EU Transport Ministers have given their approval for a standardised European driving licence to replace more than 110 different types that are currently in use across the EU.
The agreement is subject to final approval by MEPs later this year.
The plastic, credit card-sized document will come into force in 2012. Old-style national licences will be phased out by 2032.
The European Commission welcomed the agreement as part of a fight against fraud.
It said the move was a particularly important step in combating so-called driving licence tourism where drivers get new licences from other EU states if their own has been taken away.
The Government has already agreed in principle to introduce microchips into licences to assist with the enforcement of the penalty point system.
