Winter tyre laws in Europe

Every winter rule has a trigger: a fixed period, a wintry road, a listed place or a road sign. The checker first tests whether that trigger holds for the date, road and vehicle given. It then asks whether the tyres count by their marking and tread, and whether chains or socks in the boot can stand in. Worn tread comes first, then studs, then any chains sign, then the duty itself.

Take a car in a listed commune of Savoie on 19 December 2026, with alpine-symbol tyres and 6 mm of tread. The verdict is "Meets the winter rule", inside a French period running from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027. With tyres marked M+S only and an empty boot it becomes "Does not meet the winter rule". A pair of snow socks in the boot turns it back to "Meets the winter rule", because France takes socks in place of chains.

Below the verdict, a table repeats the trip in every country, with no chains sign and, in France and Italy, inside the listed area. The checker has no live road reports and cannot look up a commune; the Sécurité routière map does that. Nordic countries and Croatia are outside its 15.

No. No law in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland requires winter tyres or snow chains on any date. The Highway Code's rules 228 to 231 on ice and snow name neither. Rule 230 warns that stopping distances can be ten times longer than on a dry road, a factor the stopping distance calculator works through.

Tread depth is the rule that holds all year. Regulation 27 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 sets 1.6 mm across the central three-quarters of a car tyre. Heavier vehicles and motorcycles need 1 mm. A worn tyre can bring a £100 fixed penalty or a court fine of up to £2,500, with 3 penalty points under DVLA endorsement code CU30.

No UK regulation names studded tyres or chains; regulation 27 only forbids a tyre that could damage the road surface. Before a trip to France, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's travel advice warns that certain mountain regions need winter tyres or chains from 1 November to 31 March.

Yes, where the sidewall carries a marking the country accepts; the word all-season itself counts for nothing. M+S, for mud and snow, is the older marking. The alpine symbol, a three-peak mountain snowflake also written 3PMSF, is the one newer rules ask for.

France, Germany and Spain accept only the alpine symbol. Germany stopped counting M+S alone after 30 September 2024, and France from 1 November 2024. In Spain, M+S alone no longer meets an order to fit chains since 30 May 2026.

Andorra, Austria, Czechia, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Slovenia still take M+S as a winter tyre. A tyre with both marks counts everywhere, which is why the checker asks for M+S only or the alpine symbol. In Austria, Czechia, Slovakia and Slovenia, the tread must also reach a winter minimum before the tyre counts.

Among the winter tyre laws in Europe that the checker reads, nine of the 15 countries set a rule for cars, and they work in three ways. France and Italy apply it only in listed places, for a fixed period. Andorra, Austria, Czechia and Slovenia tie it to a period of the year, and Germany, Luxembourg and Slovakia to a wintry road on any date.

The other six, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom, set no such duty at all. Even there, a chains sign can order chains on the road ahead, and the general tread minimum always applies. The UK sits in that second group, so a British car's winter tyres are a matter of choice until it leaves the country.

France

France's rule follows the Loi Montagne II and the decree of 16 October 2020, now article D. 314-8 of the code de la route. From 1 November to 31 March, whatever the weather, it applies in the communes each prefect lists across 48 départements of the massifs. Of those, 34 list 4,173 communes in all and 14 list none.

Signs B58 and B59 mark the start and end of the zone, and the Sécurité routière map shows each listed commune. There a car needs tyres with the alpine symbol, unless it carries chains or socks for two driven wheels.

Austria

Austria's situational rule, in § 102 of the Kraftfahrgesetz, runs from 1 November to 15 April and applies only on snow, slush or ice. A car then needs winter tyres on all wheels, or chains on two driven wheels where the road is covered. M+S tyres count, with at least 4 mm of tread.

Switzerland

Switzerland sets no duty to fit winter tyres. Its sign 2.48, "Schneeketten obligatorisch", orders metal chains or devices approved by the Federal Roads Office (ASTRA), and ignoring it costs CHF 100. Claims that summer tyres alone make a driver liable after a crash have no source in Swiss law that the checker could find, so it ignores them.

Italy

Italy has no national duty. A road owner can issue an ordinance and post its sign, usually from 15 November to 15 April, as a 2013 directive of the Ministry of Infrastructure sets out. On those roads, tyres marked M+S or chains on board meet the rule.

In last winter's ordinances the Aosta Valley started on 15 October, and Sardinia ran from 1 December to 15 March. In Abruzzo, Lazio, Liguria, Molise, Trentino (Trento) and Umbria, they covered every road of ANAS, the state road company.

Germany

Germany's rule, § 2 of its road traffic regulations (StVO), applies all year but only on black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or hoar frost. Every wheel then needs 3PMSF tyres. Chains do not replace them, and motorcycles are exempt.

Andorra

Andorra's Codi de la circulació, as amended in 2014, asks for chains on board from 1 November to 15 May unless the car has winter or M+S tyres. On snow or ice the equipment must be in use on any date, and chains and studs are banned on a clear road. Not using it on snow or ice costs €180, or €500 over 3.5 t.

Chains go on the driven wheels: two of them under the Austrian, Polish and Swiss rules, and one on each side in Spain. Where chains may replace winter tyres, carrying them is enough in France and Italy. In Austria they must go on once the road turns wintry.

A summer-tyred car with chains on a snowy Austrian road on 19 December 2026 gets "Meets it once the chains are on". A snow chains sign, round and blue with a tyre in chains, overrides the winter tyre rule on the road ahead. In Austria, Czechia, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland it asks for chains whatever the tyres. Poland fines a driver who ignores it PLN 200 and 1 penalty point.

France's sign B26 accepts alpine-symbol tyres unless a plate says chains only, with a fine of €35, up to €150. Spain accepts them too under an order to fit chains, and fines a driver who ignores it €200.

Snow socks are textile covers pulled over the tyre. Andorra, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Spain accept them as chains, and so does the checker. In Austria, Czechia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Switzerland it does not. Austria's acceptance of socks tested to ÖNORM V 5117 is not confirmed in an official text. Slovenia takes only devices its national authority approved, and Switzerland only those approved by ASTRA.

With chains fitted, Germany, Czechia and Slovenia cap speed at 50 km/h. The Netherlands bans metal chains on motor vehicles even on snow, with a €320 fine, though plastic ones are allowed. Poland fines chains on a road without snow PLN 100.

Four countries set a winter tread depth above the general minimum: 4 mm in Austria and Czechia, and 3 mm in Slovakia and Slovenia. Heavier vehicles need 5 mm in Austria and 6 mm in Czechia.

A winter tyre worn below that line stops counting. On 19 December 2026, M+S tyres with 3.5 mm on a snowy Austrian road give "Too worn to count as winter tyres". Below the general minimum, 1.6 mm for cars in most countries, the answer is "Tyres below the legal tread" wherever the trip goes.

Studded tyres are banned in Czechia, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia on any date. Elsewhere they are allowed only in a season, and mostly at a capped speed.

• France: 1 November to 31 March, up to 90 km/h, on vehicles up to 3.5 t.
• Austria: 1 October to 31 May, up to 80 km/h and 100 km/h on motorways, up to 3.5 t.
• Switzerland: 1 November to 30 April, up to 80 km/h, never on motorways, where the fine is CHF 60.
• Belgium: 1 November to 31 March, up to 60 km/h and 90 km/h on motorways and dual carriageways.
• Andorra: 1 November to 15 May, and never on a clear road.
• Italy: only for driving on ice, on vehicles up to 3.5 t.

Spain dropped its stud clause on 30 May 2026, so no Spanish rule names them now. Luxembourg's stud rule could not be confirmed in an official text, and no UK regulation mentions them.

A motorhome over 3,500 kg falls under the rules for lorries and buses, while a van or a lighter motorhome is checked like a car. The heavier class often has a longer duty, a deeper winter tread or chains on board as well.

In Austria, vehicles over 3.5 t need winter tyres on a driven axle from 1 November to 15 April whatever the road, and chains carried as well. On a dry road on 19 December 2026, such a vehicle on winter tyres with no chains gets "Chains must be carried too". Austrian buses stop on 15 March, an end date the checker does not model.

Slovakia applies its lorry rule from 15 November to 31 March on any road. In France, a lorry towing a trailer must carry chains even on winter tyres, a rule the checker leaves out.

A caravan or trailer is not an input, because the rules cover the towing vehicle. Motorcycles are exempt in Germany and outside the French and Austrian rules. On an Italian road under an ordinance they may ride only when there is no snow or ice.

A hire car falls under the same rules as any other car, so what counts is the marking on its sidewalls and the kit in its boot. The checker cannot know what a hire firm fits, so its inputs describe the car as collected. The fuel cost calculator prices the drive itself.

Germany's fine catalogue sets €60 and 1 penalty point for driving in winter conditions without suitable tyres, rising to €120 after an accident. Austria starts at €35 but allows up to €10,000. Italy charges €87 to €344 outside built-up areas and €42 to €173 inside them.

In Luxembourg the fine is €74, and the car can be immobilised. Slovenia charges €40, or €500 and 5 points if the car stops and blocks traffic. Czechia allows up to CZK 1,500 on the spot, and CZK 2,000 to CZK 5,000 in proceedings.

France had no fine in force for its winter rule when the rules were checked on 14 October 2026, because the decree setting one had not been published. Insurers' terms on winter equipment vary, and the checker makes no claim about cover; checked cases reproduce its verdicts and Germany's catalogue fine.