Camping Vehicles Face Twin Regulatory Squeeze: €3,000 Price Hikes and Stricter Gas Tank Rules
Veröffentlicht: 07.07.2026 um 17:14 Uhr, Redaktion boerse-global.de
A pair of new regulations is shaking up Germany’s recreational vehicle industry. As of today, all newly registered motorhomes under 3.5 tonnes must be equipped with a mandatory suite of electronic safety aids, adding anywhere from €1,000 to €3,000 to the sticker price. At the same time, operators of campers with permanently installed gas tanks must comply with updated technical standards that took effect in June, covering everything from fill-pipe routing to minimum clearances.
The electronic requirements come from the European Union’s General Safety Regulation (GSR II). Systems now compulsory on new camper van registrations include automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, an intelligent speed assistant (ISA), driver drowsiness detection, tyre pressure monitoring, a reversing aid, a distraction warning, and an interface for an alcohol-sensitive immobiliser. For units heavier than 3.5 tonnes, blind-spot monitors and drive-off information systems are also mandatory.
Existing registered vehicles are grandfathered in and do not need retrofitting. However, anyone converting a base van into a camper after today must ensure the chassis already carries all required systems at its first registration.
Alongside the electronics, a separate set of gas-safety rules is reshaping how fixed fuel tanks are built. The DVGW code sheet G 607, which closed a regulatory loophole on 8 June, requires that permanently mounted gas bottles be fastened without tools, equipped with an exterior fill port featuring a safety coupling, and that the fill line never passes through the living quarters. A minimum distance of 500 millimetres from windows, ventilation openings or exhaust outlets is now mandatory. Each system must also incorporate a safety valve and an automatic shut-off that kicks in at 80 % fill capacity. Inspection intervals are set at ten years. Despite the tighter rules, public-station refuelling in Germany remains prohibited. Multiple gas sources are allowed, but gas may only be drawn from one system at a time.
The weight factor adds yet another headache. A recent ADAC study calculated that a family of four with standard luggage requires roughly 475 kilograms of payload. Factory-installed optional extras can already push the empty weight up by 200 kilograms, quickly eating into the legal reserve—especially for vehicles in the 3.5-tonne class. Overloading can trigger fines of up to €5,000 in extreme cases. Interestingly, the ADAC testers found that smaller camper buses often leave more loading margin than fully outfitted larger motorhomes.
