Carriers
Permits and documents for EU road haulage
The authorisations a haulage business needs, what each one proves, who issues it, and where to go in eight Member States. Written from the Regulations and the authorities' own pages, with every source listed.
What this page is, and what it is not
LogisticID is a freight forwarder. It arranges road freight and independent transport companies perform it. It is not a licensing authority, a regulator, a law firm, an insurer, a tachograph workshop, a driving school or a certification body, and it does not issue, check, endorse or expedite any of the documents described here.
This page explains published European rules and points at the national authorities that apply them. It is general information, written from the official texts cited at the foot of the page, and it is not legal advice on your business. Requirements differ by Member State, by the work you do and by the vehicles you use; the competent authority in your country of establishment is the only body that can tell you what applies to you.
LogisticID does not operate an approved or verified carrier pool, and nothing on this page is a statement that any carrier holds any document. Carriers we work with are asked to keep their own paperwork valid and to be able to show it.
Carriers · How LogisticID selects carriers · EU driver requirements
Where to start
Road haulage for hire or reward in the European Union is a regulated occupation. Before a vehicle carries somebody else's goods across a border for payment, the undertaking behind it needs an authorisation from the Member State it is established in, and normally a Community licence on top of it. Both are granted nationally, both are refused or withdrawn nationally, and both rest on a short list of conditions written into one Regulation.
Almost everything else follows from those two documents: the certified copies that travel in the cab, the driver attestation for a driver from outside the Union, the vehicle papers, the tachograph, the toll account, the posting declaration. The difficulty is rarely any single requirement. It is that they arrive in an order, from different offices, and a step taken out of order means waiting for the one before it.
This hub sets out the whole picture once, then routes into four pages that each answer a single practical question. Every number on every page comes from the instrument cited beside it.
The four requirements
Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 sets 4 conditions an undertaking must satisfy at all times to hold an authorisation to pursue the occupation of road transport operator. A Member State applies them; it may also add requirements of its own.
- An effective and stable establishment
- Premises in the Member State of establishment, holding the originals of the undertaking's core documents, with a commercial register entry, tax and VAT registration, vehicles at the undertaking's disposal and administrative and operational activity actually carried on there. Vehicles used in international carriage must return to an operational centre in that Member State at least once every 8 weeks after leaving it.
- Good repute
- Neither the undertaking nor its transport manager may have been convicted of a serious criminal offence or penalised for a serious infringement of the rules listed in the Regulation. What counts as disqualifying, and how a lost good repute can be rehabilitated, is decided by the Member State.
- Appropriate financial standing
- Capital and reserves at the undertaking's disposal, demonstrated on certified annual accounts, scaled to the fleet. There is no single figure: the amount depends on how many vehicles there are and what they weigh, and an undertaking that runs only light vehicles is treated separately.
- The requisite professional competence
- A designated transport manager who has passed a written examination set by the Member State and holds a certificate of professional competence, and who genuinely and continuously manages the undertaking's transport activities.
The document set
What a haulage operation typically carries, why, and where each one comes from. The issuing body in the last column is the kind of body, not a specific office — the directory further down names the authority per country.
| Document | What it establishes | Issued by | Typical trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator authorisation | That the undertaking satisfies the 4 requirements and may pursue the occupation of road transport operator. | The competent authority of the Member State of establishment. | Before any carriage for hire or reward that falls within the Regulation. |
| Community licence | That the holder may carry goods by road for hire or reward between Member States, and, within limits, inside a Member State it is not established in. | The competent authority of the Member State of establishment, on the strength of the authorisation. | Before international carriage. Valid for 10 years and renewable. |
| Certified true copy of the licence | That this particular vehicle is operating under the holder's licence. | The same authority, one copy per vehicle at the undertaking's disposal. | Kept in the vehicle and produced at a roadside check. |
| Driver attestation | That a driver who is neither a national nor a long-term resident of a Member State is lawfully employed by the holder. | The Member State where the haulier is established. | Before that driver performs carriage under the Community licence. Valid for 5 years. |
| Certificate of professional competence (transport manager) | That the designated manager passed the Member State's examination in the subjects listed in the Regulation. | The authority or body the Member State designates. | Named in the authorisation application; held continuously thereafter. |
| Vehicle registration and roadworthiness certificate | That the vehicle is registered and has passed its periodic roadworthiness test. | The national vehicle register and an authorised testing centre. | At first registration, then on the interval for the vehicle's category. |
| Tachograph and driver card | That driving, other work, availability and rest are recorded as the rules require. | An approved workshop fits and calibrates the unit; the Member State issues the driver's card. | Before a vehicle in scope is driven. The driver guide covers the card in detail. |
| Posting declaration | That the operator has notified the host Member State that a driver is posted there. | Submitted by the operator through the public interface connected to IMI. | At the latest when the posting begins — cabotage and most cross-trade. |
Insurance, permits for abnormal loads, dangerous-goods approvals and waste-carrier registrations sit outside this table because whether you need them depends entirely on the cargo and the route. Ask the authority for your country and your traffic.
Four practical routes in
The same material, arranged around the question you arrived with.
- Starting a road haulage business in the EU — From company formation to the first Community licence: scope, the four requirements, and the sequence.
- Putting a new truck on the road — Everything that changes when a vehicle joins the fleet, from financial standing to the folder in the cab.
- Your first international load — What has to be in the cab before the truck moves, and what a roadside inspection may ask for.
- Community licence, cabotage and posting — The limits on non-resident haulage: licence, the cabotage clock, and when the posting rules bite.
- EU driver requirements
- How LogisticID selects carriers
- Share your carrier profile
Who to contact, by country
Eight Member States where the road corridors LogisticID arranges most often begin or end. Each link goes to the authority's own page. None of these bodies is affiliated with LogisticID, and listing one is not an endorsement or a ranking.
Czechia (CZ)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Ministerstvo dopravy České republiky — National body; the document itself is normally granted by a regional or local competent authority. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Tachograph cards
- Ministerstvo dopravy České republiky · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- Ministerstvo dopravy České republiky · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Road toll and road-use charging
- Ministerstvo dopravy České republiky — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Labour inspection and posting
- Státní úřad inspekce práce · Link checked: 11/09/2026
Germany (DE)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Bundesamt für Logistik und Mobilität — National body; the document itself is normally granted by a regional or local competent authority. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Tachograph cards
- Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt — National body; the document itself is normally granted by a regional or local competent authority. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Road toll and road-use charging
- Toll Collect GmbH — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Labour inspection and posting
- Generalzolldirektion — Meldeportal Mindestlohn · Link checked: 11/09/2026
Poland (PL)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Główny Inspektorat Transportu Drogowego · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Tachograph cards
- Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych S.A. — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- Ministerstwo Infrastruktury · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Road toll and road-use charging
- Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa — e-TOLL · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Labour inspection and posting
- Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy · Link checked: 11/09/2026
Slovakia (SK)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Ministerstvo dopravy Slovenskej republiky — National body; the document itself is normally granted by a regional or local competent authority. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- TESTEK, a.s. — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Road toll and road-use charging
- Národná diaľničná spoločnosť, a.s. — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Labour inspection and posting
- Národný inšpektorát práce · Link checked: 11/09/2026
Austria (AT)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Bundesministerium für Innovation, Mobilität und Infrastruktur — National body; the document itself is normally granted by a regional or local competent authority. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- oesterreich.gv.at · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Road toll and road-use charging
- ASFINAG — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Labour inspection and posting
- Bundesministerium für Finanzen — Entsendeplattform · Link checked: 11/09/2026
Hungary (HU)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Magyarország Kormánya — National body; the document itself is normally granted by a regional or local competent authority. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Tachograph cards
- KAV Közlekedési Alkalmassági és Vizsgaközpont Nonprofit Kft. — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- KAV Közlekedési Alkalmassági és Vizsgaközpont Nonprofit Kft. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Road toll and road-use charging
- HU-GO — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
Romania (RO)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Autoritatea Rutieră Română · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Tachograph cards
- Autoritatea Rutieră Română · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- Registrul Auto Român This host refused every automated request on the review date, so the page behind the link was not read. The address is the authority's own and is published as such. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Road toll and road-use charging
- Compania Naţională de Administrare a Infrastructurii Rutiere — Run by an operator mandated by the state rather than by the ministry directly. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Labour inspection and posting
- Inspecţia Muncii · Link checked: 11/09/2026
Lithuania (LT)
- Operator authorisation and Community licence
- Lietuvos transporto saugos administracija This host refused every automated request on the review date, so the page behind the link was not read. The address is the authority's own and is published as such. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Tachograph cards
- Lietuvos transporto saugos administracija This host refused every automated request on the review date, so the page behind the link was not read. The address is the authority's own and is published as such. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Vehicle registration and roadworthiness
- AB „Regitra“ · Link checked: 11/09/2026
- Labour inspection and posting
- Valstybinė darbo inspekcija This host refused every automated request on the review date, so the page behind the link was not read. The address is the authority's own and is published as such. · Link checked: 11/09/2026
What LogisticID does and does not do here
LogisticID arranges road freight. When a shipper asks for a truck, LogisticID contracts with a carrier that has its own authorisation, its own vehicles and its own drivers, and remains responsible to the shipper for arranging the movement.
It does not apply for anybody's licence, sit any examination on anybody's behalf, hold anybody's documents, or tell an authority that a carrier is compliant. It does not offer, and will not offer, a document-upload service on this site: a compliance page has no business collecting passport, licence, driver-card or vehicle data, and this one collects none.
What LogisticID can usefully say is what it looks for when it engages a carrier, which is set out separately, and what a carrier should be able to produce when asked.
Questions we are asked
- Do I need an operator authorisation for a van?
- It depends on the weight and on where you drive. Undertakings using only vehicles or combinations not exceeding 2.5 tonnes are outside the Regulation. So are undertakings using only vehicles or combinations not exceeding 3.5 tonnes exclusively in national transport in their Member State of establishment. Vehicles between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes used in international carriage for hire or reward are inside it. A Member State may also apply the rules more widely than the Regulation requires.
- Is a Community licence the same as an operator authorisation?
- No. The authorisation is permission to pursue the occupation at all, granted by your Member State of establishment. The Community licence is the document that lets you carry goods internationally within the Union, granted on the strength of that authorisation, and a certified copy of it travels in each vehicle.
- Can one person be transport manager for several companies?
- A transport manager who is not employed by the undertaking may manage the transport activities of up to 4 different undertakings with a combined fleet of no more than 50 vehicles. Member States may set lower limits, and the manager must in any case genuinely and continuously manage the activities and have a genuine link to the undertaking.
- How long does any of this take?
- We do not publish processing times, because they are set by each authority, change without notice and differ between offices inside the same country. Ask the authority listed for your country. Anyone who quotes you a guaranteed timeline for a licence is quoting something they do not control.
- Can LogisticID get me a licence faster?
- No. LogisticID has no role in any authorisation procedure and no relationship with any licensing authority. If you already hold your documents and are looking for freight, the carrier profile form is the right place to start.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Legislation is cited from the text as published by the Publications Office; guidance is cited from the authority's own page and is identified as guidance, because guidance does not bind the way a Regulation does.
Legislation
- Directive (EU) 2022/2561 on the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers — Articles 1, 2, 8 and 10; Annex I, Sections 3 and 4 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Directive 2006/126/EC on driving licences — Articles 4 and 7 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Directive (EU) 2025/2205 on driving licences, repealing Directive 2006/126/EC — Articles 29, 30 and 31 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 on tachographs in road transport — Articles 2, 26, 29, 34, 35 and 36 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 — Article 2(12) and Article 3 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport — Articles 4, 6, 7, 8, 12 and 13 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities — Articles 3, 4, 5 and 7 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 on common rules for access to the international road haulage market — Articles 3, 4 and 5 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Directive (EU) 2020/1057 laying down specific rules with respect to Directive 96/71/EC and Directive 2014/67/EU for posting drivers in the road transport sector — Article 1(3), 1(5), 1(7) and 1(11) · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Directive 2008/68/EC on the inland transport of dangerous goods, which applies ADR within the Union — Annex I, Section I.1 — ADR Chapter 8.2 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- ADR — European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road — Chapter 8.2 — training of vehicle crews · UNECE · read on 11/09/2026 · not reachable on the review date
- Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 establishing common rules concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator — Consolidated text of 21 February 2022 — Articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 on common rules for access to the international road haulage market — Consolidated text of 21 February 2022 — Articles 4, 5 and 8 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Regulation (EU) 2020/1055 amending Regulations (EC) No 1071/2009, (EC) No 1072/2009 and (EU) No 1024/2012 in order to adapt them to developments in the road transport sector — Articles 1, 2 and 4 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
- Directive 2014/45/EU on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers — Articles 2, 5 and 10 · European Union · read on 11/09/2026
Authority guidance
- Getting a driving licence in the EU — Minimum age requirements; Minimum medical requirements · European Commission — Your Europe · read on 11/09/2026
- Tachograph · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- Questions and answers on tachograph provisions of Mobility Package 1 — Smart tachograph retrofit process · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- TACHOnet · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- Driving time and rest periods · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- Working time · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- Access to the road haulage market · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- Questions and Answers on posting of drivers under Directive (EU) 2020/1057 · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- ADR training certificates for drivers · UNECE · read on 11/09/2026 · not reachable on the review date
- Rules governing access to the profession · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- Rules on cabotage as applicable from 21 February 2022 — Questions and answers prepared by the Commission services; they do not commit the Commission, and only the Court of Justice may authoritatively interpret Union law · European Commission — DG MOVE · read on 11/09/2026
- Road Transport Posting Declaration portal · European Commission — Internal Market Information System (IMI) · read on 11/09/2026
- Road to fair transport · European Labour Authority · read on 11/09/2026
A consolidated text is an editorial version produced by the Publications Office. It is not legally binding; the Official Journal is.
Applies from 21/02/2022: Regulation (EU) 2020/1055 amending Regulations (EC) No 1071/2009, (EC) No 1072/2009 and (EU) No 1024/2012 in order to adapt them to developments in the road transport sector
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