Irish businesses using vans for cross-border deliveries need to ensure their vehicles, drivers and transport schedules comply with the tachograph requirements introduced on 1 July 2026.
The extension of the European rules brings goods vehicles with a maximum permissible mass exceeding 2.5 tonnes and up to 3.5 tonnes into scope when undertaking international transport or cabotage, subject to exemptions. Affected vehicles require a Smart Tachograph Version 2, while their drivers must comply with driving and rest-time rules.
For couriers, express freight businesses and hauliers operating vans alongside trucks, this means reviewing how deliveries are planned, priced and managed.
Northern Ireland journeys count
The Road Safety Authority confirms that relevant goods transport journeys to Britain and Northern Ireland are covered. An occasional cross-border delivery can therefore trigger obligations for a van otherwise used domestically.
Operators should check the vehicle’s maximum permitted mass, including any trailer, rather than its actual weight on a particular journey. A lightly loaded van is not automatically exempt.
Check exemptions carefully
There is a specific exemption for combinations exceeding 2.5 tonnes but not exceeding 3.5 tonnes carrying goods on the company’s or driver’s own account, where transport is not for hire or reward and driving is not the driver’s main activity.
Both conditions matter. Carrying a business’s own products does not, by itself, establish an exemption. Other activity-specific exemptions may also apply.
Delivery schedules must accommodate breaks and rest
For drivers within scope, the standard EU limits include nine hours’ daily driving, extendable to ten hours twice a week, and a maximum of 56 hours’ driving in a week or 90 hours over two consecutive weeks.
A break of at least 45 minutes is required after no more than four-and-a-half hours’ driving. This can be split into 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes. Daily and weekly rest requirements must also be observed.
The practical implication is that dispatchers need to assess the whole assignment before promising a delivery time. Loading, unloading and other duties also need to be accounted for when organising the working day.
Equipment is only part of compliance
Affected operators need driver cards, a company card and training covering tachograph operation, manual entries and activity recording.
The RSA advises downloading driver cards at least every 28 days and vehicle units at least every 90 days. Records must be retained for at least one year, or three years when used as working-time records.
International hire-or-reward operators using vehicles above 2.5 tonnes should also check their operator-licensing position; that requirement dates from May 2022.
Businesses should now review each van’s permitted weight, cross-border assignments and any claimed exemption, then confirm that equipment, cards, training and download arrangements are in place.
For operators selling fast, flexible delivery services, the commercial challenge is to build these requirements into quotations and schedules. Compliance needs to be part of planning every affected journey.
