Regarding the Amendment of VDI Guideline 2700

An Expert Report on the Admissibility and Recommended Actions is Available

The amended VDI Guideline 2700 on pages 8, 8.1 and 8.2 came into force on 1 September 2024. Pages 8, 8.1 and 8.2 of VDI Guideline 2700 specify the securing of loads for passenger cars on vehicle transporters. The changes were developed within the Guideline Committee of the Association of German Engineers (VDI). The TIV was not involved in this amendment process.

The updated guideline includes new values, among others, for tie-down straps, lashing points and wheel chocks. It also contains revised specifications for loading platform panels. Accordingly, the combination of load securing equipment and the loading area (loading platform panel) must be certified in the future. This requirement also affects trailers that have already been produced and sold. Initial reports of police checks concerning the relevant certification have been received. The scope of the guideline initially applies to Germany, but it also affects trailers from other EU countries that are used in Germany.

The amendment necessitates the retrofitting of new loading platform panels, which, from the TIV’s perspective, is neither economically nor temporally reasonable. Consequently, the TIV commissioned an expert report to examine whether the amendment is legally permissible and to determine the steps that could potentially be taken against it.

On Monday (10 February 2025), representatives of member companies particularly affected by the guideline met.

The expert report commissioned by the TIV by the law firm ARNECKE SIBETH DABELSTEIN, Frankfurt am Main, has now been presented to the executive board. In the near future, representatives of the TIV will hold a meeting with the VDI with the aim of establishing a continuous dialogue on trailer-relevant topics and, in this particular case, of arriving at a more sensible regulation.