Truck Waiting Time Rules in Europe: Free Time, Compensation and Who Pays, Country by Country

Which European countries limit truck waiting time by law?

Italy, Spain, Portugal and Hungary set both the free time and the compensation rate in law (Hungary only for domestic transport). France sets free time in a default contract and leaves the price to the parties. Everywhere else, the law sets no figures.

Hungary's rule covers only transport where pickup and delivery are both in Hungary. The rest of Europe is covered country by country further down.

How does Italy's 90-minute rule work?

In Italy, the carrier gets €100 for every hour or part-hour of waiting beyond 90 minutes per loading or unloading operation, counted from the moment the truck arrives. The rule is article 6-bis of Legislative Decree 286/2005, rewritten by Decree-Law 73 of 21 May 2025 and converted, with amendments, by Law 105 of 18 July 2025.^[1] Before that, the contract set the free time (at most two hours), and sector-level agreements could set the rule aside.

The principal (committente) and the loader (caricatore) are jointly liable, with a right to recover from whoever caused the delay. No compensation is due if the carrier caused it. The €100 is adjusted every year in line with ISTAT's consumer price index. The same €100 is also due when the loading or unloading itself takes longer than the time written in the contract. Carriers have one year to claim (18 months if the transport starts or ends outside Europe).

A circular from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport on 4 November 2025 settled three practical points: the 90 minutes exclude the time spent actually loading or unloading, the full €100 is due even when the overrun is shorter than an hour, and the law no longer provides for contracts to opt out.^[2] A ministry circular is guidance, not law, so if you have an opt-out clause in an Italian contract, get local advice before relying on it.

Enforcement is weak so far. The Italian hauliers' association Assotir presented a survey in February 2026 whose headline figure is that 72% of the roughly 70 firms asked receive no waiting compensation.^[3] The survey's own breakdown doesn't fully match that figure (among the 20 smallest firms, 55% got nothing), and the sample is small, but the pattern is plausible: many small hauliers don't claim against a customer they depend on.

What are Spain's waiting-time and driver loading rules?

In Spain, if loading or unloading isn't finished within one hour, the carrier can claim stoppage compensation (paralización) from the shipper for the extra time. The first hour is not paid. Royal Decree-Law 3/2022 cut the free time from two hours to one from March 2022.^[4]

The rate is twice the daily IPREM (a public reference income index) for every hour or part-hour, for at most 10 hours a day. It rises by 25% on the second day and 50% from the third. The 2023 budget law set the daily IPREM at €20, and it still applies in 2026 because that budget has been rolled over. That makes it €40 per hour and at most €400 for the first day.^[5] Contracts can agree a higher amount but not a lower one. The clock runs until the operation is finished, so in Spain the loading time itself counts.

The same reform bans drivers of trucks over 7.5 tonnes from loading or unloading goods, pallets, packaging and roll cages, with exceptions for removals, tankers, tippers and crane trucks, car transporters, distribution to shops and parcel delivery, among others. The ban has applied since 2 September 2022 to every operation in Spain, including those by foreign hauliers.^[6]

Breaking the ban is a very serious offense with fines of €4,001–6,000, rising to €6,001–18,000 if the party was already fined for a very serious offense in the previous 12 months. The shipper, consignor, intermediary and consignee can all be held liable, not only the haulier. In practice, a Spanish receiving dock needs its own staff or a contractor to unload, and that has to be planned per time slot.

What does Portugal's two-hour maximum mean?

In Portugal, a truck may wait at most two hours per loading or unloading operation, counted from the agreed or booked time. Beyond that, whoever caused the delay pays compensation for every hour or part-hour, at the table rate for up to 10 hours and 25% more after that. The rule comes from Decree-Law 57/2021, in force since September 2021, and covers both national and international transport loaded or unloaded in Portugal.^[7]

Three details matter for a warehouse. The rule works both ways: a carrier that arrives more than two hours late pays the same rate. Bookings must be made 24 hours ahead for national transport, 48 hours for Portugal–Spain and 72 hours for other international transport. Without a booking, the clock starts when the truck is registered in the shipper's or receiver's system. Handling time doesn't count unless the contract says it does. Contracts in force that set different terms are exempt from the two-hour maximum.

The same decree says loading and unloading must be done by a trained worker who is not the driver, with exceptions set by the sector's collective agreement, and that waiting areas must have toilets. The hourly rates are set in the decree's annex:

This is compensation for breach of contract, not a fine. Nobody is fined for exceeding two hours; the carrier has to claim the money, within one year.

How does Hungary's waiting-time rule work?

In Hungary, if the carrier is ready at the agreed time but loading or unloading is not finished within one hour, the time beyond that counts as waiting time (állásidő). The fee is at least HUF 8,636 for every started hour, VAT included, and the contract must state the amount. The rule is section 8 of Government Decree 120/2016 on road haulage contracts, rewritten from 28 January 2024, and it covers domestic transport only.^[8]

The shipper pays. The party in whose area the wait happened must confirm it in writing; if it doesn't, the carrier can prove the wait with GPS data or other credible evidence. By default the shipper loads and the consignee unloads. If the carrier loads or unloads by agreement, or unloads on the instruction of the party entitled to give instructions, it is owed at least HUF 10,975 an hour for that work.^[8]

Does France have a waiting-time rule?

Yes. The law requires agreed loading times and extra pay when they are exceeded, and a default contract supplies the free time if you agree none. The Code des transports requires the parties to agree loading and unloading times in writing before the operation and requires the carrier to keep a document with arrival and departure times, signed by the consignor at loading and the consignee at unloading. That document counts as evidence unless proven otherwise. If the times are exceeded and the carrier is not at fault, the carrier is owed extra pay. These principles cannot be contracted out of.^[9]

If there is no written agreement, the general standard contract (contrat type général, Decree 2017-461) applies automatically. Its free time covers the whole stay on site, from identification on arrival until the truck is ready to leave, and depends on load size and on whether an appointment was kept:^[9]

For shipments of 3 t or more, a truck that arrives early starts the clock only at the appointment time or the start of the agreed window. Waiting beyond the free time is invoiced separately at the agreed price, paid by whoever caused it. There is no hourly rate in law. At a 2022 government round table described in a 2023 inspection report (IGEDD), the hauliers' federation FNTR was the only employers' organization clearly in favor of copying Spain's 2022 rules, chiefly the ban on drivers loading and unloading, while the shippers' association AUTF, backed by the logistics federation TLF, preferred contractual good practice.^[10] Note the incentive in the table: for loads of 3 t or more, a warehouse that gives carriers a fixed appointment, and keeps it, gets the shortest free time because it is expected to be ready.

What about the rest of Europe?

Everywhere else, no law sets waiting hours or a rate; the contract or the carrier's standard terms decide. Some countries give the carrier a general right to be paid for unreasonable waiting, and Germany is the clearest example. Section 412 of the Commercial Code (HGB) says the loading time is whatever is reasonable, and waiting beyond it, for reasons outside the carrier's risk, gives the carrier a right to a reasonable standing charge (Standgeld).^[11] The market fills the gap with standard terms: the German forwarders' conditions ADSp 2017 allow at most two hours each for loading and unloading a full load on a 40-tonne truck when an arrival time or time window was agreed (or announced by the forwarder and not objected to), less for lighter vehicles.^[12]

The most cited German data is old. The federal transport ministry's "Schnittstelle Rampe" study, published in 2013 from a 2012 survey with 793 usable responses, found that 69% of transport firms and 56% of industrial firms reported waits of more than an hour at retail warehouses, while 84% of retailers put waits at retail warehouses under an hour.^[13] The study itself says the sample is not statistically representative. The gap between the two sides' views is the part that has not aged.

In the Baltics the rules are thin. In Estonia, the carrier can claim demurrage (seisuraha) only if it was agreed or if loading or unloading takes longer than reasonably necessary for reasons outside the carrier's control.^[14] Lithuania's Road Transport Code leaves loading times to the parties and lets them agree a penalty for idle time in writing.^[15] Latvia's Road Transport Act makes the shipper pay damages, plus a penalty only if one was agreed.^[16] None of the three sets hours or a rate.

Slovenia comes closest to a rule without numbers. Its road carriage contracts act requires loading within a reasonable time. If the shipper causes a delay, the carrier must wait for up to half the agreed loading time again, paid by agreement or at the carrier's tariff, and may then withdraw from the contract. The same waiting rule applies to unloading, after which the carrier may unload the goods itself at the consignee's expense and risk.^[17]

The remaining countries have no waiting-time provision in their road transport or carriage law: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Netherlands is close to the Baltic model: its Civil Code makes the sender pay the carrier's damages if the goods aren't ready at the agreed place and time, whatever the cause, but sets no hours or rate.^[18] Austria and Belgium apply CMR to domestic transport too, so the same gap applies at home. In Sweden the standard haulage terms Alltrans 2007 let the carrier charge for waiting it didn't cause and set no free period.^[19]

Does EU law or CMR regulate truck waiting time?

No. The CMR Convention, which governs most international road freight in Europe, says nothing about loading time, free time or waiting compensation.^[20] No EU regulation or directive sets a waiting limit either, and we found no Commission proposal for one as of October 2026.

EU law touches waiting only from the driver's side. The Road Transport Working Time Directive (2002/15/EC) counts waiting at loading sites as working time unless its likely duration is known in advance.^[21] The only EU-level initiative is a voluntary charter on how drivers are treated at loading sites, launched in 2020 by the road transport organization IRU, the European Shippers' Council and the transport workers' federation ETF.^[22]

How is waiting time proven?

With timestamps. Every one of these rules counts from a moment: arrival in Italy, the booked time in Portugal, identification on arrival in France. Italy lets the carrier prove arrival with its own GPS data or smart tachograph records if the site gave no instructions on time and place of access.^[1] France makes the signed arrival and departure document the default evidence.^[9]

That means the carrier will always have a record. The question is whether you have one too. A warehouse that logs arrival, dock-in and departure for every truck, against a booked slot, can check a claim in minutes and dispute the ones that are wrong. The same three timestamps let you measure dwell time and on-time arrival at your docks, so you see a waiting problem before the invoices show it.

What should a warehouse do about these rules?

Treat waiting time as a cost you control. Most long waits start at the dock: trucks arriving in a bunch, a door still occupied, a load not ready. Four steps cover most of it:

1. Give every truck a booked slot. Portugal counts from the booked time and France gives the shortest free time when an appointment is kept (for loads of 3 t or more). A carrier booking portal lets carriers pick a free slot themselves instead of calling.
2. Record arrival, dock-in and departure in a system. Paper gate logs lose disputes against a carrier's GPS and tachograph data.
3. Know your role in each country. In Spain the party that hired the carrier (cargador) pays even if the delay happened at the receiver; in Italy the principal and the loader both owe the money. A 3PL that loads for its clients should check whether it is the loader. If that is you, see dock scheduling for 3PL warehouses.
4. Size slots to real handling times. If unloading a full truck takes 75 minutes, a 60-minute slot builds a queue by mid-morning. Our guide on how to reduce detention fees walks through slot length and free-time clauses.

In Spain, add one more: plan who unloads. Drivers of trucks over 7.5 t generally can't unload there, so your staff or a contractor must be at the door when the slot starts.

How do European waiting rules compare to US detention?

In the US no law sets free time or a rate, and there isn't even a standard definition of detention. It is set by contract and usually counted from two hours on site.^[23] Italy, Spain and Hungary give less free time than the usual US two hours, and all four countries with a statutory rule fix the rate in law (Hungary as a minimum); in Spain a contract can only raise it. The rest of Europe looks more like the US. For the definitions, see what truck detention is and how it differs from demurrage.