From 1 July 2026, vans with a maximum authorised mass between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes used in cross-border freight transport or cabotage operations within the European Union officially enter the same regulatory perimeter that until now applied only to heavy goods vehicles. The headline obligation is fitting and using a second-generation smart tachograph (G2V2), but it is only the tip of the iceberg: with the device come regulated driving and rest times, posting declarations for drivers, stricter cabotage controls and new responsibilities for the fleet manager.
Across Europe, roughly three million light commercial vehicles fall within the new scope. For many Italian and EU logistics companies, especially those running last-mile or cross-border operations to France, Germany, Slovenia or Austria, the impact is significant. These are fleets that were largely built to sit just below the heavy-vehicle threshold and avoid the regulatory complexity of trucks. From July they must handle digital recording, host-country minimum wages and full audit trails.
This article is the pillar of a content cluster dedicated to the Mobility Package applied to light commercial vehicles. We unpack who is really in scope, what the concrete obligations are and how to get to 1 July prepared. The cluster continues with a deep dive on driving times, rest and posting for vans and on the smart tachograph G2V2 with driver card.
The regulatory landscape: EU Mobility Package and Regulation 165/2014
The obligation does not stem from a national rule but from a European package. The Mobility Package I, approved in July 2020, rewrote in a coordinated way the rules on driving times, posting of drivers, cabotage and tachographs in road haulage. Its provisions came into force in stages: the original timetable set 1 July 2026 as the date when the regime would extend to light commercial vehicles (LCVs) above 2.5 tonnes used in cross-border operations.
The two main legal references are:
- Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 on driving times and rest periods, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 (part of the Mobility Package).
- Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 on tachographs, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 and the related implementing acts, which introduced the second-generation smart tachograph (G2V2).
At national level, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport issued a clarifying circular in April 2026 that transposes the European guidance and provides operational instructions to companies: exemption conditions, on-road enforcement procedures, first-installation rules. The circular is a must-read for anyone planning the transition.
Who is in scope: the perimeter of the obligation
The most misunderstood part of the new regime is exactly who falls in and who falls out. The rule rests on three cumulative conditions:
- Vehicle type: maximum authorised mass above 2.5 tonnes and up to 3.5 tonnes (trailers included). Vehicles at 2.5 t or below stay outside the obligation.
- Activity type: freight transport for hire or reward, or in some cases own-account when driving is the driver’s main occupation.
- Operation character: international transport within the EU or cabotage (deliveries inside a Member State other than the one of establishment).
The three criteria must apply at the same time. A 3.2 t van running domestic-only routes in Italy in hire-and-reward stays outside the tachograph obligation (subject to any future national choices). The same van, if it crosses the French border even once a month, falls fully in scope.
Quick decision matrix
| Operating scenario | Mass | Italy → other EU | Cabotage in another EU state | G2V2 tachograph required? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urban delivery van in Milan only | 3.3 t | No | No | No |
| Regular Bologna → Lyon trips | 3.5 t | Yes | No | Yes |
| Italy trips + cabotage in Germany | 3.0 t | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Own-account vehicle below 2.5 t | 2.4 t | Yes | Yes | No |
| Own-account vehicle where driving is not main activity | 3.2 t | Yes | No | Exemption (check MIT circular) |
The MIT, in the April 2026 circular, clarified exemption scenarios for own-account vehicles where driving is not the driver’s main activity. The textbook case is the artisan who uses the van to deliver their own production. These cases must be evaluated and documented carefully, because in case of an on-road check the burden of proof lies with the operator.
The second-generation smart tachograph (G2V2)
The required device is not any tachograph: it must be a second-generation smart tachograph, known as G2V2 (Generation 2 Version 2). Compared to earlier versions, the G2V2 introduces:
- GNSS geolocation at the start and end of the daily work period, every three cumulative hours of driving and at every border crossing (the latter being the key novelty for cabotage enforcement).
- Automatic recording of border crossings, available on G2V2 units rolled out from May 2025.
- DSRC connectivity (Dedicated Short-Range Communication) for remote checks by authorities without stopping the vehicle.
- Standardised ITS interface for integration with third-party telematics systems.
For newly registered vehicles, installation happens in the factory. For vehicles already in circulation, retrofitting requires an authorised workshop approved by the competent national body. With 1 July approaching, booking lead times have become critical in many Italian provinces. The operational recommendation is to book the intervention at least six weeks in advance. For how to find an authorised workshop, what to ask for in the quote and what to require on installation day, see our dedicated deep dive: authorised tachograph workshops in Italy — MIT list and booking.
For device selection details and the driver card, we publish a dedicated article: Smart tachograph G2V2: hardware, driver card and fleet data.
The driving and rest times that now apply
Together with the tachograph, the entire framework of Regulation (EC) 561/2006 on driving and rest times becomes applicable. The same set of rules truck operators have known for years. The key limits, in short:
- Daily driving: maximum 9 hours, extendable to 10 hours twice a week.
- Weekly driving: maximum 56 hours.
- Fortnightly driving: maximum 90 hours across two consecutive weeks.
- Break: after 4 hours 30 minutes of cumulative driving, a break of at least 45 minutes (splittable into 15 + 30 minutes).
- Daily rest: at least 11 consecutive hours in 24, reducible to 9 hours no more than three times between two weekly rest periods.
- Weekly rest: at least 45 consecutive hours (regular rest), reducible to 24 hours (reduced rest) with compensation by the end of the third following week.
The paradigm shift for many LCV operators is exactly this: it is no longer about planning around driver availability, but about building delivery rounds inside rigid regulatory constraints, with minute-by-minute traceability recorded on the driver card. It is a change with knock-on effects on planning, shift design and fleet sizing.
For anyone running routes on spreadsheets today, the impact is particularly steep. Manual planning, already costly for fleet managers (see our article on moving from Excel to automated route planning), becomes impractical when delivery constraints meet driving-time constraints. We unpack the operational rules in the dedicated article on driving times, posting and cabotage for vans in 2026.
Posting of drivers and cabotage: the obligations everyone forgets
The tachograph is the visible part, but the Mobility Package imposes two more requirements that many SMEs in road transport underestimate.
Posting declaration
When a driver based in one Member State performs a transport service in another EU country (transit excluded in some cases), a transnational posting of the worker is triggered. The operator must:
- Submit a posting declaration through the IMI (Internal Market Information) system before the operation starts.
- Ensure the driver enjoys the minimum working and pay conditions of the host country (e.g. French minimum wage, German allowances).
- Keep documentation (consignment note, declaration, payslip) available for roadside checks and host-country labour authorities.
Italian implementing rules set administrative fines between €2,500 and €10,000 per company for missed posting declarations, on top of reputational consequences with foreign principals.
Cabotage rules
Cabotage is delivery work performed inside a Member State other than the one of establishment, after an international inbound transport. The EU rules set:
- A maximum of three cabotage operations within seven days following an inbound international transport.
- A four-day cooling-off period before re-entering the same country for a new cabotage round with the same vehicle.
- Automatic recording via the G2V2 tachograph of border crossings, which feeds cross-checks by control authorities.
Extending these rules to vans means the old operating model “load in Italy, deliver in Germany, pick up four or five local jobs and come back next week” is no longer sustainable without formal planning and full documentation.
Penalties: what non-compliance costs
The sanction framework combines EU and national rules. Without claiming completeness, the orders of magnitude:
- Failure to use the tachograph when required: administrative fines that can exceed €1,700, plus driving licence penalty points and administrative vehicle stoppage.
- Tampering with the tachograph or unrepaired malfunction: the Italian Highway Code provides for fines up to €31,200 and licence suspension, with possible criminal exposure.
- Driving-time breaches: graduated fines from €41 for minor infringements up to more than €1,700 for serious ones.
- Missed posting declaration: €2,500–€10,000 per company.
- Cabotage breaches: can include bans on operating in the host country.
It is worth remembering that the G2V2, thanks to DSRC and GNSS, makes remote checks far easier: patrols can spot anomalies at distance and only stop the suspect vehicles. It is a far more effective enforcement scenario than the one the sector is used to.
Operational checklist: how to reach 1 July 2026 prepared
For fleet managers who today run 2.5–3.5 t vans in international transport or cabotage, here is the operational checklist we use with our customers.
1. Map the exposed fleet
Identify precisely which vehicles meet the three criteria (mass, activity, international/cabotage). For mixed fleets, this is the trickiest step: the “domestic-only” van often ends up taking the occasional French leg and creates unmanaged exposure.
2. Book the authorised workshop for the G2V2 install
Authorised workshops are a bottleneck. By late April 2026, availability for installations before June is already constrained in many provinces. Book now.
3. Driver cards
Each driver must hold a personal driver tachograph card, issued by the competent national authority (the Chamber of Commerce in Italy). Typical issuance time: 30 days for a first card, 15 days for renewals. Indicative cost €40.
4. Driver operational training
Having the device is not enough: the driver must know how to use it, log manual activities (other work, availability), handle cross-border legs. Half a day of training is the absolute minimum.
5. Compliant planning software
Manual planning does not survive the new constraints. You need a system that:
- Knows Regulation 561/2006 and applies it when generating routes.
- Integrates tachograph data (hours driven, remaining rest) into next-day planning.
- Automatically prepares posting declarations when the route requires them.
- Tracks cabotage operations to stay within the three-in-seven-days limit.
6. Internal data download procedures
Tachograph data must be downloaded periodically (within 28 days from the driver card, within 90 days from the vehicle) and archived for at least one year. A fleet management platform automates downloads via DSRC or ITS, removing the manual OBD step.
7. Update commercial contracts and pricing
The new rules push costs: idle driver time, posting, hardware, training. Customer contracts need to be revisited to reflect the new operating cost.
To accelerate implementation, we have prepared a downloadable PDF checklist with all operational steps, lead times and responsibilities.
From obligation to advantage: what changes in daily operations
The economic impact of these rules is non-trivial: hardware, training, driving hours lost to rest periods, possible shift redesign. Industry estimates point to a 5–8% increase in operating cost for unprepared companies.
But there is another way to read it. The data captured by the G2V2 is the richest, most accurate operational dataset light commercial fleets have ever had:
- Actual driving and stopping times, not estimates.
- Structured geolocation of departures, arrivals and intermediate legs.
- Full traceability for ESG audits, CSRD reporting and customer disputes.
- A clean data base to measure fleet KPIs and run the ROI calculation for route optimization software.
Companies that integrate the tachograph into planning flows and turn its data into predictive logistics convert a compliance cost into an efficiency lever. The pattern mirrors what happened with GDPR and with the EU Data Act for fleets: the rule forces digitalisation, digitalisation opens opportunities.
For many SMEs, the real risk on 1 July 2026 is not the fine: it is arriving at the deadline without a plan and improvising compliance through manual processes the market no longer tolerates. The time to structure the transition is now, not in late June.
Bottom line
- From 1 July 2026 the smart tachograph G2V2 is mandatory on vans 2.5–3.5 t in international transport or cabotage in the EU.
- It comes with regulated driving and rest times, posting declaration and cabotage rules.
- Penalties start at €41 for minor breaches and go beyond €30,000 for tachograph tampering.
- Getting ready takes 6–8 weeks: authorised workshop, driver cards, training, compliant planning software.
- G2V2 data is a strategic asset for those who want to turn compliance into operating efficiency.
If you manage a van fleet exposed to the Mobility Package, download our Mobility Package 2026 Compliance Checklist or book a free demo to see how Optivo plans delivery rounds inside the new regulatory constraints.