On 1 July 2026, the EU rules on driving times, breaks and rest periods, and the obligation to use a tachograph, were extended to vans and light trucks above 2.5 tonnes that carry goods on international journeys within the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, or in cabotage. Until then, these rules applied only to goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes. The change comes from Mobility Package I, which the EU adopted in 2020.
This guide explains who the rule covers, what it requires of drivers and companies, and what is still unclear for journeys to countries such as North Macedonia, Serbia or Albania, and for vans registered there. It reflects the sources listed at the end, as of its last update.
The rule in short
- Vehicles: goods vehicles whose maximum permissible mass, including any trailer or semi-trailer, is above 2.5 tonnes and not above 3.5 tonnes.
- Journeys: international transport of goods within the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, and cabotage. National transport by a haulier in its own country is not covered, and journeys that run partly outside that area fall under the AETR.
- Purpose: transport for hire or reward, and own-account transport where driving is the driver's main activity. Own-account transport by people for whom driving is not the main activity is exempt.
- What applies: the driving and rest rules of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, a second-version smart tachograph (G2V2) and the EU rules on posting of drivers.
- Since: 1 July 2026.
The legal basis is Regulation (EU) 2020/1054, which added the new vehicle category to Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 with effect from 1 July 2026. The European Labour Authority summarises the change as driving and rest times, smart tachographs and posting of drivers for light commercial vehicles in cross-border transport.
Is your van in scope? Four questions
- Is the maximum permissible mass above 2.5 tonnes? Count the trailer. A van with a permissible mass of 2.2 tonnes that tows a trailer with a permissible mass of 750 kg forms a combination of 2.95 tonnes.
- Does the van carry goods across a border, or carry out cabotage? Cabotage is transport within another country by a haulier from abroad. A van that works only in its home country is not covered.
- Is the transport for hire or reward? Carrying goods for customers against payment is. Carrying your own goods or equipment may be exempt, as the next section explains.
- Where is the van registered, and where does the journey run? A journey that runs partly outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland can fall under the AETR instead of the EU rules. This is where the open questions are.
Exemptions to check
Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 lists a number of exemptions. Three matter most for vans:
- Own account: vehicles of 2.5–3.5 tonnes that carry goods on the own account of the company or the driver, where driving is not the main activity of the person driving (Article 3(ha)).
- Materials and equipment within 100 km: vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes that carry materials, equipment or machinery for the driver's work, or deliver goods produced on a craft basis, within 100 km of the company's base, where driving is not the main activity and the transport is not for hire or reward (Article 3(aa)).
- Non-commercial carriage: vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes used for the non-commercial carriage of goods (Article 3(h)), meaning carriage that earns no income and is not linked to a professional or commercial activity.
Whether an exemption applies depends on each journey, not on the vehicle. If your vans do both own-account work and work for customers, check each kind of trip separately.
What the rules require
Driving, breaks and rest
- Daily driving of at most 9 hours, extended to 10 hours at most twice a week.
- At most 56 hours of driving in a week, and 90 hours in any two consecutive weeks.
- A break of at least 45 minutes after 4.5 hours of driving, which may be split into 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes.
- A daily rest of at least 11 hours, which may be split into 3 and 9 hours, or reduced to 9 hours at most three times between two weekly rests.
- A weekly rest of at least 45 hours. In any two consecutive weeks, a driver must take two regular weekly rests, or one regular and one reduced weekly rest of at least 24 hours, and a reduction must be made up in one block before the end of the third week that follows. Drivers in international goods transport may, under conditions, take two reduced weekly rests in a row outside the country where their company is established. The regular weekly rest may not be taken in the vehicle.
The smart tachograph
Vans in scope need a second-version smart tachograph, known as G2V2. It records the activities of the driver and the co-driver, records the vehicle's position at certain moments by satellite, and records border crossings automatically. Only fitters, workshops and vehicle manufacturers approved by the competent authorities may install or repair a tachograph.
- Driver card: each driver inserts a personal card before starting to drive, and no driver may hold more than one valid card.
- Company card: issued to the transport company, it lets the company lock its data in the tachograph and display, download and print it.
Records and downloads
- Download the data from the vehicle unit at least every 90 days and from each driver card at least every 28 days, as Commission Regulation (EU) No 581/2010 requires.
- At a roadside check, drivers must be able to show records for the current day and the previous 56 days.
- Keep the downloaded files safely: they are the company's record of driving and rest.
Posting of drivers
The EU rules on posting of drivers also apply to vans in scope. According to the European Labour Authority, a driver is posted during cabotage and cross-trade operations, but not on bilateral journeys to or from the country where the employer is established, and not in transit. Posting declarations are made in the EU's RTPD portal.
Journeys under the AETR, and vans from North Macedonia, Serbia and Albania
For journeys that run partly outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, and for vans registered outside the EU, the answer is less clear, and most of the questions from Balkan operators start here.
Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 sets the frame. The EU rules apply, whatever the country of registration, to transport carried out entirely within the EU, or between the EU, Switzerland and the countries of the European Economic Area. For international journeys that run partly outside that area, the AETR applies instead, for the whole journey, to vehicles registered in the EU or in a country that is party to the AETR.
The AETR is the UN agreement on the work of crews of vehicles engaged in international road transport. Its 53 parties include North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Türkiye, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as well as the EU Member States and the United Kingdom.
The AETR covers goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes. In May 2025, the Council of the EU set the EU's position on a proposal to align the AETR with the recent changes to Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, which would lower that limit to 2.5 tonnes. When this guide was updated, we had found no adopted amendment. Trade press reported in May and June 2026 that the question was still open for vans from non-EU countries, and in May, EXPO reported that the next vote on the amendment was expected in October 2026.
In practice, this leaves four situations:
- An EU-registered van above 2.5 tonnes on a journey within the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, for example a van registered in Bulgaria carrying goods from Sofia to Vienna for a customer: it is covered.
- An EU-registered van on a journey that runs partly outside that area, for example from Sofia to Skopje: the AETR applies to the whole journey instead of the EU rules, and the AETR has not been extended to vans. The European Commission explains this rule with a vehicle working between Romania and North Macedonia. If the same van also carries out journeys in scope within the EU, it needs a smart tachograph for them.
- A van registered in an AETR country on a journey into the EU, for example from Skopje to Munich: the journey falls under the AETR, which has not been extended to vans, so whether a smart tachograph is required is unclear.
- A non-EU van on an operation carried out entirely within the EU, where such an operation is permitted at all: the EU driving and rest rules apply whatever the country of registration. The EU rules on fitting tachographs are written for vehicles registered in the EU, so ask the authorities how the records must be kept.
Driver cards are a further question. According to the European Commission, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are the Western Balkan parties to the Transport Community Treaty that have the certificates needed to issue smart tachograph cards. Drivers resident elsewhere in the region, for example in North Macedonia, Albania or Montenegro, should check which tachograph cards their authorities issue.
Check before you plan the work
Do not assume that a van from an AETR country is exempt, and do not assume that it needs exactly what an EU van needs. Before you plan international work with vans of 2.5–3.5 tonnes, ask the enforcement authorities of the countries on your routes or your transport association.
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has its own rules with the same effect: GOV.UK guidance says that from 1 July 2026 a smart tachograph version 2 must be fitted in goods vehicles over 2.5 tonnes used for international journeys for hire and reward.
The Community licence
A related rule has applied since 21 May 2022: hauliers established in the EU who carry goods internationally for hire or reward in vehicles above 2.5 tonnes need a Community licence. Vehicles with a permissible laden mass of up to 2.5 tonnes are exempt under Regulation (EU) 2020/1055, alongside the other exemptions in Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009.
A checklist for operators
- List every van and light truck with its maximum permissible mass, and note which ones tow trailers.
- Mark the vehicles that cross borders or carry out cabotage, and check whether each kind of trip is for hire or reward or on your own account.
- Have an approved workshop fit and calibrate a G2V2 smart tachograph in each van in scope.
- Apply for a driver card for every driver who needs one, and for a company card.
- Set up a routine to download the vehicle units at least every 90 days and the driver cards at least every 28 days, and keep the files.
- Train your drivers in the tachograph: inserting the card, using the mode switch and making manual entries.
- Check whether your drivers are posted on cabotage and cross-trade jobs, and make the posting declarations where they are.
- If your company is established in the EU, make sure it holds a Community licence for international haulage with vans above 2.5 tonnes.
- If your vans are registered outside the EU, or work on journeys that run partly outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, check the AETR position and the enforcement practice in each country on your routes.
Common mistakes
- Weighing the van without its trailer. The limit is the maximum permissible mass of the whole combination.
- Treating every trip as own account. One job for a customer abroad brings the van into scope for that journey.
- Forgetting the 28-day limit for driver cards. Drivers who only drive vans are new to it, and so are their managers.
- Taking the regular weekly rest in the van. The rules forbid it in vans, as they do in trucks.
- Assuming that a van from an AETR country is exempt because the AETR has not changed yet, without checking the route and the enforcement practice.
Where Fleet Hero helps, and where it does not
Fleet Hero, the fleet management app of Office Hero, does not replace a tachograph, a download tool or an analysis tool. It helps with the planning around them:
- Each vehicle record holds the gross vehicle weight, and you can mark the vans that do international work and keep them in one list.
- With a tracker wired to the tachograph, such as a Teltonika FMC650, the live map and the driver's profile show the cards, the current activity and the driving time left, as the tachograph reports them.
- For every vehicle, Fleet Hero also estimates driving time from the ignition and the speed. These estimates help with planning, but they are not a tachograph record.
Fleet Hero does not download driver-card or vehicle-unit files and does not analyse them for infringements. For vans, ask us first whether a tracker can be wired to the tachograph model you have.