Depending on the country, there are different timeframes and situations when winter tyres must be used on one or more axles of the HGV.
Tyre manufacturer Continental has published its 2022 summary of winter tyre requirements in the following 39 European countries:
- Albania,
- Austria,
- Belgium,
- Bosnia-Herzegovina,
- Belarus,
- Bulgaria,
- Croatia,
- Czech Republic,
- Denmark,
- Estonia,
- Finland,
- France,
- Germany,
- Great Britain,
- Hungary,
- Iceland,
- Ireland,
- Italy,
- Kosovo,
- Latvia,
- Liechtenstein,
- Lithuania,
- Luxemburg,
- North Macedonia,
- Montenegro,
- Netherlands,
- Norway,
- Poland,
- Portugal,
- Romania,
- Russia,
- Serbia,
- Slovakia,
- Slovenia,
- Spain,
- Sweden,
- Switzerland,
- Turkey,
- Ukraine.
Some countries have set a date from when winter tyre usage is mandatory, in other countries it depends on the weather and the situation.
Bear in mind that in some countries, winter tyres are mandatory from 1 November. Such countries include Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland and France.
In other countries, like Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Bulgaria, the first day of the mandatory usage of winter tyres is 15 November.
Also, depending on the country and situation, drivers can use either non-studded or studded winter tyres, or all-season tyres.
Safe winter tyres, both non-studded and studded, bear the snowflake symbol (also known as the 3PMSF or 3-Peak-Mountain-SnowFlake marking), which is increasingly replacing the current winter tyre marking (M+S).
Today, the M+S marking is not sufficient anymore in countries such as Germany and the Nordic Countries, where the legal definition of a mandatory winter tyre is the Snowflake symbol.
Click on the image to download Continental’s guide:
