Kabotasje

Cabotage – the rules for foreign lorries in Norway

What cabotage is, and which rules apply to foreign lorries in Norway: three operations in seven days, the four-day cooling-off period, the documentation requirement, the rules for buses – and why the arrangement exists.

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What this covers

  1. What cabotage actually is, and what it is not
  2. Three operations in seven days
  3. The four-day cooling-off period
  4. The documents that must be produced
  5. Passenger transport, which follows entirely different rules
  6. The fines
  7. Why the rules exist at all

What this covers (cont.)

  1. What is hard to enforce

What cabotage is

The definition is shorter than you would think.

Cabotage is transport between two places in a country other than the one the operator belongs to.

Is cabotage: a Polish operator carries goods from Oslo to Bergen.
Is not cabotage: the same operator carries goods from Warsaw to Oslo. That is international transport, and it is free.
Also not cabotage: a Norwegian operator drives Oslo–Bergen. That is simply domestic transport.

Three operations in seven days

The main rule is easy to remember, and it has three parts that must all be met.

The conditions for lawful cabotage

  1. There must have been an international journey firstThe cabotage follows from a journey into Norway with international goods. You cannot drive in empty and start taking domestic work.
  2. Up to three domestic operationsNo more, however short they are.
  3. Within seven daysThe clock starts when the international goods are unloaded in Norway.
  4. With the same vehicleThe quota attaches to the vehicle, not to the operator.
One of the three operations may be carried out as transit through another country, without taking on new international goods. Otherwise this is a hard limit: if the inbound journey cannot be documented, every domestic operation is unlawful – including the first one.

The cooling-off period

This is the most important change from the EU Mobility Package, which entered into force on 1 November 2022. Before it, an operator could in practice make a short run across the border and start seven new days.

Before and after the Mobility Package

Before

Seven days, over again

  • Three operations in seven days
  • Out of the country
  • Back in – and three new operations
  • In practice, continuous operation

From 1 November 2022

Four-day cooling-off

  • Three operations in seven days, as before
  • Then four days when the vehicle cannot do cabotage in Norway
  • The cooling-off attaches to the vehicle
  • Only then can new operations begin
The purpose of the cooling-off period is to separate temporary cabotage from permanent presence. Without it, a vehicle could in reality operate continuously in the Norwegian market under rules meant for occasional use. Note that the cooling-off follows the vehicle – not the driver and not the company.

The documentation

The rule is worth little without something to check it against, and this is where most cases are actually decided.

What must be produced

DocumentWhat it shows
Community licenceThat the operator is entitled to carry out international transport in the EEA.
Driver attestationFor drivers from outside the EEA – that they are lawfully employed by the operator.
Consignment note for the inbound journeyThat there really was an international transport, and when the goods were unloaded.
Consignment note for each operationHow many domestic operations have been carried out, and when.
The third item is the key. Without a documented international journey in, there is no basis for cabotage at all, and the whole chain falls. That is why roadside enforcement is in practice more often about paperwork than about the driving itself.

Buses are a different matter

Many people fall into a trap here, because passenger transport has an entirely different rulebook.

Goods against people

Goods

Counted in operations

  • Three operations
  • Seven days
  • Four-day cooling-off

Passengers, occasional services

Counted in days

  • No more than 20 continuous days
  • No more than 30 days in a calendar year
  • Regular services only as part of an international route
The difference in unit of measure is worth noting: goods transport is limited by number of operations, passenger transport by time. That follows from the fact that a coach assignment can last a fortnight, while a lorry job typically lasts a day.

The fines

Why the rules exist

This is the part missing from most discussions, and without it the rules are just arbitrary numbers.

Two concerns pulling opposite ways

For opening up

Empty return runs are waste

  • A lorry that has delivered in Oslo is going back anyway
  • If it runs empty, the trip is pure cost and pure emissions
  • Free movement of services is a founding principle of the EEA

For limiting it

Wage levels are not equal

  • Cost levels vary sharply between EEA countries
  • Without a limit the domestic market can be taken over permanently
  • Norwegian road freight has a generally applicable collective agreement
The rules are the compromise between these two. The numbers – three, seven, four – are not derived from any principle. They were negotiated, which is why they have changed and may change again. Understanding that makes the next round of amendments easier to read.

What is hard

Finally, the honest caveat: the rules are easier to write than to enforce.

Three practical problems

  1. Enforcement is by spot checkA vehicle has to be stopped for the paperwork to be examined, and the road network is long.
  2. History is hard to seeAt the roadside you see today's journey. Establishing how many operations have been run over the past seven days requires documentation that is supposed to be there – and that is the weakest link.
  3. Follow-up crosses bordersThe operator is registered in another country, with another inspectorate and another legal system.
This explains the direction the rules have taken: more documentation duties, on-the-spot fines, and in time digital tachographs that make border crossings traceable. The aim is not stricter limits, but limits that can actually be checked.

What is worth taking with you

That cabotage does not mean "foreign lorry", but domestic transport carried out by an operator based somewhere else.

Key points

  • Cabotage is transport between two places in a country other than the one the operator belongs to.
  • Three domestic operations in seven days, with the same vehicle, after an international journey into Norway.
  • After the last lawful operation comes a four-day cooling-off period before new cabotage can begin.
  • Both the inbound international journey and each domestic operation must be documented.

Key points (cont.)

  • Passenger transport follows entirely different rules – 20 continuous days, and 30 days a year.
  • The rules are a compromise between free movement of services and protection of the domestic market.

Questions this answers

  • What is cabotage?
  • How many operations can a foreign lorry carry out in Norway?
  • What is the four-day cooling-off period?
  • What must the driver be able to document?
  • Do the same rules apply to buses?
  • What does breaking the rules cost?

Questions this answers (cont.)

  • Why is cabotage allowed at all?

Sources

  • Norwegian Public Roads Administration – International transport, cabotage and penalties
  • Norwegian Public Roads Administration – What is new in the Mobility Package
  • Regjeringen.no – International transport and cabotage
  • Professional transport regulations, section 31 (Lovdata)

Spørretimen

Read the whole thing at

www.sporretimen.no/en/episodes/kabotasje-godstransport/