Published: February 2nd, 2022
There are new rules for transporting goods to or through Europe in 2022. The rules will affect those that use vans or heavy goods vehicles and are part of the UK’s deal with the EU (The Trade and Cooperation Agreement).
The new rules affect you if you transport goods using:
- cars and trailers
- vans or other light goods vehicles (for example, if you run a European courier service)
- heavy goods vehicles (HGVs)
They mean that you might need:
- to declare you’re transporting goods inside the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (this started from 2 February 2022)
- a vehicle operator licence and transport manager if you use vans or car and trailers to transport goods to or through Europe from 21 May 2022
Declare you’re transporting goods inside the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
Before your drivers transport goods between 2 points in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway for commercial purposes, you must declare the details on an EU portal.
Declaring the details is known as making a posting declaration and there are no fees to make one.
You must declare:
- cabotage jobs (loading goods in one of these countries and unloading them at another point in the same country using a UK-registered vehicle)
- cross-trade jobs (loading goods in one of these countries and unloading them in another of these countries using a UK-registered vehicle)
- moving goods for your own business’ use inside these countries, including if your business is not mainly about moving goods
You must make a declaration when you use any of these vehicles to transport the goods:
- heavy goods vehicles (HGVs)
- HGVs towing trailers
- vans of any size or other light goods vehicles (sometimes called ‘light commercial vehicles’)
- vans towing trailers
- cars towing trailers
Prepare for the changes from 21 May 2022
From 21 May 2022, you’ll need a standard international goods vehicle operator licence to transport goods in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
Learn more.
