Commercial road haulage - apply for a permit
Road haulage is the commercial or remunerated carriage of goods by motor vehicles which, including trailers, have a maximum permissible weight of more than 3.5 tonnes.
On May 21, 2022, new regulations on the market and occupational access regulations for vehicles over 2.5 t gross vehicle weight in cross-border traffic will come into force. Accordingly, companies need the Community licence for the international commercial carriage of goods by road with vehicles of more than 2.5 tonnes and no more than 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight.
This means that in the future, the requirements for access to the profession, i.e. requirements for a settlement, proof of professional suitability, financial capacity and personal reliability for the above-mentioned transports, will also have to be met.
Commercial road haulage is generally subject to authorisation. So-called own account transport, i.e. the carriage of goods by road for a company's own purposes under certain conditions, is not subject to authorisation.
If the vehicles are only in use throughout Germany, you need a permit for commercial road haulage (according to § 3 of the Road Haulage Act). For cross-border journeys within the European Union, the European Economic Area (EEA)* and Switzerland, you need a Community licence (EU licence) and, if applicable, a driver attestation for nationals of a third country.
You can also use the Community licence for transports within Germany and the EEA states ("cabotage transport").
For commercial road haulage with countries outside the European Economic Area, you need bilateral permits or so-called CEMT permits in addition to the national permit for the German part of the route (permit for commercial road haulage or Community license) for route parts in third countries.
If you are driving in or through Switzerland as part of commercial road haulage, you need a valid Community licence.
The licence for the carriage of goods by road for hire or reward and the Community licence may be granted for a limited period of time, subject to conditions or conditions. The national permit can be granted for a period of validity of up to 10 years. The Community licence is issued for 5 years.
You must apply for the national road haulage permit or the Community licence (EU licence) from the transport authority responsible for your place of business.
The application form can be obtained from the responsible traffic authority. Depending on what the authority has to offer, online forms are also available.
Fill out the application completely and submit it with the required documents.
The competent transport authority shall give the following bodies the opportunity to comment:
- the Federal Office for Goods Transport,
- the Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
- the competent trade union and
- the Association of the Transport Industry.
After the deadline for comments, the competent transport authority will decide on your application. You will receive a notification.
The transport authorities of the districts, independent cities, large independent cities and the independent municipalities are responsible.
The permit is granted to an entrepreneur whose company is actually and permanently based in Germany if
- the operator and the person appointed to manage the road haulage business (transport manager) are reliable,
- the financial performance of the company is ensured, and
- the operator or the person appointed to conduct the road haulage business is professionally qualified.
The company needs equity plus reserves. The amount of capital is based on the number of vehicles intended for use. For the first vehicle, the entrepreneur needs equity in the amount of 9,000 euros, for each additional vehicle 5,000 euros. This also applies to the use of rental vehicles.
A person is professionally qualified if he or she has passed a specialist examination. All statutory examinations previously recognised as equivalent will continue to be considered equivalent if they were started or completed before 4 December 2011.
Persons who have worked continuously (for at least ten years) in a road haulage undertaking in a managerial position in the period between 4 December 1999 and 4 December 2009 are also professionally qualified.
- Documents for the applicant company:
- Excerpt from the commercial register, partnership register, register of cooperatives or register of associations, if there is a corresponding entry
- for GbR companies: Excerpt from the GbR contract
- Proof of authorization to represent the company, if a person other than the applicant is qualified to do so.
- Proof of reliability:
- Certificate of good conduct for the person authorized to represent the company (not older than three months)
- Information from the central business register for the person authorized to represent the company (not older than three months)
- Information from the driver's suitability register for the person authorized to represent the company (not older than three months)
- Proof of financial capacity:
- Certificate of no objection from the tax office (not older than three months)
- Certificate of no objection from the municipality (not older than three months)
- Clearance certificate from the health insurance company (not older than three months)
- Certificate of no objection from the Berufsgenossenschaft Verkehrswirtschaft, Post-Logistik, Telekommunikation (BG Verkehr) (not older than three months)
- Equity certificate as proof of financial capacity in commercial road haulage (Annex 2 of the General Administrative Regulation on Road Haulage Law (GüKVwV)) and
- if required, additional certificate for proof of financial capacity in commercial road haulage (Annex 3 of the General Administrative Regulation on Road Haulage Law (GüKVwV))
- Proof of professional suitability:
- Certificate of having passed the IHK specialist knowledge examination or an equivalent recognized final examination, or
- Proof of at least 10 years of managerial activity in a road haulage company (the Chamber of Industry and Commerce responsible for you will check whether the requirements have been met)
- Documents for persons appointed to manage the road haulage business (transport managers):
- Proof of reliability:
- Certificate of good conduct (not older than three months)
- Information from the central business register (not older than three months)
- Information from the driver suitability register (not older than three months)
- Proof of professional suitability:
- Certificate of having passed the IHK specialist knowledge examination or an equivalent recognized final examination, or
- Proof of at least 10 years of managerial activity in a road haulage company (the Chamber of Industry and Commerce responsible for you will check whether the requirements have been met)
- Proof of financial capability:
- Certificate of no objection from the health insurance company (not older than three months).
- Proof of employment
- Proof of reliability:
National license for commercial road transport: 120,00 - 700,00 EUR
Community license: 120,00 - 700,00 EUR
Additional costs are incurred for information from the registers and for the preparation of other evidence.
Processing may take up to 3 months from the time the competent body receives all the required documents.
- § 10 Ordinance on Access to the Profession for Road Haulage (GBZugV)
- § 3 Road Haulage Act (GüKG)
- General Administrative Regulation on Road Haulage Law (GüKVwV)
- Kind. 3 and 4 Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international road haulage market (recast)
- Kind. 3 Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing common rules concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator and repealing Council Directive 96/26/EC
Own-account transport as road haulage for the company's own purposes is not subject to authorization under the following conditions:
- the goods transported must be the property of the enterprise or sold, bought, rented, leased, manufactured, produced, extracted, processed or repaired by it.
- the transport must serve the delivery of the goods to the enterprise, their dispatch from the enterprise, their transfer within the enterprise or for the enterprise's own use outside the enterprise.
- the vehicles used for transportation must be driven by the company's own personnel.
- The transport may only be an auxiliary activity within the overall activity of the enterprise.
If road transport for own purposes of the enterprise is not subject to a permit, the entrepreneur who performs road transport for own purposes is obliged to register his enterprise with the Federal Office for Goods Transport before the first transport begins.
The Federal Office for Goods Transport is responsible for issuing the bilateral permit or a so-called CEMT permit for international commercial road transport and removal transport in the community of CEMT member states (over 30 states in Europe).
Text checked by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport
Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalisation
The text was automatically translated based on the German content.
