Serviceportal–Baden-Württemberg
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Procedure descriptions
Applying for an exemption from the ban on driving on Sundays and public holidays
Trucks with a maximum permissible mass of over 7.5 tonnes and trailers behind trucks are prohibited from driving on Sundays and public holidays between 0:00 and 22:00. If you still need to make an urgent journey, you will require an exemption licence.
Responsible authority
The road traffic authority in whose district the load is picked up or, in the case of a nationwide exemption, the road traffic authority in whose district the person carrying out the transport has their place of residence or registered office or the company carrying out the transport has its registered office or a branch office.
Depending on the location, the road traffic authority is the city administration or the district administration.
Details
Prerequisite
- The transport must be urgent
- Economic or competitive reasons are not sufficient
The following may drive without an exemption licence
- Tractors used exclusively to tow other vehicles
- Tractors and semi-trailer tractors with an auxiliary loading area whose payload is not more than 0.4 times the maximum authorised mass
- Vehicles in which the transported objects are part of the inventory, such as exhibition, film and television vehicles as well as showmen's vehicles (showmen's vehicles also with trailers)
- self-propelled machinery (e.g. harvesters, combine harvesters)
- combined road-rail freight transport from the consignor to the nearest suitable loading station or from the nearest suitable unloading station to the consignee, but only up to a distance of 200 kilometres
- combined goods transport port-road between the place of loading or unloading and a port located within a maximum radius of 150 kilometres (arrival or departure)
- Recovery, towing and repair vehicles in use as well as empty journeys in connection with these journeys
- Transport of live bees and empty journeys in connection with these journeys
- Journeys with vehicles used in accordance with the Federal Benefits Act
- Caravan trailers and trailers towed behind lorries with a maximum permissible mass of up to 3.5 tonnes for sport and leisure purposes
The following may be transported without special authorisation
- fresh milk and fresh dairy products
- fresh meat and fresh meat products
- fresh fish, live fish and fresh fish products and
- perishable fruit and vegetables
- Category 1 material in accordance with Article 8 and Category 2 material in accordance with Article 9(f)(i) of Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 laying down health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 (Animal by-products Regulation) (OJ L 300, 14.11.2009, p. 1, L 348, 4.12.2014, p. 31)
- Empty journeys in connection with the above-mentioned journeys
Public holidays are:
- New Year (1 January)
- Good Friday
- Easter Monday
- Labour Day (1 May)
- Ascension Day
- Whit Monday
- Corpus Christi (in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland)
- Day of German Unity (3 October)
- Reformation Day (31 October; in Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia)
- All Saints' Day (1 November; in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland)
- 1. and Boxing Day (25 and 26 December)
Procedure
- You must apply for the exemption authorisation in writing or online.
- You will receive the application form from the competent authority.
- The competent authority is the road traffic authority in whose district the load is being picked up or, in the case of a nationwide exemption, the road traffic authority in whose district the person carrying out the transport has their place of residence or registered office or the company carrying out the transport has its registered office or a branch office.
- Depending on the location, the road traffic authority is the municipal administration or the district office.
- Complete the application form and submit it to the competent authority together with the required documents.
- The competent authority will check your application and, if necessary, request additional documents, which you should then submit.
- You will receive a notice of authorisation and a fee invoice from the competent body.
- You may transport goods on Sundays and public holidays in accordance with the authorisation.
Deadlines
The period of validity of your exemption from the ban on driving on Sundays and public holidays can be limited depending on the application.
Required documents
- Application form
- Freight and accompanying documents
- Registration certificate part I and trailer licence
- Certificate of impossibility of timely rail transport if the transport involves a road route of more than 100 kilometres
- In the case of permanent exemption authorisations, a certificate of urgency if necessary
- for cross-border transport, proof of clearance times at the border customs office for loads on lorries
Costs
depending on the type and scope of the exception: EUR 10.20 to 767.00
Processing time
The processing time depends on the scope of the documents to be processed.
Miscellaneous
none
Legal basis
Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung (StVO):
- § 30 Absatz 3 und 4 Umweltschutz, Sonn- und Feiertagsfahrverbot
- § 46 Absatz 1 Nummer 7 sowie Absatz 2 Ausnahmegenehmigungen, Erlaubnisse und Bewohnerparkausweise
- § 47 Absatz 2 Nummer 6 Örtliche Zuständigkeit
Allgemeine Verwaltungsvorschrift zur Straßenverkehrsordnung (VwV-StVO)
Release note
machine generated, based on the German release by: Verkehrsministerium Baden-Württemberg, 11.06.2025