EU Mobility Package I: a dispatcher’s guide

What should a dispatcher check before an international road-freight trip?

Start with three separate checks: the driver’s legal time, the vehicle’s cabotage entitlement and time window, and whether the operation constitutes posting. They attach to different subjects: the driver, the vehicle and Member State, and the employer and operation. Treating them as one check can leave a sound route plan incomplete on social rules or market access.

This guide is for general information, not legal advice or a compliance certification. The rules below were checked on 21 October 2026. Verify the legislation and any route-, vehicle- or date-specific derogations under Regulation 561/2006, Regulation 1072/2009, Regulation 2020/1054 and Directive 2020/1057.

Mobility Package I is not one rule that applies identically to every European transport movement. This guide focuses on road haulage by operators established in an EU Member State. Own-account transport, third-country movements, AETR rules, passenger transport and complex combined-transport cases can involve different conditions.

1. Driving time and rest: check the driver separately from the vehicle

Regulation 561/2006 sets driving limits, breaks and minimum rest periods for operations within its scope. Use the figures below as an initial check, then confirm which exceptions apply.

Between any two weekly rest periods, a driver may take no more than three reduced daily rest periods. Do not simplify this to “three reductions per week”: the Regulation measures the interval between two weekly rests.

In any two consecutive weeks, the general rule requires two regular weekly rests or one regular and one reduced weekly rest of at least 24 hours. A weekly rest must begin no later than the end of six consecutive 24-hour periods counted from the end of the previous weekly rest. Any reduction must be compensated under the Regulation’s timing and conditions.

International goods transport has a conditional derogation that may allow two consecutive reduced weekly rests. Both must start outside the Member State where the employer is established and outside the driver’s country of residence. In any four consecutive weeks, the driver must take at least four weekly rests, including at least two regular rests; required compensation must be provided under the legal conditions before the following regular weekly rest. Do not use this derogation without checking all the conditions in Article 8 of Regulation 561/2006, as amended by Regulation 2020/1054.

Plan the return, not just driving hours

The return obligation applies to employed drivers. The employer must organise work so the driver can return to one of the places set out in the rules, generally within a period of four consecutive weeks. If the driver has taken two consecutive reduced weekly rests, the return must be organised before the regular weekly rest taken as compensation, within the relevant three-consecutive-week period. Those places are the driver’s residence or the employer’s operational centre in its Member State of establishment where the driver is normally based and where the weekly rest begins. The return must enable the driver to begin or spend a regular or compensatory weekly rest. The driver chooses where to spend the rest; the employer may require a first return to its operational centre during working time, without limiting the driver’s choice of rest location. In an individual case, the return-organisation obligation may not apply if the driver informs the employer that they do not wish to return to either location. A general advance waiver does not remove the employer’s duty to organise the return. The undertaking must document how it meets this obligation and keep the documentation at its premises for inspection by control authorities on request. See the Commission’s questions and answers on the driver-return rules.

A regular weekly rest, or a weekly rest longer than 45 hours taken as compensation, cannot be spent in the vehicle. The employer must cover suitable gender-friendly accommodation with adequate sleeping and sanitary facilities, under Article 8(8) and (8a) of Regulation 561/2006, as amended by Regulation 2020/1054.

Driving time is not the same as working time. Directive 2002/15/EC governs the organisation of working time for mobile road-transport activities, while Regulation 561/2006 sets driving-time and rest rules. Check both sets of obligations and the employer records they require; compliance with driving limits does not automatically cover total working time.

Check whether the vehicle is within scope

From 1 July 2026, the relevant rules extend to goods transport in international transport or cabotage using vehicles or combinations whose maximum permissible mass, including trailer or semi-trailer, exceeds 2.5 tonnes. A limited exemption applies to vehicles over 2.5 tonnes and up to 3.5 tonnes where the transport is own-account, is not for hire or reward, and driving is not the person’s main activity. Check the exact conditions in Regulation 2020/1054.

The scope of driving-time and rest rules is not the same question as whether a tachograph must be fitted. For certain light commercial vehicles between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes used for international transport for hire or reward, the European Commission says a tachograph is required from the same date. Check the official tachograph rules separately for the specific vehicle combination.

2. Cabotage: check entitlement, vehicle and calendar

Cabotage is domestic carriage for hire or reward carried out temporarily in a Member State other than the one where the operator is established, following an international transport. Before counting days, verify that the operator is entitled to perform the operation. For the standard for-hire case, check the Community licence and, where the driver’s circumstances require it, the driver attestation under Regulation 1072/2009. Own-account transport and other exempt categories are outside the simplified matrix below.

Once eligibility is confirmed, use this sequence:

1. Confirm the incoming international transport and full unloading. Cabotage may start immediately after the goods brought in by the qualifying international transport have been fully unloaded, if the operator and transport meet the applicable requirements.
2. Track the same motor vehicle and count operations. Under the standard regime, up to three cabotage operations may be performed in that Member State by the same motor vehicle within the legal window.
3. Calculate the legal windows. The seven-day period starts at 00:00 on the day after the incoming international transport has been fully unloaded and normally ends at 23:59 on the seventh day. After an unladen entry into another Member State, the three-day period starts at 00:00 on the following day; one cabotage operation may be allowed there, still within the original seven-day window.
4. Apply the waiting period separately. After the relevant final cabotage operation, the same motor vehicle may not perform further cabotage in that Member State during the following four days. This does not mean a four-day pause is required between every operation in the permitted initial sequence.

The Commission explains that Regulation 1182/71 on calculating periods can extend certain forward-looking periods. If the last day of the seven-day window, the three-day period or the four-day waiting period falls on a Saturday, Sunday or relevant public holiday, the deadline may move to the end of the next working day. Periods of at least two days must include at least two working days. Check the dates and holidays in the relevant country using the Commission’s cabotage Q&A.

Keep evidence of the incoming international transport and each cabotage operation. If the vehicle was present in the host Member State during the four days before the incoming international transport and cabotage is then performed there, the haulier must be able to produce clear evidence of operations carried out during that period. This retrospective four-day check does not receive the weekend or public-holiday extension that applies to forward-looking periods. A CMR is useful evidence, but do not assume every CMR automatically represents a separate cabotage operation; check the documents and applicable rules.

3. Driver posting: classify the operation before departure

The special road-transport posting rules apply to drivers employed by undertakings established in a Member State. Classification depends on the employer and the operation, not solely on the driver’s nationality or residence. Directive 2020/1057 sets the specific rules, and the European Commission publishes questions and answers for goods transport.

When posting rules apply, the operator submits a declaration through the public interface connected to IMI no later than the start of the posting. The driver must have the declaration, evidence of the transport operations and required tachograph records available for roadside checks. If the host-state authority requests documents after the operation, the operator must send them through IMI within eight weeks of the request, under Article 1(11) of the Directive.

Posting involves more than submitting a declaration. The employer must check the host state’s applicable employment conditions, including mandatory remuneration elements. Assign this to compliance or payroll; do not infer the applicable pay from the vehicle’s registration, the driver’s nationality or the commercial route alone.

Dispatcher checklist: what are you checking, and for whom?

Before departure, also confirm whether the vehicle’s maximum permissible mass, including trailer or semi-trailer, changes the applicable rules from 1 July 2026. Repeat affected checks if the vehicle, driver, delivery country or loading sequence changes. For a broader operational list, see the European road-transport fine-risk checklist. For Romania-specific reporting duties, see the separate Romania e-Transport and UIT code guide.

When should you check for an exception?

Stop using the simplified matrix and check official sources if the operation involves a third country or AETR, own-account transport, passenger carriage, combined transport, additional loading in a bilateral operation, a national derogation or a temporary change to the rules. The Commission’s cabotage Q&A is non-binding guidance; the applicable legislation and the Court of Justice of the European Union’s interpretation take precedence.