Annika Nestler
The mobility package is intended to
❯ combat illegal cabotage,
❯ prevent tachograph manipulation and
❯ improve the monitoring of driving and rest times and the logging of this information by employees (drivers).
Vehicles > 2.5 tonnes will be included in the regulations on driving times and rest periods (in cross-border transport) in order to improve drivers’ working conditions and competitive conditions.
❯ From 1 January 2025, all cross-border commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes with an analogue or digital tachograph (installed by 14 June 2019) must be converted to the Version 2 smart tachograph (Gen2V2).
❯ By 19 August 2025, all cross-border commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes equipped with a Version 1 smart tachograph must be converted to the Version 2 smart tachograph (Gen2V2).
❯ From 1 July 2026, all cross-border commercial vehicles over 2.5 tonnes must be equipped with the Version 2 smart tachograph (Gen2V2).
First published: 19 November 2021
Last update: 14. August 2024
The EU’s mobility package is one of the most significant reforms in road transport in recent years. It aims to create fair working conditions for drivers, promote competition in the internal market and increase road safety. The package includes regulations on driving and rest times, cabotage, and logging driver information. Important provisions already apply, such as the ban on spending the regular weekly rest period inside the vehicle. In the coming years, further regulations will come into force that will permanently change the industry.
The specific objectives of the package include combating social dumping, improving working conditions for truck drivers, ensuring fair competition in the European internal market, and reducing CO2 emissions through more efficient logistics processes.
The package also includes measures to improve the enforcement and monitoring of regulations, such as the introduction of Smart tachographs, which transmit more data and facilitate pre-selection during checks. Other planned regulations include the obligation to return trucks to the company’s home country in order to prevent systematic cabotage.
The EU adopted the mobility package to counteract negative trends in competition and working conditions in road transport. The aim is to prevent tachograph manipulation and to ensure safe, efficient and socially acceptable freight in Europe.
To this end, standardised regulations are to be introduced in the EU and existing ambiguities removed. After more than three years of controversial discussions, the package of measures was adopted in July 2020.
The most important innovations include the introduction of the Smart Tacho Version 2 from 2023 and the extension of the obligation to include tachographs in light commercial vehicles (2.5 to 3.5 tonnes) in cross-border transport from 2026. It should also be emphasised that the package also includes the obligation for trucks to return to their home country every eight weeks in order to prevent systematic cabotage.
In addition, stricter sanctions will be introduced for offences and compliance checks by national authorities will be improved. In the long term, these measures should lead to greater fairness and safety in road freight transport and at the same time reduce environmental pollution.
Last updated: 08/2024
Some regulations of the mobility package are already in force. Here you will find information on the current regulations.
Legislative basis
Unfortunately, the legal provisions of the mobility package contain formulations in several points that leave room for interpretation. The EU Commission has published clarifications of some points of the Mobility Package in 2 parts: Interpretative aids
However, this is not legally binding.
Related links: IRU – The European Commission’s Mobility Package
The ban on spending the regular weekly rest period (WRZ) in the vehicle is a central measure of the EU mobility package, which is intended to significantly improve the working conditions of drivers. This ban has been in place in Germany since 2017 and has now been extended to the entire EU. Drivers must spend their regular rest periods in a suitable location with adequate sleeping facilities to ensure that they recover sufficiently and thus guarantee road safety. This regulation also helps to better monitor compliance with social regulations in road transport.
Legislative basis: Article 8(8) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
Drivers in cross-border freight transport who work abroad for up to 4 weeks can take two consecutive WRPs during this period. This is intended to reduce the absence of drivers from their place of residence and to call for more efficient route planning.
A new compensation rule also applies here: The compensation from the two reduced WRPs must be taken before the next regular WRP. This is to allow the drivers a long rest period, ideally at home.
Legislative basis: Article 8(6), third subparagraph, of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
Compensation rule: Article 8(6b), second sentence of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
In exceptional circumstances, such as bad weather, road closures or strikes, drivers may exceed their daily or weekly driving time by up to one hour or by up to two hours (after a 30-minute break) to enable them to travel home to their place of residence or place of work. However, this regulation requires a tachograph printout on which the reason for the exception is noted. It is important that the extended driving time is compensated by an equivalent rest break. Note: Foreseeable events, such as regular traffic jams, are not covered by this exception and should be taken into account when planning routes.
Legislative basis: Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
Compensation rule: Article 12(5) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
The extension of the ferry and train regulations as part of the EU mobility package now makes it possible to interrupt weekly rest periods during the use of ferries or trains. This interruption may take place twice at the most and may not exceed a total duration of one hour. This regulation facilitates long cross-border journeys in particular, as drivers can organise their rest periods more flexibly without infringing the regulations. However, it is important that the breaks must be properly documented.
Legislative basis: Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
The new regulation is intended to improve drivers’ working conditions and prevent longer periods of absence from home. It applies to all drivers and is a right to which they are entitled. Duty rosters, tickets, receipts for travel arrangements or tachograph records can be used for documentation. It is ensured that drivers can take a regular weekly rest period (WRZ) at their place of residence at least every four weeks. This regulation bolsters driver welfare and supports a better work-life balance.
Legislative basis: Article 8(8a) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
A driver’s ‘place of residence’ is the place where they spend at least 185 days per year due to personal and professional ties. The ‘permanent place of business’ to which the driver is assigned is the place to which the driver regularly returns, usually in the Member State of the employer’s place of business.
If a company has branches in several EU member states, the driver returns to the permanent place of business assigned to him. Outside the EU, this can only be in Switzerland or an EEA member state.
Holiday and sickness are now recorded under the “bed” symbol in the tachograph.
Multi-driver operation: The standby time of the co-driver is now recognised as a driving interruption, provided that he does not support the driver while driving and the driving interruption is 45 min.
The craftsmen’s regulation is extended to include the delivery of goods produced by craftsmen.
Cross-border factory traffic for the carriage of goods with vehicles between more than 2.5 and a maximum of 3.5 tonnes, whereby the driver’s main activity must not be driving, is also considered an exception (but only from 01.07.2026).
Amendment to Regulation (EC) No. 561/2006 Article 14: EU countries may now allow exemptions from driving times and rest periods for a period of up to 30 days in the event of exceptional circumstances, even without the consent of the EU Commission.
Note the deadline for 2024: Act now!
As millions of tachographs need to be retrofitted in Europe, there are long waiting times across workshops. Therefore, we need to emphasise the importance of planning retrofits at an early stage. It is best to combine retrofitting with routine maintenance or inspection work in order to minimise delays.
Vehicles with a 1st generation analogue or digital tachograph in cross-border traffic must be upgraded to the new Version 2 smart tachograph (Gen2V2) by 31 December 2024 at the latest. We take care of the storage of your sensitive data and enable you to handle the new Version 2 tachograph professionally.
Further regulations will gradually come into force. Our overview shows you what you should prepare for as a transport company and what already applies.
Since 2 February 2022, Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 stipulates that truck drivers must document border crossings in the digital tachograph (see Article 34 of Regulation (EU) No. 165/2014). After crossing a border, drivers are obliged to drive to the next possible stopping place and manually set the symbol of the new country. This serves to improve the control of cabotage. The driver card may be removed for entry, although this is not technically necessary. In future, the Smart Tacho Version 2 will automatically record these border crossings. Fines may apply for non-compliance.
Legal basis: Article 34 (7) of Regulation (EU) No. 165/2014
Valid from: 02.02.2022
ATTENTION: for tachograph discs already since 20.08.2020!
The Posting of Workers Directive, which was introduced as part of the Mobility Package I, ensures that all workers in the road transport sector, regardless of their country of origin, receive the same working conditions as domestic workers in the respective country of deployment. This applies in particular to cross-border freight transport and cabotage journeys, while transit journeys and bilateral transport are excluded from the regulation.
These regulations, which are also in line with national minimum wage laws, have been in force since 2 February 2022. A new addition is that the regulations not only ensure fair wages, but also increase transparency by obliging companies to provide all necessary information on compliance with the posting rules. This also includes the registration and documentation of journeys to ensure that the directive is implemented uniformly in all EU member states. Violations of these regulations can lead to severe penalties, which further strengthens the enforcement of the rules.
Legislative basis: Regulation (EU) No. 2020/1057
Since 21 February 2022, a mandatory ‘cooling-off period’ of four days after exhaustion of the cabotage workload has applied in order to monitor compliance with the cabotage regulations more strictly. This phase is intended to prevent vehicles from operating continuously in another member state and thus circumventing the cabotage ban.
The rule states that after a maximum of three cabotage transport operations within seven days (or one transport operation within three days with empty entry) in the same Member State, no further cabotage operations may be carried out for four days. This period begins at midnight on the day after the last unloading.
It is also important that this regulation is applied uniformly throughout the EU in order to avoid market distortions and ensure fair competition. Violations of these regulations can lead to significant penalties, which emphasises the importance of compliance. Companies must therefore adapt their logistics and deployment planning accordingly in order to avoid legal consequences.
Legislative basis: Article 8 paragraph 2a of Regulation (EC) No. 1072/2009; Addition: Article 2 No. 4 letter a of Regulation (EU) 2020/1055
Valid from: 21.02.2022
This regulation aims to prevent illegal cabotage by requiring vehicles to regularly return to their company’s Member State after cross-border operations. Since 21 February 2022, companies have been obliged to organise their vehicle fleet in such a way that all vehicles used, including rented vehicles, return to one of the operating sites in the country of where the business is based no later than eight weeks after leaving the Member State.
This synchronises the return cycle of the vehicles with the return of the drivers and ensures that all legal obligations are met. Companies must also be able to prove that this obligation to return is complied with.
Legislative basis: Article 5(1b) of Regulation (EU) 2020/1055
Valid from: 21.02.2022
Since 21 May 2022, extended work-related access requirements have applied to companies that carry out cross-border freight transport with vehicles over 2.5 tonnes. These companies now require a community licence (also known as an ‘EU licence’), which is issued in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No. 1072/2009, provided that the work-related access requirements in Regulation (EC) No. 1071/2009 are met.
This is particularly important for companies in the small transport / courier service transport sector. From 21/05/2022, these companies will be subject to a licence requirement for international freight with vehicles/vehicle combinations with a maximum permissible mass (MPM) of more than 2.5 tonnes.
Operators who have continuously managed a freight company with vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes in the last ten years may be exempt from the test under certain conditions. Applications for the EU licence can be submitted to the relevant authorities. For national transport operations, a licence is only required for vehicles with a maximum permissible mass of over 3.5 tonnes.
Legislative basis: Article 2 No. 1 Letter b of the Regulation (EU) 2020/1055; Article 1 Paragraph 5 Letter ca of the Regulation (EC) No. 1072/2009
Valid from: 21.05.2022
From 31 December 2024, commercial vehicle drivers must carry proof of their working, driving, and rest periods for the current day and the previous 56 days. This extended requirement aims to improve the monitoring of weekly rest periods in international freight and enables the authorities to carry out more comprehensive checks. Drivers must ensure that they have all relevant data for this period in order to be able to present the relevant evidence during checks.
Legislative basis: Article 2 ‘Article 7 number 12 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1054; Article 36 of Regulation (EU) 165/2014
Valid from: 31.12.2024
From July 1, 2026, vehicles > 2.5t must also have tachographs. This means that drivers will also be bound by the regulations on driving times and rest periods. The new regulation is intended to correct distorted competition that has arisen in recent years (e.g., vans with sleeper cabs) and improve road safety.
Legislative basis: Article 3 (1) of Regulation (EU) No. 165/2014; Article 2 (1) of Regulation (EC) No. 561/2006
Valid from: 01.07.2026
For commercial vehicles with a total weight of more than 3.5 tonnes (or more than 2.5 tonnes from 1 July 2026) that are used in international transport, the installation of the Version 2 smart tachograph (Smart Tacho 2 devices – SMT2) in new vehicles will be mandatory in future in accordance with the current EU Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/980. In addition, existing vehicles must be retrofitted with these devices. The following deadlines apply for the introduction of Version 2 smart tachograph in commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes total weight that are used in cross-border road transport:
With the introduction of the new Smart Tacho, new tachograph cards (driver card, company card, workshop card, control card) will also be introduced, which will be issued from August 2023. However, a mandatory exchange of driver cards is not planned. The new cards are specially adapted to the functions of the Smart Tacho version 2 and are intended to enable improved data security and more efficient monitoring of driving and rest times.
Legislative basis: VO (EU) No. 2021/1228 Annex IC
Valid from: 21.08.2023 (new vehicles, for further staggering: see timeline)
The EU mobility package brings comprehensive reforms to road transport in order to create fair working conditions for drivers, harmonise competition in the internal market and increase road safety. The regulations aim to combat illegal cabotage, prevent tachograph manipulation and improve the monitoring of driving and rest times and logging driver information.
A key aspect is the inclusion of vehicles over 2.5 tonnes in the regulations on driving and rest times in cross-border transport in order to improve working conditions and create fair competitive conditions. Important deadlines include the conversion to the Version 2 smart tachograph for commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes by January and August 2025 and for vehicles over 2.5 tonnes by July 2026.
Regulations already in force prohibit spending the regular weekly rest period inside the vehicle and require documentation of border crossings. New tachograph cards have been issued since August 2023, but without mandatory exchange.
Whether the measures will bring about the desired improvements in practice remains to be seen, but the extension of the regulations to lighter commercial vehicles is an important step towards making the industry fairer and safer. The package also aims to combat social dumping, improve competition and reduce CO2 emissions through more efficient logistics.
