E-Scooter Rules and Problems in Europe: A Country-by-Country Guide
Europe has no single rulebook for electric scooters. Germany wants an insurance plate, Spain wants a registration label, the Netherlands only lets a handful of approved models on the road, the UK bans private scooters from public roads and Lithuania now requires a helmet for every rider. This guide walks through seven countries, what the rules are, and what the accident numbers say about why they keep changing.
We did not test anything for this article. Everything below comes from news reports, government pages and industry sources named at the end, and several rules are reported by only one source. This is not legal advice: check the official text before you ride or buy.
At a glance
| Country | Private scooters on public roads | Insurance or registration | Key detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | Allowed | Insurance plate required, black from 1 March 2026 | 38 deaths in 2025 |
| France | Allowed, minimum age 14 | Liability insurance required | Rental scooters banned in Paris |
| Spain | Allowed (6 to 25 km/h models) | DGT registration label and insurance | Uncertified models stop on 22 January 2027 |
| United Kingdom | Illegal | Not applicable to private scooters | Rental trials run until at least May 2028 |
| Netherlands | Only RDW-approved models | Blue plate and liability insurance | Five approved models, per one source |
| Poland | Allowed, 20 km/h limit | Not covered by our source | Helmet required under 16 |
| Lithuania | Allowed | Insurance proposed in 2023; not confirmed | Helmet required for all riders from 2026 |
Germany: more accidents every year
Germany approved e-scooters in 2019, and the accident count has risen every year since. The federal statistics office reported 16,496 police-registered accidents with personal injury for 2025, up 38.1% on the year before. There were 38 deaths (11 more than in 2024) and almost 1,900 seriously injured riders. Alcohol was involved in 10.9% of the accidents, 53.6% of injured riders were under 25 (against 21.4% for bicycle accidents), and the most common recorded cause was incorrect road use, such as riding on the sidewalk or swerving into traffic.
On the legal side, every e-scooter needs a small insurance plate. ADAC says the plates run for one year and change color each year; from 1 March 2026 the new plates are black and the green ones are invalid. Liability-only cover starts at about €45 a year. Riding without valid insurance is a criminal offense, with a possible prison term of up to one year or a fine.
France: strict fines and a banned rental market
France sets the minimum age at 14 and bans passengers. Cleanrider lists these fines: €135 for riding on the wrong road, on the sidewalk without permission, with a passenger, with a tampered scooter or while using a phone or headphones; €35 for riding at night without a high-visibility vest; €1,500 for a scooter built for more than 25 km/h; and €3,750 for riding without insurance. Sidewalks are closed unless the town allows them, and then only at walking pace. Helmets are mandatory outside built-up areas, and some towns add their own rule: Nice has required one since 1 November 2025, with a €35 fine.
Paris is the famous case. On 2 April 2023 voters chose to end rental scooters, with 89.03% against and 103,084 people taking part. The ban took effect on 31 August 2023, and about 5,000 rental scooters from Dott, Lime and TIER had to leave the streets. Privately owned scooters were not affected.
Spain: registration and insurance arrive together
Spain treats e-scooters as personal mobility vehicles (VMP): single-seat vehicles with a factory speed of 6 to 25 km/h. Two laws changed the picture. Ley 5/2025, in force since 26 July 2025, requires liability insurance. Real Decreto 52/2026, published at the end of January 2026, requires every VMP to be registered with the DGT. Registration is online, costs €8.67 once and gives you an identification number and a label to stick on the scooter. Models without a circulation certificate can be registered temporarily, but only until 22 January 2027; after that date they may not be ridden.
Merca2 reports fines of up to €800 for riding without registration or insurance, and a scooter without a label can be impounded. Reported insurance premiums run from €30 to €80 a year. The fine for lighter vehicles is reported as reduced by a third (about €533), but that is not confirmed in the legal text.
United Kingdom: legal to buy, illegal to ride
In the UK a private e-scooter is legal to buy but illegal to ride on public roads, which APIL calls a murky area of law. Police confiscate scooters ridden illegally. Rental schemes run as government trials, extended until at least May 2028. APIL reports that in 2024 an average of 26 people a week were harmed in e-scooter collisions and six people were killed. No bill to legalize private scooters has followed the 2022 promise of tighter regulation, so riders and sellers are left with unclear rules. APIL wants a proficiency test, compulsory helmets and mandatory insurance.
Netherlands: only a handful of approved models
Dutch law treats a scooter with no pedal assist as a special moped. Only RDW-approved models may be ridden, and only those can get a plate. From 1 July 2025 new approved e-steps need a blue plate, and since 1 July 2026 every approved e-step must carry one. Approved steps need third-party liability insurance, no driving licence and no helmet, with a maximum of 25 km/h, no riding on the sidewalk, and police may fine or confiscate unapproved ones.
Overstappen.nl lists only five approved models (Yedoo Mezeq, three Kickbike models and Selana Alpha), says brands such as Xiaomi, Kugoo and Razor lack approval, and reports fines of €290 to €490 for riding without a plate. It counted just 456 registered e-steps nationwide in March 2026, 414 of them Kickbikes, and concludes that many more illegal steps are on the road. Scooters with pedal assist count as e-bikes and are exempt.
Poland: a 20 km/h cap and age limits
According to Auto Świat, the speed limit is 20 km/h. Riders use bike lanes first, the roadway only where the limit is 30 km/h or lower, and sidewalks only as a last resort. The minimum age to ride alone is 13 from March 2026, minors need a bicycle card or a licence in a listed category, and helmets are required under 16 from June 2026. Most offenses cost 50 to 500 zł, riding after alcohol costs 1,000 zł and riding under the influence 2,500 zł. Speeding fines run from 50 zł (up to 10 km/h over the limit) to 2,500 zł (71 km/h and more).
Lithuania: helmets for everyone
On 27 March 2025 the Seimas voted 58 to 18, with 12 abstentions, to amend the Road Safety Act so that all riders of electric micromobility vehicles wear helmets from January 2026, and rental companies must supply them. Before that, helmets were mandatory only for riders under 18 and for adults riding alongside cars. The reasons were visible in the data: the transport agency reported 58 scooter riders injured the year before, four of them wearing helmets, and police had fined 1,019 riders €20 to €40 for riding without one in 2024. LRT reports more than 2,800 police-recorded violations involving scooters and similar vehicles and 180 injured riders or passengers in its latest count, with a fractured jaw the most common injury.
Vilnius has added local limits. Since June 2023 scooters and bikes are barred from Pilies, Vilniaus and Savičiaus streets in the Old Town, and a 12 km/h cap applies in the Old Town and on bridges. One Lithuanian site also reports that scooters above 1 kW or 25 km/h by design do not meet the requirements and may be confiscated from 2026; we found no official text, so do not rely on it. A 2023 Finance Ministry draft would have required insurance for scooters, but we could not confirm it was adopted.
What this means for buyers
- Look at the label, not the box. Spain wants a certificate, the Netherlands wants RDW approval and Germany wants an insurance plate. A scooter that works in one country may be unusable in another.
- Powerful and fast models fall outside most rules. Italy caps scooters at 0.50 kW of continuous nominal power (see our Italy article), the Spanish definition stops at 25 km/h and the French fine list singles out scooters built for more than 25 km/h. Dual-motor scooters and L1e bikes usually need a different category, and our L1e article covers that one.
- Insurance is the common thread. Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands all require it, and the UK has no road-legal route for private scooters at all.
- Helmets and sidewalks are where the rules are heading. Lithuania, Poland and Nice all added helmet rules, and the German statistics point to sidewalk riding and alcohol as recurring causes.
Where the sources disagree
- Spain: the registration decree is dated 27 or 28 January 2026 depending on the page, and the fine is reported as up to €800 or about €533 for lighter vehicles.
- Spain: Gasteiz Hoy says registration became mandatory on 30 January 2026, while Merca2 says late January.
- Netherlands: the list of approved models comes from a news site, not the RDW list itself.
- Poland: the age limit of 13 and the helmet rule are reported by one source.
- Lithuania: the 1 kW confiscation rule has one non-official source.
- France: the insurance fine of €3,750 comes from one guide.
PEV Deals is a deals site and does not sell scooters. Treat all figures as an orientation and check the official source before you ride.
Sources: Destatis via a news summary (German e-scooter accidents 2025); ADAC (insurance plate 2026); Cleanrider (French rules and fines); Intelligent Transport (Paris referendum and ban); Merca2 and Gasteiz Hoy (Spain, Real Decreto 52/2026 and Ley 5/2025); APIL (UK e-scooter law, 2026); Rijksoverheid and Overstappen.nl (Dutch e-steps); Auto Świat (Poland); LRT (Lithuania: helmets, insurance draft, Old Town ban); Reidas (Lithuania).