A driver license monitoring service keeps track of whether each of your drivers is legally allowed to drive the vehicles you give them. It records the licence status and expiry date, schedules the next check and warns you when something needs action. In Denmark no source we found requires you to buy such a service. What you must be able to show is that you never hand a vehicle to someone who cannot lawfully drive it, and that your checks respect employee data protection rules. This guide explains what to check, how often, what to store and how to set it up so it holds up.
TL;DR
- Monitoring means a repeatable routine: verify the licence, record the result, set the next check date, act on exceptions. Software can do this, but so can a well-run manual process.
- The Danish Road Traffic Act (Færdselsloven) § 65, stk. 2 forbids handing a motor vehicle to someone who cannot lawfully drive it. That duty is yours as the person controlling the vehicle.
- Checking employees' licences is a control measure under data protection law. You need a legal basis, a clear purpose, proportionality and advance information to the employee.
- Keep only what the purpose needs, limit access, secure the data and delete it when you no longer need it.
- Transport companies can hand the document and deadline routine to an external administrative function, such as Votra Business.
Table of Contents
- What a driver license monitoring service actually does
- What the law requires from you as an employer
- Checking licences is employee control: the data protection side
- What to keep, who sees it and for how long
- How often should you check?
- Software, spreadsheet or outsourced: choosing how to monitor
- A simple procedure you can adopt this week
- When the check goes wrong: what to do with an invalid licence
- Our perspective
- Keeping licences and qualifications in order
- Let us handle the routine
- FAQ
- Sources
What a driver license monitoring service actually does
Strip away the product names and a monitoring service does four things.
- Records the licence. Holder, licence categories, expiry date and any restrictions that apply.
- Records the check. When the licence was last verified, by whom and with what result.
- Schedules the next check. Each driver gets a due date, so no one depends on someone remembering.
- Raises alerts. An upcoming expiry or an overdue check shows up as an exception, instead of surfacing after an incident or an inspection.
Some software tools add a physical scan of the card or a status dashboard with colour-coded warnings. The value is not the technology itself. It is that the check becomes routine, documented and visible to the person responsible.
There is one limit worth understanding. A monitoring tool shows the status as of the last check. Unless you have confirmed otherwise for the specific product, do not assume it learns about every change in a driver's entitlement the moment a public authority makes it. A suspended or revoked licence may not be reflected until the next verification. That is why the schedule and the driver's own duty to report matter as much as the tool.
What the law requires from you as an employer
The core duty: do not let anyone drive who cannot
The current consolidated Road Traffic Act, Færdselsloven from 2026, contains the rule that matters most. Section 65, stk. 2 forbids the owner, user, driver or any other person in control of a motor vehicle from handing it to someone who cannot lawfully drive it.
In practice that means:
- If a licence has expired, is restricted, or has been suspended or revoked, you stop assigning that driver to the vehicle.
- You do not release the vehicle again until you have verified that the driver has a valid entitlement for that vehicle category.
- The Act does not prescribe a particular HR sanction, and it does not prescribe a particular monitoring product.
That last point answers a common question. Nothing we found obliges you to use a monitoring service. You may verify licences by another lawful process, provided the process lets you meet § 65 and the data protection rules. A service is a convenience for fleets where manual follow-up gets unreliable, not a legal requirement in itself.
The digital licence helps the check
Denmark's driving licence app is treated as valid documentation of the right to drive, equal to the physical card. According to the Agency for Digital Government, validity can be checked visually, and dynamic QR codes allow a more thorough verification of authenticity. The app also gives the holder notifications before a renewal falls due. For an employer this means a driver can show a current licence on the phone at the time of the check, which makes a periodic check simple even without any software.
The app is also a reminder to put an obligation on the driver: tell the employer immediately if the licence status changes.
Checking licences is employee control: the data protection side
A licence check involves personal data about an employee. Under Danish guidance it counts as a control measure, and control measures have rules.
You need a legal basis
Datatilsynet's guidance on employee control from November 2023 says that control involving personal data needs a valid legal basis and must meet the requirements of objectivity and proportionality. Datatilsynet's overview of when you can process personal data lists the possible GDPR Article 6 bases: consent, contract necessity, legal obligation, vital interests, public task or authority, and legitimate interests.
For licence checks, the realistic candidates are:
- Legal obligation or employment-law obligation. Section 12 of the Danish Data Protection Act allows employment-related processing that is necessary to comply with employment-law obligations or rights laid down in legislation or collective agreements. It also contains an interest-balancing route.
- Legitimate interests. Dansk Industri's guidance on GPS monitoring, updated February 2026, explains that a private employer may in relevant cases rely on GDPR Article 6(1)(f), subject to objectivity and proportionality and, where applicable, Data Protection Act § 12(1). The same logic is a useful guide for other control measures.
Be careful with consent as your only basis. Datatilsynet says valid consent must be voluntary, specific, informed and explicit, cannot be tacit, cannot normally carry unnecessary negative consequences if the person refuses, and can always be withdrawn. In an employment relationship, a driver who says no to a licence check will not be allowed to drive, so consent is a fragile foundation. Decide your basis with your adviser before you start.
Tell employees before you start
According to the Datatilsynet control guidance, employees should normally receive the GDPR Article 13 or 14 information no later than when the control measure is introduced. It must be in accessible, clear and simple language and must explain above all the purpose.
For a licence routine, a short written notice or a section in the staff handbook is enough, as long as it says:
- why you check (to ensure that only drivers with a valid entitlement drive company vehicles);
- what you check and how often;
- what you record and who can see it;
- how long you keep it;
- what the driver must do if the status changes.
Keep the purpose narrow
DI's guidance makes a point that applies to every monitoring tool: information collected for one control purpose must not later be used to monitor behavior or whereabouts for an unrelated purpose. If you collect licence data to comply with § 65, do not repurpose it for performance assessment. The Danish text on this rests on proportionality, so ask whether a lighter check would achieve the same goal.
What to keep, who sees it and for how long
Datatilsynet's guidance on data protection in employment from March 2023 identifies the employer as data controller for information collected, registered and processed about an employee during employment and after it ends. It also makes the employer responsible for security when employee data are processed electronically and for physical security at the workplace.
That gives you a practical record design.
| Item | Keep? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Name and employee ID | Yes | Links the record to the right driver |
| Licence categories valid for the vehicles used | Yes | Shows the entitlement matches the vehicle |
| Expiry date | Yes | Drives the schedule |
| Date of last check and who did it | Yes | Shows you verified |
| Next check date | Yes | Prevents gaps |
| Copy of the full licence | Only if you can justify it | Minimisation: a note of the result is often enough |
| Reasons for a suspension or revocation | No, unless strictly necessary | Not needed to meet the purpose |
| Health or conviction details | No | Sensitive and outside the purpose |
The table is a design suggestion built on the principles of minimisation, accuracy, security and limited retention, not a quotation from a rule. Set a retention period in writing, give access only to the people who need it (usually the owner, the fleet manager and whoever runs payroll or HR) and delete records when the purpose ends.
How often should you check?
No cited Danish source sets a fixed interval, so the right rhythm is a risk decision you document. A sensible approach:
- Before the first drive. Verify the licence and categories at hiring or before a driver gets access to a new vehicle type.
- Periodically. Many fleets use a fixed interval, for example twice a year, and tighten it for drivers close to expiry or with a history of changes.
- On triggers. After an accident, a traffic offence you hear about, a long absence, or any message from the driver that their status has changed.
- Ahead of expiry. Set a reminder well before the printed expiry date so renewal does not leave a gap in the schedule.
Write the interval into your procedure and follow it. An unfollowed policy is worse than a modest policy you actually keep.
Software, spreadsheet or outsourced: choosing how to monitor
There are three realistic ways to run the routine.
A spreadsheet or calendar. Works for a handful of drivers. It fails when one person owns it and goes on holiday, and it has no alerts for overdue checks unless you build them. Protect the file with access control.
A dedicated software tool. Gives a dashboard, next-check dates and automated exception alerts. It adds a data processor to your setup, so you need a data processing agreement, and you should check where the data is stored.
An external administrative function. The driver licence is one document among many. Transport companies also have to keep track of driver qualification certificates, vehicle deadlines, payroll and invoicing. Having one function watch all documents and deadlines avoids a separate tool for each.
Whichever you choose, ask the same questions:
- Does it let us record the check date, result and next due date?
- Who can see the data, and can we restrict it?
- Can we delete records on schedule?
- What happens when a licence is flagged: who is told and what is the next step?
- Is the data processing covered by a written agreement?
A simple procedure you can adopt this week
- Name an owner. One person is responsible for the routine, with a named deputy.
- Write the purpose. One sentence: only drivers with a valid entitlement drive our vehicles.
- Choose the legal basis with your adviser and note it.
- Inform the drivers in writing before the first check, covering the points listed above.
- Run the first check on all drivers and record the result and next due date.
- Set alerts for upcoming expiry and for any overdue check.
- Define the exception step. If a licence is invalid or restricted, the driver is taken off the vehicle the same day and returns only after verification.
- Review twice a year. Check that records are accurate, access is limited and old data is deleted.
When the check goes wrong: what to do with an invalid licence
Suppose a check shows that a driver's licence has expired or been suspended. Under § 65, stk. 2 you must not keep handing that driver a vehicle. So:
- Remove the driver from driving duties for that vehicle category immediately.
- Record the date you learned of it and what you did.
- Reassign the route or vehicle so operations continue lawfully.
- Talk to the driver about the next step and, when relevant, involve your HR adviser or employer association about the employment-law consequences. The Road Traffic Act does not set a specific HR sanction.
- Restore access only after you have verified a valid entitlement.
Do not collect more detail about why the licence was withdrawn than you need. The purpose is to stop unlawful driving, not to build a file on the person.
Our perspective
Many owners think of licence monitoring as a software purchase. We see it as an administrative habit. The haulier who never has a problem is rarely the one with the most advanced tool. It is the one where someone owns the routine, the dates are in one place and nobody has to remember anything.
At Votra Business we work as an external operations and finance function for hauliers and transport companies. That means the licence check sits next to the things it depends on: who has which qualification, when it must be renewed, which vehicle the driver is allocated to, and when payroll and invoicing need the same information. Seen together, deadlines stop being surprises.
We also see the other half. Drivers whose qualifications lapse create a monitoring problem for their employers, so training and administration belong together. At Votra Danmark we run courses for van and truck operators, taxi drivers and van drivers, including refresher courses, so renewal can be planned instead of rushed.
Our advice is simple: pick one owner, write the routine down, tell your drivers openly why you check, and keep only the data you need.
Jamal Mahjoub
Keeping licences and qualifications in order
A valid licence is the starting point. Depending on the work, drivers may also need professional training. If your drivers are van drivers, our van driver qualification course and refresher course cover the initial qualification and its renewal. For taxi work, see taxi driver training in Denmark. Planning these renewal dates in the same calendar as your licence checks is where most fleets save time.
Let us handle the routine
If you run a haulage or transport business and would rather not build this routine yourself, Votra Business works as your external operations and finance department. Our services cover bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, invoicing, administrative fleet management and monitoring of driver documents and deadlines. We do not publish prices for these plans, so the way to see what fits your fleet is to ask us.
See the Votra Business plans for the details. If you are still setting up your company, our company start-up service is the place to begin. If your drivers need courses first, the Votra course overview lists what we offer.
FAQ
Is a driver license monitoring service mandatory in Denmark?
No. We found no Danish rule that requires you to use a monitoring service. What the law requires is that you do not let someone drive who cannot lawfully do so, under § 65, stk. 2 of the Road Traffic Act. You can meet that duty with another lawful verification process, as long as you also comply with data protection rules.
Can I check my employees' licences without their consent?
Possibly, if you have another valid legal basis, such as an employment-law obligation or legitimate interests, and the check is objective and proportionate. Consent is often a weak basis in employment because it must be voluntary and can be withdrawn. Whatever basis you use, you should inform employees no later than when the control starts.
How often should I verify a driver's licence?
No cited Danish source sets an interval. Check before a driver first drives for you, then at a fixed interval you choose and document, and again after any event that could affect the licence. Add a reminder ahead of each expiry date so renewal never leaves a gap.
Does the Danish driving licence app replace the plastic card?
The app is a valid proof of the right to drive in Denmark, equal to the physical licence, according to the Agency for Digital Government. A driver can show it in the same situations as the card. It also sends the holder notifications before the licence needs renewal.
What should I do if a driver's licence is suspended?
Take the driver off the vehicle the same day, record what you did and reassign the work. Do not allow driving again until you have verified a valid entitlement. Involve your HR adviser or employer association for any employment-law steps.
Sources
- Digital Government Agency: Driving Licence App
- Retsinformation: Bekendtgørelse af færdselsloven (2026)
- Datatilsynet: Kontrol af medarbejdere (November 2023)
- Datatilsynet: When can you process personal data?
- Lovguiden: Databeskyttelsesloven § 12
- Dansk Industri: GPS-overvågning
- Datatilsynet: Vejledning om databeskyttelse i ansættelsesforhold (March 2023)