Europe jurisdiction profile
Cross-border road freight, without the re-typing.
A European entity on CETAIN issues CMR notes from booking data, checks VAT numbers against VIES, holds dangerous goods for ADR-certified drivers, flags lanes that leave the EU customs union and keeps driving time in view — in English, Dutch or German.
Key capabilities
CMR from booking data
Sender, carrier, consignee and the goods snapshot come straight from the booking. Regenerating creates a new version; the old one is kept.
VAT checked at the source
VAT numbers are format-checked and looked up in VIES when an entity is created and on demand. If VIES is unreachable the result is recorded as “unknown” — never “invalid”.
ADR at assignment
Lines classified by UN number, class and packing group can only be assigned to a driver with a valid, verified ADR certificate.
Customs boundary
Movement into or out of the EU customs union — Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the UK — needs HS code, customs value and origin per line. CETAIN records it and marks whether a declaration is needed; your broker files it.
Driving time in view
Estimated from booking timestamps and compared with Regulation (EC) 561/2006 limits, so dispatch sees warnings before assigning more work. It complements the tachograph; it does not replace it.
Driver papers that block
Licence, right to work, ID and medical certificate are required by default. An expired document stops the assignment, not the inspection at the border.
Regulation (EC) 561/2006
The limits CETAIN checks driving time against.
Default thresholds in the Europe profile, taken from the regulation's main limits. A platform administrator can adjust them per entity.
9 h a day
Daily driving; may be extended to 10 hours at most twice a week.
56 h a week
Weekly driving time.
90 h a fortnight
Over any two consecutive weeks.
11 h rest
Daily rest; may be reduced to 9 hours at most three times between weekly rests.
Source: European Commission summary of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006. CETAIN's figures are an operational estimate from booking events, not tachograph data. See WP-03.
The profile in full
What changes when an entity is European.
| Area | How CETAIN handles it |
|---|---|
| Countries | EU-27 plus NO, IS, LI, CH and GB; currency, time zone and locale per country. |
| Consignment document | CMR — a structured rendering of the CMR data, versioned and printable in the entity's language. It is not the official IRU form; we check it against what you carry today. |
| Tax identity | VAT number format check and VIES lookup, automatic on entity creation and on demand; outages recorded as “unknown”. |
| Postal codes | Validated per country (NL, BE, DE, FR, NO and more). |
| Dangerous goods | ADR classification per line (UN number, class, packing group); ADR-certified driver required. |
| Customs | Declaration data per line when pickup and delivery are in different customs territories; filing stays with the party responsible. |
| Driver papers | Licence, right to work, ID and medical certificate by default. |
| Vehicles | Inspections and roadworthiness tracked; an overdue inspection blocks new assignments. |
| Freight VAT in estimates | Not computed — reverse charge and place of supply vary by lane and customer. |
| Data-subject requests | Erasure, export, access, correction, restriction and objection, due within one month (GDPR). Breaches go into a register with the 72-hour supervisory-authority deadline. |
| Languages | English, Dutch and German interfaces; add another language with a JSON file. |
Some of the above runs in the engine before it has a screen — see the platform status.
Looking ahead
Paperless freight is coming. Your data should be ready.
Under the EU's eFTI Regulation, authorities must accept freight information shared electronically through certified platforms from July 2027. Using it stays voluntary for operators. Structured, versioned consignment data is the starting point either way.
Next step
See your own lanes on one record.
Tell us where you ship and how you work today. We'll walk through CETAIN with your documents, your jurisdiction and your roles — and tell you plainly what is ready and what would need configuring.