You will need to register UK commercial trailers before towing them abroad from 28 March 2019.
From 28 March 2019, you must register commercial trailers over 750kg and all trailers over 3,500kg before they can travel through countries that have ratified the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic.
This includes these countries in the EU, EEA and Europe:
Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan
Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia
Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France
Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Italy
Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg
Macedonia Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands
Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia
San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Sweden
Switzerland Ukraine
This means that these trailers making international journeys will need to:
• be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
• display their own registration plate (separate from the vehicle towing them)
• be able to present the Trailer Registration Certificate to a foreign authority on request
You do not need to register trailers that are only used in the UK or only used for journeys between the UK and Ireland.
You also do not need to register trailers used in Spain, Cyprus or Malta. You will, however, need to register trailers if you drive them through any country listed above to reach these destinations.
You can voluntarily register non-commercial trailers that weigh over 750kg but there is no legal requirement to do this.
Prepare for trailer registration
We will publish guidance about how to use the trailer registration scheme.
Register via the DVLA notification system.
Register commercial trailers being used internationally with a gross weight over 750kg with DVLA from January 2019.
Register all trailers being used internationally with a gross weight over 3,500kg with DVLA from January 2019.
