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Since 1 July 2026, certain vans over 2.5t used internationally for hire or reward must fit a smart tachograph 2 and follow drivers’ hours rules.
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Since 1 July 2026, any goods vehicle with a gross weight of more than 2.5 tonnes used on international journeys for hire or reward must be fitted with a smart tachograph 2, and its driver must keep to the assimilated EU drivers’ hours rules. In practice, this pulls many 2.5 to 3.5 tonne vans, and some van-and-trailer combinations, into the same cross-border regime that already applies to lorries.
Two things to hold separate from the start:
If your vans only ever operate within the UK, nothing changed on 1 July 2026: you stay under GB domestic drivers’ hours rules and you do not need a tachograph for this reason. And if you cross a border carrying your own goods on own account, you are outside the fitting requirement where driving is not the driver’s main activity.
Who is caught, in one glance:
The headline change is narrow but significant: vehicles that were previously outside tachograph law were brought inside it for cross-border work.
Since 1 July 2026, a smart tachograph 2 must be fitted into any goods vehicle with a gross weight of 2,501kg or over that is undertaking an international journey for hire or reward. The driver must then record driving, breaks and rest, and stay within the assimilated drivers’ hours limits, the same limits that apply to lorries.
The legal mechanism is worth knowing, because it explains the scope precisely. The Drivers’ Hours, Tachographs, International Road Haulage and Licensing of Operators (Amendment) Regulations 2022 amended the assimilated Regulation (EC) 561/2006 so that, from 1 July 2026, the rules apply to the carriage of goods in international transport or cabotage operations where the maximum permissible mass of the vehicle, including any trailer or semi-trailer, exceeds 2.5 tonnes.
Before this change, tachograph and drivers' hours rules started at 3.5 tonnes. Now, the threshold for international hire-or-reward goods work effectively drops to 2.5 tonnes.
Check the journey as well as the vehicle. A van of the same weight can be out of scope on Monday and in scope on Tuesday if the work changes from UK-only running to paid international goods carriage. Work through these five checks:
Because the trailer counts towards the weight, a sub-2.5-tonne van towing a loaded trailer can be pulled over the threshold. Check the combined figure, not just the van’s plate.
Hire or reward can cover any commercial arrangement where goods are carried for another person or business for payment, benefit or reward. Courier and express freight are the obvious cases, but events logistics, installation support and subcontracted delivery work all need checking if the journey crosses a border.
It is contrasted with ‘own account’; carrying your own goods, materials or equipment in connection with your own business.
DVSA’s May 2026 special notice confirms there is no requirement to fit a tachograph for an international journey carried out for the driver or company’s own account where driving is not the driver’s main activity. That helps genuine own-goods or own-tools operations, a firm sending its own staff and kit abroad to do a job, where driving is incidental rather than the job itself.
It is not a blanket exemption, though. If the customer is paying for goods to be moved, or transport is a material part of the service, get a clear view before treating it as own account. It is a question of fact, and the line can be genuinely difficult; if your people drive abroad regularly, check the specifics rather than assuming.
There is a lot of loose talk about “the new van rules,” and it causes genuine confusion, so it is worth separating the two things plainly.
So an operator running vans into Europe for hire or reward needs both: the licence (since 2022) and, since July 2026, a fitted tachograph with drivers keeping to the hours rules. If you have been operating compliantly into the EU since 2022, the licence box is already ticked, and July 2026 is about the equipment and the schedule.
This article is about the July 2026 change, so we will keep the licence summary tight and point you to the full guide for the detail. The general goods vehicle operator licensing guide confirms you need a standard international licence where you carry goods for hire or reward on international journeys using a vehicle or combination with a maximum laden weight of more than 2.5 tonnes.
Where you stand depends on what you already hold:
To hold the licence, you need a transport manager with an active Transport Manager CPC in the relevant field (HGV/PSV), employed in-house, or engaged as an external transport manager, plus good repute and a stable establishment.
Financial standing depends on your fleet:
Drivers on international hire-or-reward work also need to carry a certified copy of the UK Licence for the Community.
Most operators’ first question is whether they are actually caught. Alongside the own-account position covered above, two further exemptions matter.
If a van between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes operates only within the UK and never crosses a border, there is no requirement to fit a tachograph for this reason. It continues under the GB domestic drivers’ hours rules instead. This is the position for the large majority of construction, waste, scaffolding and removals vans working site to site at home.
Separate amendments made in 2026 keep certain cleaner vehicles out of tachograph scope:
These apply to vehicles operating solely within Great Britain.
For in-scope international hire-or-reward work, the vehicle needs smart tachograph 2 equipment. Which version you can fit depends on when the vehicle was registered:
Fitting and calibration must be done at an approved tachograph centre, and lead times can be long. If the vehicle is not already correctly equipped, do not use it for in-scope work until an approved tachograph centre has fitted and calibrated the required equipment.
Fitting the device is only half the job. The operator then has an ongoing data duty:
Driver training should cover mode use, manual entries, country and border recording, UTC time, printouts, and what to do if the tachograph or card fails. Smart tachograph 2 automates more of the border and location record, but it does not remove the operator’s duty to check the data.
When a van journey becomes in scope, the schedule has to comply with the assimilated EU drivers’ hours rules (or, on some journeys, the AETR rules). That can change what used to look like a straightforward long van run. The core limits are:
The driver also needs a proper record of other work, availability, breaks and rest. Work before or after the van journey affects the day, so planning cannot start at the ferry booking or the customer’s delivery slot. For many van drivers this is a real change of habit. Work once planned purely around the drop now has to be planned around the clock as well.
On an in-scope international journey, the driver must be able to produce records for the current day and the previous 56 days at a roadside check, longer than the 28 days that applies to purely domestic GB work.
No. The tachograph requirement does not change the driving licence category for these vehicles. A van that could be driven on a standard Category B licence before the change can still be driven on a Category B licence afterwards.
Driver CPC is not triggered by the tachograph either. It only comes into play if the vehicle (or vehicle and trailer) exceeds 3.5 tonnes and so needs a higher licence category such as C1 or C, used professionally, at which point a Driver Qualification Card and periodic CPC are needed. For a 3.5-tonne van on a Category B licence, drivers do not need Driver CPC.
If you run, or might run, vans over 2.5 tonnes across a border for hire or reward, work through this:
For a transport manager, the July 2026 change is a systems job: identify the affected work, fit the right kit, train drivers, schedule legally, and analyse the records. The risk is highest where vans have historically sat outside the operator’s tachograph process managed by a separate courier, service or installation team that has never had to think about driver cards or download cycles.
Proper tachograph analysis turns the data into practical infringement management rather than a folder of files no one reads. Analysing that data and identifying the infringements in it is the work Tacho Agent takes off your desk. What you do with them stays yours.
This article is provided for general guidance only and reflects our understanding of the rules as they apply in Great Britain as at the date shown on this page. It is not legal advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice tailored to your specific operation.
Drivers' hours, tachograph, working time and operator licensing rules are detailed and change over time, and some requirements differ in Northern Ireland and for international journeys. Always check the current guidance on GOV.UK and the underlying legislation on legislation.gov.uk, and consult your transport manager or a qualified compliance professional before acting.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Tacho Agent Ltd accepts no liability for any loss arising from action taken, or not taken, in reliance on this article. Nothing here excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraud. Use of this article is also governed by our Terms of Use.
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