New Rules for International Road Haulage

In 2022 there will be two lots of changes to road haulage through the EU member states for UK-based hauliers which could affect your business.

The dates for your diary are February 2 and May 21.

Postings Declarations

From February 2, UK operators of HGVs, vans of any size, or cars with trailers traveling within the EU member states, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein for commercial purposes will need to register the journey on an online government website.

The information required to register the journey is:

• operator licence number (if applicable)
• details of drivers and a transport manager or other UK contact
• dates of driver’s recent employment contracts/agency contracts
• estimated journey start/end dates
• number plates of vehicle and trailer

These Postings Declarations are required for any commercial journey between two points within this area. These journeys can include:

• Cabotage jobs – loading and unloading within the same country.
• Cross-trade jobs – Loading in one country and unloading in another.
• Moving goods for your own business – even if your business is not about moving goods in general.

Drivers must also ensure they are carrying certain documents in case the EU authorities should ask for them. These include:

• Digital or physical copies of the Postings Declarations
• Vehicle and trailer documents
• Driver documents
• Export documents
• Documents about the driver’s pay during the journey
• The driver’s employment contract
• The driver’s timesheets for work

Failure to show these documents could end up with a penalty.

Standard International Goods Vehicle Operator Licence

From May 21 UK-based operators who use vans with an authorised mass between 2.5-3.5 tonnes, and cars or vans with trailers amounting to the same weight will now require a standard international goods vehicle operator licence to transport goods for commercial purposes.

This will be applicable to journeys within EU member states, as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Current operator licence holders can add these vehicles to their current licences. To do this is free if you haven’t already reached your vehicle limit. It will cost £257 to increase the number of vehicles on your licence if the limit is exceeded.

To apply for a new licence will cost £257 and if successful the licence will be a further £401. Then there is a continuation fee every five years of £401 to keep the licence active.

This does not apply to you if you only use your vehicles within the UK or you are transporting for non-commercial purposes.

Drivers will need to carry a copy of the UK Licence for the Community with them on international journeys.

Penalties

There will be legal penalties for UK-based drivers not registering their journeys or for not having the correct operator licence. These could include withdrawing the Community Licence or being issued with a fine.

Next Steps

As the first deadline of February 2nd has already passed, you can check the government website to keep abreast of any changes.