ECMT permit and Turkish road permits: 2026 quota A truck's route is drawn by its permits.

Types of permit

The Turkish Road Transport Regulation defines a permit as an authorisation obtained from foreign countries or international organisations under bilateral and multilateral agreements, used in international transport and which may also be issued electronically (art. 4). The Ministry's permit distribution directive sorts transport into four types (art. 4/1-p):

• Bilateral: transport between the two countries party to the agreement, by vehicles of those countries; a load from Türkiye to Germany, for example.
• Transit: crossing the countries in between on a journey that starts in one country and ends in another.
• Third-country: transport where both the loading and the unloading point lie outside the country where the vehicle is registered.
• Return load: transport on the way back, from the destination country or from another country.

Some countries issue a universal permit valid for more than one type (Austria's covers bilateral, transit and third-country; art. 10/1). Multiple-entry permits are distributed separately for Germany, France, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Serbia (art. 18). Permits earned outside the quota under specific conditions, such as using the Ro-La rail service or trailer towing in Italy, are called bonus permits (art. 4/1-i).

Distribution in Türkiye

Under a protocol between the Ministry and TOBB, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, permits are handed out by distribution offices attached to TOBB (art. 7); the offices sit at land border crossings such as Kapıkule, Hamzabeyli and İpsala and at Ro-Ro ports, and one is in Trieste (Annex 1). Hauliers apply at these offices or through the e-GEBOS service on e-Devlet, the Turkish e-government portal; with countries that exchange electronic permits, the permit is issued electronically, subject to the quota (art. 5/4-5).

• Permits go only to vehicles registered on an international goods transport authorisation (art. 9/1).
• A permit is allocated for the destination country and for the countries on the route; the routes are listed in Annex 2 of the directive, and for one destination a haulier may apply for only one of them (art. 6, art. 9/4).
• Vehicles with a payload under 10 tonnes do not receive permits; the directive lists exceptions such as purpose-built car transporters, bilateral transport to neighbouring countries with a land border, and Bulgarian, Georgian and Romanian permits (art. 9/5).
• The application needs the document on which customs formalities were carried out: a TIR or ATA carnet, or a transit accompanying document with an MRN, or an export accompanying document with an export declaration number (art. 5/1-c).
• Some countries' permits must be returned; until they are, no new permit of that kind is issued (art. 5/1-d, art. 9/13).
• Permits are distributed up to the last day of each year; the Ministry sets the periods in which they are released for use during the year (art. 9/7).

Conditions by country

The directive ties some countries' permits to the type of cargo, its direction and whether it is a part load. These are the ones met most often on European lanes:

The ECMT licence

The ECMT licence authorises the carriage of goods for hire or reward between the countries in the multilateral quota system of the International Transport Forum (ITF); in Turkish legislation it is called the UBAK permit. According to the ITF user guide of January 2026, 43 countries, Türkiye among them, take part in the system as of 1 January 2026. The core rules:

• Validity: an annual licence is valid for the calendar year (1 January to 31 December), a short-term licence for 30 days. Short-term licences are not valid in Austria (3.5, 3.11).
• Scope: a licence is valid for transport between member countries and for transit through them, but not between a member country and a non-member country (3.1–3.3).
• Restricted countries: licences not valid in Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy or Russia carry a mark to that effect (3.10). Those countries can be crossed with a bilateral permit or by another means of transport such as the Ro-La rolling road (3.4).
• Euro class: a licence is for a "EURO V safe" or a "EURO VI safe" vehicle; a higher-category vehicle may use a lower-category licence, not the other way round (3.12, 6.3).
• Three laden journeys: after the first laden journey from the country of establishment, a haulier may make at most three laden journeys that do not involve that country; the vehicle, laden or empty, must then return home (3.13).
• No cabotage: an ECMT licence does not authorise carriage between two points inside one country (4.3).
• One vehicle, no transfer: a licence is used by only one vehicle at a time and may not be transferred to a third party (4.1, 4.6).

The logbook has been digital since 1 January 2026: the ECMT Digital System replaced printed licences and logbooks. Each licence's logbook records every laden and unladen journey in order; the loading point, date, gross weight, odometer reading and registration numbers are entered before each laden journey (5.1–5.5). The vehicle carries a licence information document and a journey information document showing the last ten journeys, in digital or printed form. A licence without a properly completed logbook is invalid (6.1–6.2).

The 2026 quota and its allocation

In Türkiye the licences are allocated by the Ministry's UHDGM under the ECMT (UBAK) permit distribution directive:

• Application: every year from 1 to 31 October through the "UBAK permit distribution application" service on e-Devlet; vehicle Euro norms must also be entered by 31 October (art. 6).
• Conditions: an L2 or M2 operating authorisation, at least two owned green vehicles, recent international transport activity and capital worth 9,000 euros for the first vehicle and 5,000 euros for each additional one (art. 7).
• Score: number of green vehicles, total fleet, export trips weighted by a country coefficient, third-country trips made with the licence, and efficiency; the coefficient reflects the distance from each country's capital to the Turkish capital (arts. 8–9).
• Order: first the licences valid in Austria, then the 5% of licences valid in Italy, Russia and Greece set aside as bonus, then the rest of those valid in these countries, and last the licences not valid in the restricted countries (art. 10/4).
• Euro VI: a Euro VI licence requires owning 2 times as many Euro VI vehicles as licences (art. 10/9).
• Calendar: distribution starts by 20 December; a licence not collected by 31 March is treated as returned (art. 10/19–20). Licences may not be given away (art. 10/18).
• Use: a licence used for fewer than 6 trips by the end of June earns 10 penalty points, an unused one 15; trips are reported every month on e-Devlet with the "UBAK summary declaration" (art. 13/3, 13/5).

Why permits affect lead times

The permit belongs to the haulier and the vehicle; a cargo owner cannot obtain one in its own name. For a shipment to leave, the haulier must hold a permit that fits the cargo and the type of transport for the destination country and for every country on the route. When the quota is limited, or a permit's conditions do not fit the cargo, three things happen:

• The route changes: a truck that cannot get an Austrian transit permit crosses Austria by train (art. 10/7-b); because a transit permit through Italy is issued only for cargo bound for four countries, other destinations need a route planned around that from the start (art. 11/4).
• Consolidation is limited: no bilateral or transit permit is issued for part loads to Hungary; in Austria and Italy a part-load truck needs at least 5 tonnes for that country.
• The return-load plan changes: the Greek bilateral permit is not issued for return loads, and under an ECMT licence the vehicle must go home after three laden journeys.

So when a lead time is discussed on a lane, the first question is whether the haulier holds the right permit for every country on the route on that loading date. We describe how we organise road shipments on the road freight page, and the Greek and North Macedonian lanes on the Türkiye–Greece road freight and Türkiye–North Macedonia road freight pages.

When it goes wrong

The cargo owner assumes it can arrange the permit itself

Permits and ECMT licences are issued only to a haulier holding an operating authorisation, for a vehicle registered on it (permit directive art. 9/1; ECMT directive art. 2). What the cargo owner can do is ask this question when choosing the haulier.

A truck enters Austria or Italy on an ECMT licence

If the licence is not valid there, that country must be crossed with a bilateral permit or by train. In 2026 only 96 of Türkiye's licences are valid in Austria and 440 in Italy.

Goods are loaded between two points in a foreign country

That is cabotage, and an ECMT licence does not allow it (4.3). Third-country transport is possible only with a third-country permit or within the ECMT limit of three laden journeys.

The logbook is not filled in before the journey

A licence with incomplete logbook entries is invalid (6.2). In Türkiye, a missing monthly summary declaration also earns penalty points for each licence (ECMT directive art. 13/5).