Netherlands: hauliers urged to lock in “who pays” clauses before July truck toll

The levy will apply to almost all Dutch motorways and certain provincial and municipal roads, with charges paid per kilometre and rates influenced by vehicle characteristics (cleaner and lighter vehicles pay less per kilometre).

Cumela frames the key question bluntly: who pays the bill (the contractor or the client), and says the answer “depends on the moment the contract was concluded and the agreements made”.

That advice lands as the Dutch shift away from the Eurovignette approaches. The government’s truck toll programme states that the Eurovignette in the Netherlands ends on 1 July 2026; at the same time, Dutch motor vehicle tax for trucks up to 12,000kg will be abolished and for heavier vehicles significantly reduced.

Cumela’s message: put it in writing. Now!

For new business, Cumela advises hauliers to build explicit toll clauses into contracts and tenders, rather than relying on informal understandings or expecting customers to accept higher invoices automatically once the levy begins.

For existing contracts, the organisation recommends acting early: notify customers well ahead of July, quantify the expected impact and document the change so that any rate adjustment is evidence-backed. Cumela also points members to ready-made templates (provided via a members-only download) that can be used to communicate the change.

Operators typically face three scenarios once tolling starts:

• Pass-through surcharge: the toll is added transparently as a separate line item (often the least contentious if agreed in advance).
• All-in rate: the toll is baked into the freight rate (simple, but harder to revisit if tariffs or routes change).
• Unrecoverable cost: if pricing is fixed and contracts lack a mechanism, the toll can land on the carrier’s margin.

Cumela’s guidance is essentially a warning against drifting into the third outcome by default.