Brenner Pass, Italia before the EU Court. Judgment by the end of the year

The Italian battle in Europe against the Austrian bans on the free movement of trucks along the Brenner motorway continues. On Tuesday 21 April 2026, a hearing was held in the European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, on the appeal brought by Italia. The hearing provided an opportunity for Italy to reiterate the seriousness of the bans with respect to the free movement of heavy vehicles and the proper functioning of the internal market.

The Advocate General's conclusions are expected on 16 July. By the end of the year, the Luxembourg panel's ruling will be expected. The MIT (Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport) expresses its strong expectation for a positive solution to the dispute that 'can re-establish legal certainty and more favourable conditions for road hauliers, who play a fundamental role in Italian and European competitiveness'.

More specifically: the action, brought by the Italian government through the Ministry of Transport, challenges the compatibility of the bans introduced by the Land Tyrol (Austria) with the freedom of movement of goods guaranteed by Articles 34 and 35 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Austria is the defendant in the case, while the European Commission has intervened in support of Italia.

For Italian and European haulage companies, the impact is above all operational and economic. Bans and dosing result in less predictable journey times, forced stops and the need to reschedule trips, with knock-on effects on delivery planning and vehicle utilisation. Routing alternatives, such as the Tarvisio pass or other Alpine crossings, lead to higher mileage and additional costs, affecting the competitiveness of supply chains that use the Brenner corridor for interchange with Central and Northern Europe.

The material theatre of the dispute is the Tyrolean section of the A12 Inntal motorway, between Langkampfen and Ampass, and more generally the Brenner Pass, the central node of the trans-European Ten-T transport network. At the heart of the dispute are four groups of measures taken by Austria. The first concerns the night-time transit ban for commercial vehicles, which is applied at certain times of day with limited exceptions. The second is the sectoral ban, which prevents the road transport of specific categories of goods, including paper, cement, metal products, and certain types of agricultural and consumer goods, with the declared aim of encouraging a shift to rail.