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Carrier compliance

Putting a new truck on the road

A vehicle joining an existing operator licence touches the authorisation, the vehicle register, the testing regime, the tachograph and every toll system on its routes. Here is the order, and what each step depends on.

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

Before you buy

Two things change the moment a vehicle is at the undertaking's disposal, and both are easier to arrange before the vehicle arrives than after.

The first is financial standing. The requirement is calculated across the fleet, so an additional motor vehicle or combination exceeding 3.5 tonnes adds EUR 5,000 to the capital and reserves the undertaking must be able to show, and one between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes adds EUR 900. An authority that asks for evidence will ask about the fleet as it stands.

The second is the certified true copy of the Community licence. One copy belongs to each vehicle at the undertaking's disposal, it is issued by the same authority that issued the licence, and it is not something a driver can be sent out without.

The checklist

Grouped by the office you deal with rather than by the order things occur to you. Nothing here is submitted to or held by LogisticID.

Authorisation and licence

Financial standing recalculated
Add the amount for the vehicle's band to the fleet total and check that the undertaking can still show it on certified accounts.
Certified true copy of the Community licence
Requested from the authority that granted the licence, one per vehicle. It travels in the vehicle.
Operational centre capacity
The number of vehicles and drivers based at the centre must stay proportionate to the volume of transport carried out, and vehicles in international carriage must keep returning within 8 weeks.

Registration and technical

Registration in the Member State
The vehicle must be registered or put into circulation and authorised for use in accordance with the law of the Member State — as owner, or under an instalment, hire or leasing contract.
First roadworthiness test date recorded
For a goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes and its heavy trailers, the first test falls 1 year after first registration. Diarise it on the day the vehicle is registered.
Plating, weights and dimensions
Permissible laden mass and axle loads determine which financial-standing band the vehicle falls into and which national mass and dimension limits apply on the routes you run.

Tachograph

Fitment by an approved workshop
The recording equipment required for the vehicle's category, installed and sealed by a workshop approved by the Member State.
Calibration and the installation plaque
Calibration on installation and thereafter on the interval the tachograph Regulation sets, with the plaque affixed. A roadside check reads this.
Company card and data download routine
The undertaking locks its data with a company card and downloads vehicle-unit and driver-card data on the required cycle. The driver guide covers the driver's side of this.

Charging and access

A toll account per country on the route
Each Member State runs its own charging system, or contracts one, and registration is per vehicle with its declared emission class and axle count. The directory on the hub lists the operator per country.
On-board unit or declared EETS service
Either the national unit or a European Electronic Toll Service contract that the countries on your route accept.
Low-emission and access restrictions
Urban access and low-emission zones are set by cities, not by the Union, and registration is often separate from the national toll.

In the cab

Certified true copy of the Community licence
The copy issued for this vehicle, not a photocopy of another vehicle's.
Registration document and proof of insurance
As required by the Member State of registration and by the countries transited.
Consignment note and, where relevant, cabotage evidence
Covered on the first international load page and the cabotage page.

Roadworthiness intervals

Directive 2014/45/EU sets minimum frequencies. A Member State may test more often, may require additional tests, and may set a reasonable window inside the interval — so treat these as a floor, not a schedule.

Minimum periodic roadworthiness testing frequencies
Vehicle categoryFirst testThen
N2, N3 goods vehicles; O3, O4 trailers1 year after the date of first registrationAnnually
M1, N14 years after the date of first registrationEvery 2 years
M1 taxis and ambulances; M2, M31 year after the date of first registrationAnnually

A Member State may also require a test before the due date: after an accident affecting main safety-related components, when safety or environmental systems have been altered, when the holder of the registration certificate changes, when the vehicle reaches 160,000 km, or where road safety is seriously affected.

The tachograph is a fitting job, not a paperwork job

Recording equipment has to be installed and sealed by a workshop the Member State has approved, calibrated on installation and re-calibrated on the required cycle, and the installation plaque has to be present and legible. None of that can be done retrospectively at the roadside.

The generation of equipment a vehicle needs depends on when it was first registered and on the work it does, and the requirements have moved several times under the Mobility Package. The Commission maintains a questions-and-answers page on the tachograph provisions; the approved workshop in your Member State will know what your vehicle needs.

The driver's side — the card, its validity, what happens when it is lost, what has to be carried at the roadside — is covered in full in the EU driver requirements guide.

Questions we are asked

Does a leased truck count towards financial standing?
A vehicle at the undertaking's disposal counts, and the Regulation expressly includes vehicles held under instalment, hire or leasing contracts as well as owned ones. How your authority treats a specific contract is a question for that authority.
Do I need a new licence copy for a replacement vehicle?
The certified true copy is issued against the undertaking's fleet, so a change in the fleet is a matter for the issuing authority. Do not move a copy between vehicles on your own initiative.
Is the trailer tested separately?
O3 and O4 trailers have their own periodic test, on the same minimum frequency as heavy goods vehicles: the first 1 year after first registration, then annually.
Can LogisticID arrange the tachograph or the toll account?
No. We are not a tachograph workshop and have no relationship with any toll operator. The hub's directory names the authority or operator for each country so you can deal with them directly.

Continue

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Sources

Read in full on the date shown.

Legislation

Authority guidance

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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