About international road haulage

Last updated 03/03/2022

Below, you can read about the rules applying to international road haulage, including information on different types of authorization, cabotage and application for travel authorizations.

Community authorizations

Community authorizations issued for Danish road haulage operators are valid for both national transport operations in Denmark and for international operations within the EU.

Community authorizations may be used for cross-border transport operations within the EEA countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, and Austria).

The authorizations may also be used in connection with transport operations to and from and in transit through Switzerland and in connection with transport operations between Denmark and a non-EEA country. As regards any distance covered outside the EEA area, usually a travel authorization is required.

ECMT license

ECMT stands for the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (Conférence Européenne des Ministres des Transports).

With a few restrictions, an ECMT license may be used in connection with transport operations to, from or through all ECMT countries (the EU countries as well as Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Georgia, Belarus, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine).

There are ECMT licenses for EURO IV, EURO V and EURO VI.

When you apply for a license, you must choose whether the authorization/the license shall be valid in one or more of the following countries: Russia, Italy, Greece and Austria, to which countries access is otherwise restricted.

A link to the International Transport Forum – including the ECMT user manual – can also be seen below.

ECMT relocation license

With a few restrictions, an ECMT relocation license may be used in connection with international relocation transport operations to, from or through all ECMT countries (the EU countries as well Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Georgia, Belarus, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine).

Travel permits transit licenses third country licenses

Travel permits/transit licenses give the right to one transport operation to, from or through the country in question, including a return transport.

In principle, in the event of a third country transport operation – a transport operation by a Danish operator and between countries in which Denmark is neither the loading nor the unloading country – a third country license giving the right to travels both in the loading and the unloading country is required. A third country license entitles the operator to carry out one third country transport operation.

Licenses are bilaterally exchanged between Denmark and a number of non-EU countries. Agreements on the exchange of licenses have been concluded with Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Northern Macedonia, Russia, Switzerland (third country licenses), Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

Furthermore, an agreement has been made allowing Iranian operators to apply for a travel permit for Denmark. The said permit shall be valid for two months from the date of issue.

The system allows for a maximum of 100 permits per year.