International Driving Permit in Togo

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

Driving in Togo: key facts

Do you need an International Driving Permit in Togo?

No article of Togo's Décret n° 2022-085/PR makes an IDP a condition of driving. The decree recognises an international driving permit issued to a person not domiciled in Togo (Article 26) and keeps one issued abroad valid until its own expiry date (Article 20), without naming the 1949 or the 1968 model. Togo is a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (succession 27 Feb 1962) and is not a party to the 1968 Vienna Convention, and the decree does not say whether a 1968 IDP counts: check with the authorities before you travel. The decree does not say whether an IDP must be carried with the national licence, so carry both. A foreign licence that Togo recognises is valid for 18 months from the date of last entry, unless it expires sooner (Article 28). UK government advice to UK licence holders is that a UK photocard licence may be used for up to 6 months, that a stay of more than 6 months needs the 1949 IDP, and that hire car companies often require an IDP.

• Tourists and short-term visitors: carry your national licence together with the document named in the row for your country of issue, in the table below — for most origin licences that document is not an IDP, so read your own answer rather than assuming one.
• Car renters: Carry the original national licence at all times, plus an IDP if you have one, and keep the vehicle registration and insurance in the car. UK government advice is that car rental companies often have stricter requirements, such as holding an IDP.

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

What side of the road does Togo drive on?

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

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

Article 28 of Décret n° 2022-085/PR sets the recognition period for a foreign licence at 18 months, counted from the date of last entry into Togo, unless the licence itself expires sooner. After that, the holder must obtain a Togolese licence. An international driving permit issued abroad is valid until its own expiry date (Article 20 of the same decree). The UK publishes 6 months and France 3 months, but each is that government's advice to its own nationals, not Togolese law. (Décret n° 2022-085/PR du 03/08/2022 — Journal officiel de la République togolaise, 67e année n° 41 bis, 7 octobre 2022, article 28)

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

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

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

• 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic: succession on 27 Feb 1962.

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 Togo with your country's licence?

This table is for tourists and temporary visitors. Moving to Togo as a resident? Different rules apply — see the residents section below. Find your licence's country of issue below. Togo's Décret n° 2022-085/PR recognises a licence issued by a state that grants reciprocity to holders of Togolese licences, naming the member states of ECOWAS and UEMOA and the signatory states of the Vienna convention on road traffic and road signs, and it recognises an international driving permit issued to a person not domiciled in Togo (Article 26). The licence must be valid and authentic and issued by the competent authority of the state where its holder has resided (Article 27), and it is recognised for 18 months from the date of last entry, unless it expires sooner, after which a Togolese licence is required (Article 28). The decree lists no other reciprocating state and does not say whether it means the states that signed the two 1968 Vienna conventions, on road traffic and on road signs, or the states party to them, so it settles licences from ECOWAS and UEMOA states and from states that both signed and ratified both conventions. Togo is a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention (succession 27 Feb 1962), which obliges it to admit a licence issued in another party, but not to the 1968 Vienna Convention. For a licence from any other state, whether it is recognised is not established: check with the authorities before you travel. 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).

What the Status column means on this page:

• National licence OK — the destination lets a visitor drive on the national licence itself. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, gives the basis, and any period or condition that qualifies it.
• National licence OK — IDP advised — the destination does not require an IDP for this licence, but carrying one is advised. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, gives the reason and any conditions attached.
• Treaty recognises licence — IDP advised — the 1949 Geneva Convention obliges this destination to recognise your national licence, and separately allows a destination to require a 1949-type IDP; this row states the treaty position and does not settle which of the two this destination chose, so carrying an IDP is advised. The row for your country of issue, in the table below, gives the basis.
• 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 row for your country of issue, in the table below, says what could not be confirmed.

Sources and notes for the table above

[1] Décret n° 2022-085/PR du 03/08/2022, articles 4, 20 and 26 to 28 — Journal officiel de la République togolaise, 67e année n° 41 bis, 7 octobre 2022

[2] UN Treaty Collection, Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General — status of the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (chapter XI-B-1) and of the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (chapter XI-B-19) — XI-B-1, XI-B-19

[a] Licence categories do not follow the convention A–E scheme — rental staff may ask for an IDP to map them.

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 Togo? Togo's official IDPs are issued by Direction des Transports Routiers et Ferroviaires (DTRF).
• 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 Togo? Rules for new residents

Someone settling in Togo should convert to or obtain a Togolese licence rather than rely indefinitely on visitor documents. Article 28 of Décret n° 2022-085/PR recognises a foreign licence for 18 months from the date of last entry, unless the licence itself expires sooner, and at the end of that period the holder must obtain a Togolese licence in place of the foreign one. The decree names no separate period for residents. Official source.

Driving rules in Togo tourists get fined for

• Mandatory equipment: Article 22 of the code de la route makes seat belts compulsory for all vehicle occupants and helmets compulsory for all users of two-wheelers; Décret n° 2022-085/PR extends the helmet duty to passengers and to tricycle drivers and requires an approved helmet. Article 23 bans any use of a mobile telephone by the driver of a moving vehicle, with no hands-free exception. Fine amounts sit in an inter-ministerial order that is not published. No Togolese warning-triangle or first-aid-kit requirement was found.
• Drink-driving: Under Décret n° 2022-085/PR, driving with 0.1 g/l or more of alcohol in the blood is a fault, and a serious one from 0.8 g/l in the blood or 0.40 mg/l in exhaled breath (Articles 168 to 170). Driving with 0.1 g/l to 0.49 g/l, or drunk with 0.50 g/l to 0.79 g/l, is a light fault punished by a warning (Articles 168 and 174). If a light traffic offence is committed as well, it becomes a moderately serious fault, punished by 15 days to 3 months' withdrawal of the licence (Articles 169 and 175). A serious fault brings 3 to 6 months' withdrawal (Article 176). Both withdrawals come on top of any penalty under the code de la route. The level is proved by medical tests, including urine and blood tests, or by an approved breath analyser, and a driver who contests the result may ask for a new check (Article 172). Article 20 of the code de la route punishes drink-driving with the penalties of article 10: a fine of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 FCFA and one to three years' imprisonment, or only one of the two. Article 10's own offence is driving without a valid licence — article 20 borrows its penalty scale, not its offence.
• Speed limits: Traffic drives on the right. No official Togolese speed-limit schedule was retrievable on 29 July 2026 and the UK FCDO page publishes none; obey posted limits and drive well below them at night, on unlit rural roads and in the rainy season.
• Carry the original national licence at all times, plus an IDP if you have one, and keep the vehicle registration and insurance in the car. UK government advice is that car rental companies often have stricter requirements, such as holding an IDP.
• UK guidance, verbatim: "You may encounter official and unofficial roadblocks. Stop at control points if asked. Turn on your interior vehicle lights and only continue when you're told you can".
• UK guidance, verbatim: "Driving standards in Togo are poor and add to the risk of accidents", "Roads outside towns and cities are poorly lit" and "During the rainy season, minor unpaved roads may be blocked." Avoid driving at night outside urban areas.

Read more about driving in Togo

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

Watch what driving in Togo looks like

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

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Sources

1. National road-traffic law
2. Décret n° 2022-085/PR du 03/08/2022 — Journal officiel de la République togolaise, 67e année n° 41 bis, 7 octobre 2022, article 28
3. Resident licence conversion rule
4. UK FCDO Togo — Safety and security: the 6-month photocard figure and the 1949 IDP advice, roadblocks and road conditions. Its statement that there are no set blood alcohol limits is contradicted by Articles 168 to 170 of Décret n° 2022-085/PR, which set them
5. UK government IDP table — row: "Togo | 1949"
6. ANPC Togo (Agence nationale de la protection civile) — emergency numbers: Police 117 and 1244, Fire 118, Gendarmerie 172. The same page also lists 8204 for ANASAP, the Agence nationale d'assainissement et de la salubrité publique — a waste-collection and street-cleaning agency, not an emergency responder
7. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Convention on Road Traffic status: Togo, 27 Feb 1962 (succession)
8. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic status: Togo absent from both the 91 parties and the 36 signatories
9. UN Treaty Collection — 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic
10. UN Treaty Collection — 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic