CE licence and what you can tow

CE starts at 750 kg, not at a semi-trailer

Plenty of drivers think CE is about semi-trailers. That's true in practice, but not in the text. The directive says:

without prejudice to the provisions of type-approval rules for the vehicles concerned, combinations of vehicles where the tractor vehicle is in category C and its trailer or semi-trailer has a maximum authorised mass of over 750 kg.

Directive 2006/126/EC, Article 4(4)(g). Accessed 26 August 2026.

It says over 750 kg. There's no upper limit, and no mention of what kind of trailer it is. A small single-axle trailer of 900 kg falls under it just as much as a full semi-trailer.

Drive a C vehicle with 750 kg or less behind it and you don't need CE. One kilo more and you do.

C1E hits a ceiling at 12,000 kg

If you hold C1 instead of C, you fall under C1E. That looks the same but carries a ceiling CE doesn't have:

without prejudice to the provisions of type-approval rules for the vehicles concerned, combinations of vehicles where the tractor vehicle is in category C1 and its trailer or semi-trailer has a maximum authorised mass of over 750 kg provided that the authorised mass of the combination does not exceed 12 000 kg.

Directive 2006/126/EC, Article 4(4)(e).

Work through the numbers. A C1 vehicle itself may run up to 7,500 kg. That leaves at most 4,500 kg for the trailer before you hit 12,000. Anyone wanting to tow something heavier doesn't need C1E, they need C and CE.

BE is something else entirely, and that's where people get confused

In the same list of definitions sits BE, and that's about cars, not trucks:

without prejudice to the provisions of type-approval rules for the vehicles concerned, combinations of vehicles where the tractor vehicle is in category B and its trailer or semi-trailer has a maximum authorised mass which does not exceed 3 500 kg.

Directive 2006/126/EC, Article 4(4)(c).

BE is capped at a trailer of at most 3,500 kg behind an ordinary car. It gives you no right to a truck whatsoever. Anyone who slides behind the wheel of a C vehicle on a BE licence is driving without a valid licence, however light or heavy the combination is.

The lesser-known middle ground under category B

There's a less well-known arrangement that lets you tow heavier than 750 kg on a plain B, up to a combination of 4,250 kg. One condition attaches to it:

For such combinations with a mass of more than 3 500 kg, Member States shall, in accordance with the provisions of Annex V, require that this combination shall only be driven after: a training has been completed, or a test of skills and behaviour has been passed.

Directive 2006/126/EC, Article 4(4)(b), second subparagraph.

Member States may require both, so training and a test. The result appears as a separate code on your licence. It's no use for freight work, but for anyone towing a heavy caravan or trailer, it saves a full BE exam.

Age, and the shortcut through the driver CPC

CE requires 21, C1E eighteen. For both, the rules note without prejudice to the provisions on professional competence, and that's the door that opens for anyone who holds the driver CPC. That route runs separately from the licence itself, and is covered in becoming a truck driver.

The source text here still names Directive 2003/59/EC. That directive no longer exists, it was replaced by Directive (EU) 2022/2561. The rule stays, the cross-reference is outdated.

A new directive is on its way

Directive (EU) 2025/2205 of 22 October 2025 replaces Directive 2006/126/EC. It only applies once your country has transposed it into national law, and that has years to run. Until then, what's above is what applies to you.

Also read

• C1 or C, which licence do you need
• Becoming a truck driver

Sources

• Directive 2006/126/EC on driving licences, Article 4(4), consolidated version of 1 November 2020. EUR-Lex

Legal text quoted verbatim from the consolidated English version on EUR-Lex, accessed 26 August 2026.