Legislation and licensing in the transportation industry

Within the transportation industry, there are several laws and permits. Some are regulated in Europe and others are regulated nationally. Transportscanner requires its members to be open about the transport permits present. In our company directory, we register companies with their verified permits and other paperwork. Read more below about which permits, certificates and other paperwork a transport company should have in order.

What permits, certificates and authorizations are there for road carriers?

Euro Permit

This permit is mandatory for companies active in professional road haulage with a vehicle with a load capacity of more than 500 kg. A Euro Permit is valid for domestic and cross-border transport within the European Union and must be renewed every 5 years. Furthermore, the permit must be present in the vehicle.

In theory, all trucks and most vans should possess a Euro permit and only small courier services do not need it. In practice, there are many companies that still transport overweight loads without a Euro permit. In our business directory you can easily see if a company holds a Euro Permit.

The permit is issued by the NIWO. On their website you can also check the Euro license database to see if a company holds such a license. With a Euro Permit, you may export shipments between all countries within the European Union, that is, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic and Sweden.

Requirements for transport companies in the Netherlands (bus with loading weight >500kg)

Required	Description
Transport permit	As a transport company, you must apply for a Euro permit from the NIWO.
Business liability insurance	Business liability insurance covers damages to third parties caused by your business.
Vehicle Insurance	You must insure your vehicle(s) with third-party liability (TPL) insurance.
Commodity insurance	To insure the goods you transport, you can purchase cargo insurance.
Proficiency	Your company's transportation manager must have the required professional competence to work in the transportation industry.
Tachograph card	Your vehicle must be equipped with a digital tachograph, and you need a driver card to record its use.
Driving License	Drivers must hold a valid driver's license for the category of vehicle they are driving (e.g., C license).

CEMT permit:

This is always in addition to the Euro license. With a CEMT permit, transport can be carried out to and from 44 countries. These are all 27 EU countries + 17 additional countries, namely Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Belarus, Iceland and Switzerland.

There are certain requirements that must be met to obtain a CEMT permit. The CEMT permit is valid for 1 year and is issued by the NIWO.

On this page you can see exactly which permits are required by country.

Trip Authorizations

Additional trip authorizations are required in certain cases, mainly for countries outside the European Union. Both professional hauliers and own hauliers can apply for trip authorizations. A trip authorization is valid for one outward and consecutive return trip. Term authorizations, valid for one year, are also available for certain countries. An alternative to a trip authorization or a term authorization is the CEMT permit. This is recommended when a company regularly drives to countries outside the EU.

Term Authorization

Trip authorization for a particular country that is valid for one calendar year. An alternative to a trip authorization or a term authorization is the CEMT permit. Trip authorizations and term authorizations are issued by the NIWO.

VIHB registration

Registration for companies engaged in transporting, collecting, trading and/or mediating commercial or hazardous waste. Companies engaged in this must be on the national VIHB list.

Driver attestation non-EU drivers professional freight transport

When a Dutch company employs drivers from outside the EU, a driver attestation must be issued. The Dutch transport company applies for this for the driver at the NIWO. In principle, a driver attestation is valid for 5 years, unless one of the other required documents expires earlier (validity of NL driving license C, code 95, validity of passport, validity of community license of the transport company, validity of GVVA). Such a certificate also exists for passenger transport.

TIR carnet

The TIR system is an international customs transit system for the transport of goods by road. It can be used to transport customs goods to import them into another country. To apply for a TIR carnet, your company must be registered as a TIR contract holder.

e-CMR

Digital waybill for within the EU. With this, a three-year pilot is now underway to eventually get rid of paper bills of lading. Read more about the e-CMR here.

Quality standard: ISO 9001 certification/ ISO 9001:2015 transition

This is a certification for an internationally accepted standard for quality management. It demonstrates compliance with quality requirements and customer demands. It also guarantees that you comply with applicable laws and regulations. ISO 9001:2015 is the follow-up to this after 2015. The emphasis here will be more on the context in which the organization operates.

Optimization of Occupational Health and Safety processes: OHSAS 18001/ ISO 45001

Since 2018, the OHSAS 18001 has been replaced by the ISO 45001. This is an international standard for optimizing an organization's health and safety processes.

Transporting hazardous materials

Read our extensive article on transporting dangerous goods. The rules for transporting hazardous materials are in Basisnet. There are European rules here that are supplemented by additional Dutch security measures. For different hazardous substances, different rules apply. These rules apply to:

means of transportation (such as tankers, ships, reservoir trucks);
packaging;
drivers (they often require special diplomas);
transport documents;
labeling hazardous substances.

This is all contained in the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act. There is much more about this on the Inspectorate' s website and the government website.

Then there is the so-called Basic Network. This is a network within which transportation of hazardous materials through the Dutch infrastructure is guaranteed.

Regulatory safety

Protection of safety

Driving and rest periods

Drivers who perform transport by road must comply with rules on driving and rest periods. These rules are laid down in a European regulation (number 561/2006). In the Netherlands, these rules from the regulation are included in legislation: the Working Hours Decree on Transport. These regulations apply to all countries within the European Union. The regulation can be downloaded here. Further information can be found on Transport-online or on the site of the legislation of the European Union.

Overloading: weighing with the WIM-VID system

15-20% of trucks are overloaded. This can be dangerous, leads to unfair competition and requires more frequent road maintenance. So this needs to be countered. This is done by weighing trucks at WIM-VID systems.

Protection of employed drivers

CLA Professional Goods Transport

The collective bargaining agreement for professional freight transport applies to this sector. This collective bargaining agreement defines the relationship between employer of transportation company and a salaried driver. This collective bargaining agreement also sets the (minimum) salary level in the industry.

Transportation agreement and conditions

The relationship between a carrier and the principal is primarily determined by Dutch law, more specifically Book 8 of the Civil Code. A shipper and a carrier of goods or persons enter into a transport agreement. This agreement often involves the use of transport conditions.

General conditions of carriage - AVC conditions

The law provides very general rules that leave too much room for ambiguity. Because as a carrier or shipper you do not want to constantly reinvent the wheel and put everything on paper in minute detail, the representatives of the main industry parties have drawn up standard transport conditions: the General Transport Conditions 2002 (AVC). For transports across the border, the so-called CMR conditions apply. Carriers can use these conditions free of charge.

Download the 2002 AVC here

While these terms protect the shipper (principal), in some cases additional cargo transportation insurance may be the way to go to ensure full coverage for damages. Among other things, the AVC conditions cover €3.40 per kilogram of cargo.

Special transportation conditions for submarkets

Several sub-sectors in the transport sector need just different conditions from the general ones in the AVC. This has led to the drafting of various sets of conditions for sub-sectors. These are additions to the AVC in which, for example, liability is worked out differently, based on practice in that sub-sector. The most important are listed below:

In the case of the latter (AVET), for example, the carrier's liability is reduced under certain circumstances compared to legal liability. In the case of transport of particularly large or heavy objects, different conditions are again applied compared to regular transport. One of the biggest differences from the standard conditions is that unlike the general transport conditions, under the AVET shipper and carrier are supposed to consult together on who performs which tasks. So, among other things, loading, unloading, clearing the route (e.g. removal of obstacles, traffic signs) is done in consultation. The AVET describes the obligations and liability of both shipper and carrier. Thus, the terms assume more of an equality of parties.

In international transport, the CRM Convention should be applied to the transport. These are not general conditions but a mandatory law.

International road transport - CRM treaty

The CMR Convention applies automatically to contracts of carriage for international road transport, where the place of receipt and/or the place of delivery is located in a member state. The CMR Convention is mandatory law. In other words, general conditions and transport agreements between parties, which are contrary to the CMR, are invalid. In the Netherlands, you can choose to declare the CMR applicable to your domestic transport agreements. You can find more on the SVAA website.

Finding transportation company with the right permits

As described above, depending on the type of transportation, various regulations apply to drivers and transportation companies. In the Netherlands and Europe, transportation is highly regulated. This does not always mean that there is also full coverage control by the government and other agencies on compliance with these rules.

Unfortunately, a lot is transported without having the papers in order. For example, research by the Environmental and Transport Inspectorate shows that 6 out of 10 movers do not have the necessary permits in order. For movers, this involves a Euro permit. It costs time and money to obtain this and there are certain requirements for a transport company to obtain this permit. Such abuses create unfair competition in the transportation market. Moreover, the companies that do not have their permits in order are often the same ones that do not comply with health and safety regulations, which further reinforces this unfair competition. Perhaps most importantly, driving around without the proper papers can lead to dangerous situations.

Transportation Scanner is committed to ensuring that transportation companies have the proper paperwork in their pockets. Every company on the website is thoroughly checked for permits present. These permits are published on the member company's profile page. You check this profile before engaging with a company. Want to read more about this? Check out our page on the Quality Mark.

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