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Road freight transport Apply for a permit for commercial transport

Service Description

Road haulage is the transport of goods by motor vehicles with a permissible total weight of more than 3.5 tons, including trailers, for business purposes or in return for payment.

Commercial road haulage is generally subject to licensing. Not subject to licensing is so-called own-account transport, i.e. road haulage for a company's own purposes under certain conditions. However, your company must be registered with the Federal Office for Goods Transport.

If the vehicles are only used throughout Germany, you need a permit for commercial road haulage (in accordance with § 3 of the Road Haulage Act). For cross-border journeys within the European Union, the European Economic Area (EEA)* and Switzerland, you need a Community license (EU license) and, if applicable, a driver certificate for nationals of a third country. Freight transport in international traffic with vehicles of more than 2.5 t to 3.5 t permissible total weight also require proof of professional access.

You can also use the Community license for transports within Germany and the EEA states ("cabotage transports").

For commercial road haulage with countries outside the European Economic Area, in addition to the national permit for the German part of the route (permit for commercial road haulage or Community license), you need bilateral permits or so-called CEMT permits for parts of the route in the third countries.

The permit for commercial road haulage and the Community license can be issued for a limited period, subject to conditions or with requirements. The national permit and the Community license can be issued for a validity period of up to 10 years.

Process flow

You must apply for the national road haulage permit or the Community license (EU license) at the transport authority responsible for your place of business.

You can obtain the application form from the competent transport authority. Depending on what the authority offers, online forms are also available.

Complete the application in full and submit it with the required documents.

The competent transport authority will give the following bodies the opportunity to comment:

  • the Federal Office for Goods Transport,
  • the Chamber of Industry and Commerce
  • the relevant trade union, and
  • the association of the transport industry.

After the deadline for comments has expired, the competent transport authority will decide on your application. You will receive a decision.

Who should I contact?

Please contact the public order or road traffic office (licensing authority) of the district or independent city responsible for the location of your company.

Requirements

Permission is granted to an entrepreneur whose company has its registered office actually and permanently in Germany, if

  • the entrepreneur and the person appointed to manage the road haulage business (transport manager) are reliable,
  • the financial capacity of the company is guaranteed, and
  • the entrepreneur or the person appointed to manage the road haulage business is professionally suitable.

The company requires equity capital plus reserves. The amount of capital is determined by the number of vehicles intended for use. For the first vehicle, the entrepreneur requires equity capital in the amount of 9,000 euros, for each additional vehicle 5,000 euros. This also applies to the use of rental vehicles.

A person is technically qualified if he or she has passed a technical qualification examination. All final examinations previously recognized as equivalent will continue to be considered equivalent if they were started or completed before December 4, 2011.

Persons who have worked continuously (for at least ten years) in a road haulage company in a managerial capacity between December 4, 1999 and December 4, 2009 are also professionally qualified.

Which documents are required?

  • Documents for the applicant company:
    • Excerpt from the commercial register, partnership register, register of cooperatives or register of associations, if there is a corresponding entry
    • for GbR companies: Excerpt from the GbR contract
    • List of shareholders
    • Proof of authorization to represent the company, if a person other than the applicant is qualified to do so.
    • Proof of reliability:
      • Certificate of good conduct for the person authorized to represent the company (not older than three months)
      • Information from the central business register for the person authorized to represent the company (not older than three months)
      • Information from the driver's aptitude register for the person authorized to represent the company (not older than three months)
    • Proof of financial capacity:
      • Certificate of no objection from the tax office (not older than three months)
      • Certificate of no objection from the municipality (not older than three months)
      • Clearance certificate from the health insurance company (not older than three months)
      • Certificate of no objection from the Berufsgenossenschaft Verkehrswirtschaft, Post-Logistik, Telekommunikation (BG Verkehr) (not older than three months)
      • Equity certificate as proof of financial capacity in commercial road haulage (Annex 2 of the General Administrative Regulation on Road Haulage Law (GüKVwV)) and
      • if necessary, additional certificate for proof of financial capacity in commercial road haulage (Annex 3 of the General Administrative Regulation on Road Haulage Law (GüKVwV))
      • List of vehicles
    • Proof of professional qualification:
      • Certificate of having passed the IHK specialist knowledge examination or an equivalent recognized final examination, or
      • Proof of at least 10 years of managerial activity in a road haulage company (the Chamber of Industry and Commerce responsible for you will check whether the requirements have been met).
  • Documents for persons appointed to manage road haulage operations (transport managers):
    • Proof of reliability:
      • Certificate of good conduct (not older than three months)
      • Information from the central business register (not older than three months)
      • Information from the driver suitability register (not older than three months)
    • Proof of professional qualification:
      • Certificate of having passed the IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce) specialist examination or an equivalent recognized final examination, or
      • Proof of at least 10 years of managerial activity in a road haulage company (the Chamber of Industry and Commerce responsible for you will check whether the requirements have been met)
    • Proof of financial capability:
      • Certificate of no objection from the health insurance company (not older than three months).
    • Proof of employment

What are the fees?

National license for commercial road transport: 120,00 - 700,00 EUR

Community license: 120,00 - 700,00 EUR

Additional costs are incurred for information from the registers and for the preparation of other evidence.

What deadlines do I have to pay attention to?

There are no deadlines for applying for the permit.

Processing duration

Processing may take up to 3 months from the time the competent body receives all the required documents.

Legal basis

What else should I know?

Own-account transport as road haulage for the company's own purposes is not subject to authorization under the following conditions:

  • the goods transported must be the property of the enterprise or sold, bought, rented, leased, manufactured, produced, extracted, processed or repaired by it.
  • the transport must serve the delivery of the goods to the enterprise, their dispatch from the enterprise, their transfer within the enterprise or for the enterprise's own use outside the enterprise.
  • the vehicles used for transportation must be driven by the company's own personnel.
  • The transport may only be an auxiliary activity within the overall activity of the enterprise.

If road transport for own purposes of the enterprise is not subject to a permit, the entrepreneur who performs road transport for own purposes is obliged to register his enterprise with the Federal Office for Goods Transport before the first transport begins.

The Federal Office for Goods Transport is responsible for issuing the bilateral permit or a so-called CEMT permit for international commercial road transport and removal transport in the community of CEMT member states (over 30 states in Europe).

Author

The text was automatically translated based on the German content.

Technically approved by

Thuringian Ministry for Infrastructure and Agriculture

Professionally released on

28.09.2021

Source: Zuständigkeitsfinder Thüringen (Linie6PLus)

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