Euro 7 is the first emissions standard that treats a truck as more than an engine. Beyond tighter exhaust limits, it regulates brake dust, tyre wear and on-board monitoring — and its dates are now fixed enough to plan around.
The timeline that matters
- 29 May 2028: Euro 7 becomes mandatory for new type approvals of heavy vehicles (M2, M3, N2, N3 and larger trailers O3/O4).
- 29 May 2029: all newly registered heavy vehicles must comply.
- From 2030 onward: brake particulate limits phase in for heavy duty, with tyre abrasion limits following on C2 (2030) and C3 (2032) tyres.
What is actually new
- Tighter, broader exhaust limits measured over wider real-driving conditions — regulators expect roughly a 56% NOx cut versus Euro 6 across the fleet effect by 2035.
- On-board monitoring (OBM): the truck itself continuously watches NOx, particulates and ammonia; significant exceedances are logged and can trigger warnings and mandatory fixes. The era of an emissions system quietly degrading between inspections is ending.
- Brakes and tyres in scope: particulates from friction braking and tyre wear get their own limits — a first, and a nudge toward retarders, regenerative braking and better tyre stewardship. Our guides on auxiliary braking and tyre wear suddenly read like compliance documents.
- Durability requirements: emissions performance must hold over longer defined lifetimes.
What operators should actually do
Nothing panicked — but plan deliberately. Fleets buying in 2027–28 face the classic pre-buy calculus (a debate North America is having right now): cheaper pre-Euro 7 trucks with older tech, or costlier compliant ones with longer regulatory runway and likely better residuals in city-access zones. Workshops, meanwhile, should expect OBM to surface emissions defects earlier and more insistently than any inspection regime ever did — deferred maintenance is about to get a tattletale.
Sources: Commercial Motor Knowledge Hub, DieselNet, EUR-Lex