Winter tyres abroad

More and more countries are getting traffic rules conserning the use of winter tyres. Because these regulations can differ from country to country, we made a list of rules regarding the use of winter tyres and snow chains per country.

 

  • In total, we have 21 EU countries with a ruling around the use of winter tyres, including Luxembourg.

 

Winter tyres are mandatory in:

  • Bosnië-Herzegovina

  • Czech Republic

  • Estland & Finland

  • Letland & Lithouania

  • Macedonia & Montenegro

  • Serbia& slovenia

  • Romania

Winter tyres are mandatory during winter conditions and/or certain roads in:

  • Zwitserland & Austria

  • Croatia

  • Germany

  • France

  • Luxembourg

  • Italy

  • Norway & Sweden

  • Slovakia

Extra general information:

France: On specific roads, winter tyres and snowchains could be mandatory.

Germany: Mandatory during winter periods, this means: When the roads are slipper due to snow, ice, melting snow or frost.

Luxembourg: Mandatory during winter periods.

Austria: Mandatory during winter periods, minimum profile depth: 4mm

Switserland: Recommended to use winter tyres during the winter seasons.

Belgian legislation:

  • M+S marked tyres, with an equal or higher speedindex, are accepted throughout the whole year.
  • M+S marked tyres, with a lower speedindex , are accepted from 1 October until 30 April (if sticker is visible).

In the rest of Europe there is no winter tyre ruling. In countries like Belgium and The Netherlands, winter tyres are highly recommended from October until Easter,When the average teloerature has dropped below 7°C.

 

Snowchains

Snowchains provide extra grip and safety on heavy icd or snowy roads, when winter tyres don't provide enough grip. in a lot of wintersport areas, snowchains are mandatory on specific roads. A round blue sign indicates if snowchains must be used or not.

Geen vervanging voor winterbanden

Snowchains are not suited for normal dry roads, thus they cannot replace winter tyres. On the other hand, it can be necessary or even mandatory to apply snowchains. They have to be mounted on the empowered wheels. On fourwheel empowered vehicles, it is usually best applied on the front wheels, but it is still recommended to read the instruction manual of the car.
 

 

Road sign that indicates obliged use of snowchains: