Van tachograph rules 2026: what changes and what you must keep

The headline change is the device itself. In-scope vans must carry a second-generation smart tachograph — the current EU standard that records driving, position and activity data automatically and can be read at the roadside. This is the same generation of unit modern HGVs use; the 2026 change extends the fitting obligation down to qualifying 2.5–3.5t vans.

The tachograph produces the digital downloads you're then responsible for — primarily the .DDD driver-card and vehicle-unit files (also seen as .C1B and .V1B), which hold the activity record everything else depends on.

Once in scope, drivers must follow EU 561/2006, which limits how long someone can drive and mandates breaks and rest. In broad terms it covers:

• Driving time — daily and weekly limits on time at the wheel.
• Breaks — a required break after a set period of continuous or accumulated driving.
• Daily and weekly rest — minimum rest periods between shifts and across the week.

The tachograph records what actually happened; your job is to make sure the recorded pattern stays within the limits, and to spot it quickly when it doesn't.

Being compliant is a paperwork discipline as much as a driving one. The core duties are:

• Download driver-card data every 28 days.
• Download vehicle-unit data every 90 days.
• Keep the data for at least 12 months, stored so you can retrieve it.
• Be ready to produce records at a roadside check or audit on demand.

Miss a download window or lose a file and you can be non-compliant even if every drive was within the limits — so the storage and retrieval side matters as much as the hours themselves.

Enforcement is not a formality. Operating an in-scope van without a working tachograph, failing to keep the required records, or falsifying data can all lead to penalties. These range from substantial fines for missing or broken equipment and record failures, through to criminal liability and possible imprisonment for deliberate falsification of tachograph records.

Exact figures depend on the offence and the enforcing authority, so treat any single number with caution — but the direction of travel is clear: roadside and audit checks expect complete, genuine records, and the consequences for not having them are serious.

The existing tachograph-analysis market — Samsara, Geotab, VDO and similar — is built and priced for multi-vehicle HGV fleets: bundled telematics, hardware and managed services, often €20–50 per vehicle per month. For a courier or trades firm running 1–10 vans, that's a sales motion and a bill you were never meant for.

Van Tacho does one thing: parse your tacho files, tell you whether you're compliant, and keep the records audit-ready. It's record-keeping and analysis — not legal advice or official certification.