Who this affects
Freight forwarders & customs agents
Carriers — road, sea, air and rail
Terminals & warehouse operators
Shippers & importers (incl. CBAM goods)
Logistics IT & data teams
Sector coverage — part of Trusq
EU regulation for transport & logistics
One monitor for the EU rules that hit transport, logistics and customs operations — from the Union Customs Code and CBAM to the Data Act, eFTI and the AI Act. Every conclusion traces to its primary source. This is Trusq's first sector, covered in depth; more sectors follow the same engine.
Next deadlines
2026-09-12
Data Act — The Article 3(1) design obligation (data accessible by design) applies to connected products and related services placed on the market after this date.
2026-12-02
EU AI Act — Two new prohibited practices apply from 2 December 2026: AI systems generating or manipulating non-consensual intimate imagery of an identifiable person, and AI systems generating material within the meaning of Article 2, points (c) and (e), of Directive 2011/93/EU. Article 5(1a) narrows this: placing on the market or putting into service is prohibited only where that generation is the intended purpose, or is a reasonably foreseeable and reproducible outcome without adequate safeguards; use is prohibited only where the deployer uses the system for that purpose.
2027-01-12
Data Act — Cloud switching charges are withdrawn entirely; providers of data-processing services must remove obstacles to switching.
2027-02-01
CBAM — Member States start selling CBAM certificates — the financial side of the carbon border levy begins.
2027-07-09
eFTI — Authorities must accept regulatory freight information made available electronically — the acceptance duty that demotes paper.
Customs & Trade
AEO, customs digitalisation, import levies and the trade-data regimes that decide how goods cross the EU border.
AEO status: what Authorised Economic Operator offers, and what it requires
AEO status marks you as a trusted trader with customs — fewer checks, priority handling, easier access to simplifications. In return you must meet fixed criteria: a clean compliance record, auditable records, solvency and competence.
EU customs and freight compliance: what is digitalising, what it requires, and where to start
The EU is digitalising and tightening customs and freight in parallel: ICS2 import security, AEO trusted-trader status, eFTI freight information, the EMSWe maritime single window, and the 2028 customs reform. This dossier maps each regime to its primary EU legal source, with the obligations and timelines that matter to compliance owners at forwarders, terminals and shippers.
Customs digitalisation: what the UCC, ICS2 and eFTI require of freight operators
The EU is replacing paper customs and freight formalities with mandatory electronic data exchange under three instruments — the Union Customs Code, ICS2 and the eFTI Regulation — on staggered 2024-2025 deadlines that reach forwarders, terminals and shippers.
Combined transport: quota-free road legs and vehicle-tax relief under Directive 92/106/EEC
Combined transport under Directive 92/106/EEC is intermodal freight whose main leg runs by rail, inland waterway or sea and only the short first and last legs by road; qualifying trips free the road legs from EU quota and authorization systems and can trigger vehicle-tax relief.
Air cargo security: the two EU regimes that decide whether your cargo moves
Two EU regimes govern air cargo. Aviation security (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1998, under framework Regulation (EC) No 300/2008) decides whether a consignment may enter the secure supply chain and be loaded; the Import Control System 2 (ICS2) decides whether its advance data satisfies customs before the goods cross the EU border.
NCTS phase 5: what changes for customs transit, who must adapt, and by when
NCTS phase 5 aligned EU customs transit with the Union Customs Code — UCC data requirements, registration of en route events and upgraded interfaces — with full deployment on 2 December 2024 and a transition until 21 January 2025. Phase 6 adds safety and security data and is rolling out through 2026.
ICS2 house filing: who lodges the ENS at house level, and who is liable
Under the Union Customs Code the carrier lodges the entry summary declaration (ENS), but ICS2 multiple filing turns issuers of house bills of lading, house air waybills and rail consignment notes into filers of their own dataset when they do not share data upstream. Each party answers for the accuracy and completeness of what it submits.
Smart tachograph 2: the retrofit deadlines for existing fleets and what the device now records
The Mobility Package requires vehicles in international road transport to carry the second-generation smart tachograph. Existing fleets retrofitted in stages — by 31 December 2024 and 18 August 2025 — with vans of 2.5-3.5 tonnes added since 1 July 2026, and the device now logs border crossings and loading/unloading automatically.
Trust and Check trader status: what it requires and how it builds on AEO
Trust and Check is the top tier of trusted trader agreed in the March 2026 EU customs reform: firms give customs real-time data through the EU Customs Data Hub in return for near-frictionless clearance. It is a direct upgrade of AEO, but it is not yet in force and its benefits phase in only as the Data Hub opens to traders between 2028 and 2034.
Road & mobility
Market-access, driver and vehicle rules for road transport — weights & dimensions, the Mobility Package and driving licences.
What a truck may weigh and measure in the EU, and what the revision changes
Directive 96/53/EC caps heavy-goods vehicles used in international traffic at 40 tonnes (44 tonnes for intermodal container transport), with harmonised maximum lengths, a 2.55 m width and a 4.00 m height. A 2023 revision (COM(2023) 445) would enlarge the weight allowance for zero-emission vehicles and set clearer rules for cross-border longer and heavier combinations, but it is still in negotiation and not yet in force.
The EU Mobility Package for road transport: who must comply, the key dates and how it is enforced
Mobility Package I reshaped EU road-transport law from 2020 — driving and rest times, cabotage limits and the posting of drivers — with dates running on to 2026 and the eight-week vehicle-return rule already struck down by the Court of Justice.
What the new EU driving licence directive changes for drivers and operators, and by when
The EU has adopted Directive (EU) 2025/2205, modernising driving-licence rules with a digital licence in the EU Digital Identity Wallet, accompanied driving from 17 (mandatory for cars, optional for lorries) and a two-year novice probationary period. It entered into force on 25 November 2025, but reaches drivers and operators only as Member States transpose it, which they must do by 26 November 2028, with the rules applying from 26 November 2029.
Data & connectivity
Who may access your vehicle, telematics and supply-chain data — the Data Act, eFTI and their overlap.
The Data Act for transport and logistics: who can access your connected data, and on what terms
Since 12 September 2025 the Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854) entitles the user of a connected product — from telematics-equipped trucks to reefer sensors and terminal systems — to the data it generates and lets them have it shared with a third party of their choice. It also requires fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms for obliged data sharing and phases out the charges for switching cloud providers.
eIDAS 2 and the e-CMR: the trust layer under digital freight documents
A digital consignment note is only as strong as the identity and signature behind it. eIDAS makes qualified e-signatures legally equal to handwritten ones EU-wide; eIDAS 2 adds identity wallets and verifiable attestations, and eFTI obliges authorities to accept electronic freight data from 9 July 2027.
eFTI readiness: what operators and authorities must be able to do by 9 July 2027
From 9 July 2027, competent authorities in every Member State must accept statutory freight information made available via certified eFTI platforms — a date fixed by the 30-month clock that started when the first eFTI technical acts entered into force on 9 January 2025. What that requires on the authority side, and what operators need if they want the electronic route.
Who can access your fleet's telematics and vehicle data under the Data Act
Since 12 September 2025 the Data Act has given the user of a connected truck, trailer or reefer a right to access the data it generates and to have it shared, free of charge, with a service provider of its choice. For fleet operators and lessors it redraws who controls telematics data — and limits what the vehicle manufacturer or telematics provider may do with it.
The European mobility data space: voluntary today, decisive for logistics data later
The common European mobility data space (EMDS), set out in Commission Communication COM(2023) 751, is a voluntary framework for linking fragmented transport data across modes and Member States — not a central database and not a legal obligation. It carries no application date today, but its standards and governance are being built now and will likely shape how logistics data is shared later.
The Data Governance Act for logistics: how it enables trusted data sharing, distinct from the Data Act
The Data Governance Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/868), applicable since 24 September 2023, is the EU's trust layer for data sharing: notified neutral data intermediaries, re-use of protected public-sector data, and data altruism. For logistics it lowers the barrier to sharing sensitive supply-chain data safely — and it is a separate instrument from the Data Act, which decides who may access and use connected-product data.
Sustainability & reporting
CBAM, CSRD and emissions-accounting duties that reach into chain logistics.
CBAM import carbon levy: declarant status from 2026, certificate costs from 2027
Since 1 January 2026 the definitive CBAM regime (Regulation (EU) 2023/956) requires importers of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen to hold authorised CBAM declarant status. The 2025 Omnibus (Regulation (EU) 2025/2083) exempts importers staying under 50 tonnes a year and defers the first certificate purchases to 2027.
What EU importers must do under CBAM from 2026
The CBAM definitive phase applies from 1 January 2026: importers bringing in more than 50 tonnes of covered goods a year must become authorised CBAM declarants. The first annual declaration and certificate surrender fall due by 30 September 2027.
Which goods fall under CBAM: the CN-code product groups and how to check an import
CBAM covers six product groups — iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen — each identified by Combined Nomenclature (CN) code in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2023/956. Whether a specific import qualifies is decided by its eight-digit CN code and its origin, not by the sector name; a 50-tonne net-mass exemption applies to the solid goods but never to electricity or hydrogen.
Cyber & resilience
NIS2 and the cyber duties that reach transport operators and their supply chain.
NIS2 for transport and logistics: who is in scope and which duties follow
NIS2 (Directive (EU) 2022/2555) covers medium and large entities in the Annex I transport sector — carriers, airports, ports and terminal operations, rail — plus postal and courier providers under Annex II. Road haulage, freight forwarding and warehousing are not listed as such, but typically meet the rules indirectly through in-scope customers' supply-chain duties.
Seaport cybersecurity under NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act: who is in scope and which duties apply
Port managing bodies and their port facilities sit in the high-criticality transport sector of the NIS2 Directive (EU) 2022/2555, while the Cyber Resilience Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/2847) sets security requirements for the digital products used across the port chain. This dossier sets out who is in scope, which duties apply, and how the two regimes interact.
What to track now
ICS2 entry summary declarations — who files, per mode
CBAM declarant status, certificates and the 2027 declaration
Data Act duties per role: user, data holder, recipient
The 2028 customs reform timeline (Data Hub, Trust & Check)
Latest in this sector
What a truck may weigh and measure in the EU, and what the revision changes
Directive 96/53/EC caps heavy-goods vehicles used in international traffic at 40 tonnes (44 tonnes for intermodal container transport), with harmonised maximum lengths, a 2.55 m width and a 4.00 m height. A 2023 revision (COM(2023) 445) would enlarge the weight allowance for zero-emission vehicles and set clearer rules for cross-border longer and heavier combinations, but it is still in negotiation and not yet in force.
The EU Mobility Package for road transport: who must comply, the key dates and how it is enforced
Mobility Package I reshaped EU road-transport law from 2020 — driving and rest times, cabotage limits and the posting of drivers — with dates running on to 2026 and the eight-week vehicle-return rule already struck down by the Court of Justice.
What the new EU driving licence directive changes for drivers and operators, and by when
The EU has adopted Directive (EU) 2025/2205, modernising driving-licence rules with a digital licence in the EU Digital Identity Wallet, accompanied driving from 17 (mandatory for cars, optional for lorries) and a two-year novice probationary period. It entered into force on 25 November 2025, but reaches drivers and operators only as Member States transpose it, which they must do by 26 November 2028, with the rules applying from 26 November 2029.
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