does Ethiopia drive on?
• How long can you drive in Ethiopia with a foreign licence?
• Is Ethiopia a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?
• Why acceptance of your licence varies from place to place
• Can you drive in Ethiopia with your country's licence?
• Where to get an International Driving Permit
• Moving to Ethiopia? Rules for new residents
• Driving rules in Ethiopia tourists get fined for
• Read more about driving in Ethiopia
• Sources

Driving in Ethiopia: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Ethiopia?

Proclamation 1074/2018 art. 15(5) lets any holder of a "foreign driving license" or an "international driving license" drive on it for 45 days from arrival, and neither it nor Regulation 494/2022, made under it, makes an IDP a condition of driving. But art. 10(2) of that Regulation allows such a holder to drive only once the licence has been registered with the transport authorities within 45 days from the day after arrival, or the equivalent Ethiopian licence has been issued; art. 10(3) requires the licence first to be certified at the embassy of the country of issue and at Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and art. 10(4) treats driving in breach as driving without a licence. The two texts differ, so whether a visitor may drive on a foreign licence or an IDP without registering it is not established: check with the transport authorities before you travel. Art. 2(4) defines a foreign licence as one "issued by any foreign government recognized by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia" — no approved list, no convention condition. Art. 2(5) defines an international licence as one "issued in accordance with the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic, signed in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 19th day of September 1949" — the 1949 Geneva Convention, to which Ethiopia is not a party. Ethiopia is a party only to the 1968 Vienna Convention (acceded 25 Aug 2021, in force for Ethiopia 25 Aug 2022). So a 1949 IDP is the permit the Proclamation names but carries no treaty obligation; a 1968 IDP is not named there but is treaty-backed. Either way, always carry the original national licence — an IDP never replaces it.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: Proclamation 1074/2018 lets a foreign or international licence be used for 45 days from arrival (art. 15(5)), but Regulation 494/2022 requires it to be certified and registered before it is used (art. 10(2) and (3)). Check with the authorities before you travel; the answer below says what is known.

No specific penalty for driving without the required document was verified from an authoritative source. Secondary source.

What side of the road does Ethiopia drive on?

Ethiopia drives on the right-hand side of the road, and overtaking is done on the left. Cars in Ethiopia are left-hand drive.

How long can you drive in Ethiopia with a foreign licence?

Proclamation 1074/2018 allows 45 days from arrival on a foreign or international licence, or until it expires if sooner (art. 15(5)); Regulation 494/2022 allows driving on one only once it is registered (art. 10(2)). The Regulation sets the deadline for registration at 45 days from the day after arrival, requires the licence first to be certified at the embassy of the country of issue and at Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (art. 10(3)), and does not say how long a registered licence may be used. The two texts differ, so check with the transport authorities before you travel. UK government advice gives a shorter period: "You can use your UK driving licence to drive for up to 2 weeks". (Proclamation 1074/2018 art. 15(5); UK FCDO Ethiopia travel advice (road travel))

Planning to move to Ethiopia? Different rules apply once you become a resident — see the residents section below.

Is Ethiopia a party to the 1949 or 1968 Road Traffic Convention?

Ethiopia is a Contracting Party to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, but not to the 1949 Geneva Convention.

• 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic: accession on 25 Aug 2021.

Why acceptance of your licence varies from place to place

Whether a foreign country accepts your driving licence hangs on a tangle of variables: three different road-traffic conventions signed decades apart (1926, 1949, 1968) — the oldest predates the United Nations itself, and only the latter two were concluded under it — countries at different stages of joining each (signed vs. accepted vs. ratified), licences printed in alphabets local police can't read, vehicle-category systems that don't line up between countries, document generations that may not meet a convention's format even when the country is a member, bilateral deals between individual states, and local laws that are looser in one place and stricter in the next. The same licence can be fine at one border and rejected at the next — even at the next rental desk. The International Driving Permit exists to cut through most of it: a standardized, multilingual presentation of your existing licence, with harmonized category symbols, that most officials can read at a glance. It doesn't replace your national licence or grant new rights — you carry both — and it doesn't guarantee acceptance: a handful of destinations still require a local permit alongside or instead of it, but for most it meaningfully improves your odds.

Can you drive in Ethiopia with your country's licence?

This answer is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Ethiopia as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Ethiopia's two texts on foreign licences differ. Proclamation 1074/2018 art. 15(5) lets anyone holding a foreign or international licence — from any government Ethiopia recognises — drive for 45 days from arrival, but Regulation 494/2022 art. 10 allows it only once the licence has been certified at the embassy of the country of issue and at Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and registered with the transport authorities within 45 days from the day after arrival. So whether a visitor may drive on a foreign licence without registering it is not established for any country of issue: check with the transport authorities before you travel. Neither text makes an IDP a condition of driving, and the 1968 Vienna Convention has applied to Ethiopia since 25 August 2022. UK government advice is that a UK licence may be used for up to 2 weeks. Rules change — confirm with official sources before you travel. Last verified: October 2026.

Legend: "1949" — Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (IDP valid up to 1 year); "1968" — Vienna Convention (IDP valid up to 3 years).

Not established — the record does not settle whether you may drive here on this licence; confirm with the destination's licensing authority before you rely on it. The answer below says what could not be confirmed.

What you need to carry — Check with local authorities before travel

Why — Proclamation 1074/2018 lets a foreign or international licence be used for 45 days from arrival (art. 15(5)), but Regulation 494/2022 requires it to be certified and registered before it is used (art. 10(2) and (3)). [1]

Sources and notes for the answer above

[1] Driver's Qualification Certification License Proclamation No. 1074/2018, art. 15(5); Drivers' Qualification Certification License Regulation No. 494/2022, art. 10(2) and (3)

Where to get an International Driving Permit

An International Driving Permit must be obtained before you travel, and only certain countries may issue one to you — you cannot buy an official IDP from an unrelated country. Under the 1968 Vienna Convention it may be issued only by the Contracting Party where you normally reside and which issued or recognizes your licence — by that Party's competent authority or by an association it has duly empowered. Under the 1949 Geneva Convention it is issued by the competent authority of a Contracting State, or by an association that authority has duly empowered. Which body that is varies by country: a government agency in some, an authorized motoring club in others.

• Travelling from another country? Ask that country's driving-licence authority which body it authorizes to issue IDPs — a government agency in some countries, an authorized motoring club in others.

Separately, IDA offers a digital International Driver's Document — a translation of your national licence that you carry alongside it. It is not an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 or 1968 conventions by the body your country authorizes for that purpose, and it is not a certified, sworn or otherwise official translation: no authority certifies it, and where a country requires an official or certified translation by law, our document does not satisfy that requirement. It is a private translation meant to make your national licence readable at rental desks and roadside checks.

Moving to Ethiopia? Rules for new residents

Proclamation 1074/2018 art. 15(5) lets tourists and new residents alike drive on a foreign licence, without changing it to an Ethiopian licence, for 45 days from arrival. Regulation 494/2022 lets the licence be used only once it has been registered within 45 days from the day after arrival, or the equivalent Ethiopian licence has been issued (art. 10(2)), and lets a holder who missed that deadline convert or register it within six months after those 45 days, on payment of an administrative penalty (art. 10(5)). The Regulation does not say how long a registered licence may be used: check with the transport authorities. Foreign-government travel advice.

Driving rules in Ethiopia tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: If your vehicle breaks down on the road, place warning triangles 30 m in front of it and 30 m behind it, where they can be seen (Road Transport Traffic Control Council of Ministers Regulation No. 557/2024, art. 24(5)). Except on motorcycles, the driver and every passenger, front or back, must wear a seat belt; a passenger who cannot for medical reasons must show a medical certificate, and a child under seven must ride buckled into a child seat fixed to the back seat (art. 7). Drivers may not make calls or use a radio by hand, or write, send or read messages, while driving, nor watch video other than GPS navigation (art. 6). Before any trip outside Addis Ababa, also check tyres and spare, brakes, lights, fuel, water and communications.
• Drink-driving: The limit is 0.24 mg/l of alcohol in exhaled breath or 50 mg per 100 ml of blood, and zero for drivers aged 18 to 29 and anyone with under two years' driving experience (Regulation 557/2024, arts. 2 and 74). Zero also applies to motorcyclists and to drivers of commercial, public-transport, emergency, school-service and dangerous-goods vehicles (art. 74(3)). A driver who refuses a test is presumed drunk (art. 74(5)), and no one may drive "while chewing or after chewing chat" (khat) or under the influence of drugs (art. 73(1)). Not published in a verifiable source. Impaired driving can bring prosecution, custody and voided insurance.
• Speed limits: Drive on the right. In towns the maximum is 50 km/h (Road Transport Traffic Control Council of Ministers Regulation No. 557/2024, art. 25(7)), lower on smaller streets: 45 km/h on medium town roads, 30 km/h on local streets with a footway and 20 km/h without one, and 30 km/h around schools; for rental cars the town limits are 40 km/h on main roads, 30 km/h on medium roads, 25 km/h on local streets with a footway and 20 km/h without one (Motor Vehicles' Speed Limit Council of Ministers Regulation No. 492/2022, arts. 7 and 8). Outside towns, private cars may do at most 120 km/h on the busiest trunk roads, falling by road class to 40 km/h on minor feeder roads, and commercial vehicles 90 km/h falling to 30 km/h (art. 6). Obey posted km/h limits, which can be lower. Reduce speed for livestock, pedestrians, unlit vehicles and road damage.
• Carry the original physical national licence at all times. An IDP is optional in the first 45 days but is advised if your licence is not in Latin script — it never substitutes for the national licence.
• UK FCDO: "Driving standards and vehicle maintenance are often poor and there are frequent traffic accidents, especially in Addis Ababa and on the Addis Ababa-Djibouti road".
• UK FCDO: "Drivers involved in car accidents can face severe punishments, including custodial sentences and fines. If you're involved in a traffic accident, stay in your vehicle and call the local police. Avoid confrontation and wait for police to arrive to deal with any issues".
• Security-driven route risk: UK FCDO advises against all travel "south and west of the A3 road in North Shewa zone including the A3 road itself in North Shewa" and against all travel to Amhara region, where the A3 continues to Bahir Dar. It reports armed attacks on vehicles on the Addis Ababa-Bahir Dar (A3) road, "usually ... in the early hours when visibility is poor", advises avoiding travel when visibility is poor, and notes ENDF checkpoints and road closures; also attacks on the A1 between Adama and Awash. Check current regional advice before any intercity drive.

Read more about driving in Ethiopia

• 10 Interesting Facts About Ethiopia
• Best Places to Visit in Ethiopia

Watch what driving in Ethiopia looks like

A few minutes of real POV footage is the fastest way to feel confident before your first drive in Ethiopia:

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. Proclamation 1074/2018 art. 15(5); UK FCDO Ethiopia travel advice (road travel)
3. Resident licence conversion rule
4. UK FCDO Ethiopia — A3/A1 road-attack and visibility warnings, ENDF checkpoints
5. UK FCDO Ethiopia — emergency numbers 911 / 907
6. UN Treaty Collection XI-B-19 (1968 Vienna Convention) — Ethiopia accession 25 Aug 2021
7. UN Treaty Collection XI-B-1 (1949 Geneva Convention) — Ethiopia not a party
8. Road Transport Traffic Control Council of Ministers Regulation No. 557/2024 (Federal Negarit Gazette No. 57, 19 August 2024), Ministry of Justice — alcohol limits, phones, seat belts, child seats, warning triangles, 50 km/h town maximum
9. Motor Vehicles' Speed Limit Council of Ministers Regulation No. 492/2022 (Federal Negarit Gazette No. 11, 9 March 2022), Ministry of Justice — speed limits in and outside towns, by road class
10. Road Transport Proclamation No. 1274/2022 (Federal Negarit Gazette No. 44, 15 July 2022), Ministry of Justice — arts. 9(4), 9(5) and 11(8) on the age article of Proclamation 1074/2018
11. Drivers' Qualification Certification License Regulation No. 494/2022 (Federal Negarit Gazette, 28th Year No. 14), Ministry of Justice — art. 10: certification and registration of foreign and international licences
12. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
13. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic