Is Your ECE 22.05 Helmet Still Legal to Ride in Europe?
Gear
Published
ECE 22.05 helmets remain legal to wear across Europe — 22.06 changed what can be approved and sold, not what you ride in. The real traps: non-ECE helmets, Spain's new rule, France's stickers.
Yes. A helmet approved to ECE 22.05 (ECE stands for Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations body whose Regulation No. 22 sets Europe's helmet standard) is still legal to wear on the road in 2026, and nothing in the newer ECE 22.06 standard takes that away. The 22.06 changeover set deadlines for manufacturers and shops, not for riders. What does catch travellers out is different: a helmet with no ECE approval at all, Spain's rule that came into force on 1 October 2026, and France's reflective-sticker requirement. This guide covers all three, and how to read the label on your own lid so you know where you stand.
What ECE 22.06 actually changed — and for whom
Regulation No. 22 is a United Nations regulation applied by the countries that have signed up to it, and across Europe it is the standard national helmet laws point to. Each revision is a "series of amendments": "22.05" is the fifth series, "22.06" the sixth.
The 06 series took effect in January 2021, according to the regulatory index at GlobalAutoRegs, and the switch was then phased in over three years. The German magazine MOTORRAD summarises the transitional provisions like this:
| Date | What changed | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| 3 January 2021 | 22.06 approvals could be granted for the first time | Manufacturers |
| 3 June 2022 | New approvals granted only to 22.06 | Manufacturers |
| 3 June 2023 | The 22.05 approval mark may no longer be applied to new helmets | Manufacturers |
| 3 January 2024 | Countries may ban the sale of remaining 22.05 stock | Shops |
Riders are missing from the right-hand column: none of these dates says a 22.05 helmet must come off your head. MOTORRAD states plainly that helmets tested to ECE 22.05 may continue to be used, and the German Institut für Zweiradsicherheit (ifz, the Institute for Two-Wheeler Safety) confirms there is no replacement obligation for 22.05 helmet owners in Germany. In the United Kingdom, the government's own page on motorcycle helmet law lists UNECE Regulation 22.05 and 22.06 side by side as accepted standards.
The last row is the one that confuses people. Whether 22.05 helmets could still be sold after January 2024 was left to each country. That matters when buying a helmet; it does not matter for one you already own.
What the 22.06 tests add
The new series is a tougher test, not just a new sticker. Retailer Billy's Crash Helmets has published a detailed breakdown of the changes, and Dainese has done the same from the manufacturer's side:
- Impacts are now tested at three speeds — 6.0, 7.5 and 8.2 metres per second — where 22.05 used a single 7.5 metres per second impact, so a helmet must work in a minor crash as well as a serious one.
- An oblique impact test measures rotational acceleration, the twisting force linked to concussion and brain injury, which 22.05 did not test at all.
- Impact points are no longer fixed. Dainese describes up to 18 possible test points per helmet, chosen by the tester, so manufacturers can no longer reinforce only the known spots.
- Visors are shot with a steel ball and must not be penetrated, and light-transmission limits now cover photochromic and tinted visors.
- Accessories fitted by the manufacturer, such as drop-down sun visors and communication-unit mounts, are tested in place.
- Modular (flip-front) helmets that carry a P/J marking are tested with the chin bar both closed and open.
None of this makes a 22.05 helmet unsafe. It makes a 22.06 helmet the better buy when the time comes to replace one.
How to read the label on your helmet
The approval label is a small sewn-in tag, usually on the chin strap, and it is the only thing a police officer can check at the roadside. According to Billy's and the Italian manufacturer Caberg, the label breaks down as follows:
| Part of the label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| E in a circle, with a number | The country that issued the approval: E1 Germany, E3 Italy, E9 Spain, E11 United Kingdom, and so on |
| 05 or 06 | The series the helmet was approved to — 22.05 or 22.06 |
| A long number | The approval number for that helmet model |
| /P | Full-face helmet with a protective chin bar |
| /J | Jet or open-face helmet, no chin bar |
| /P/J | Modular helmet approved to be ridden with the chin bar open or closed |
| A number after a hyphen | The production serial number |
The country code is not a restriction: a helmet approved in Germany (E1) is valid anywhere that applies Regulation No. 22, as long as the label is intact. A helmet whose label has been cut out or faded to nothing is a helmet without proof of approval.
The P/J distinction is a safety point as much as a legal one. The ifz notes that a flip-up helmet marked only P must be ridden closed, because it has only been tested closed.
The country rules travellers actually trip over
Helmet law across Europe is more consistent than most gear law, because national rules defer to Regulation No. 22. The exceptions are specific.
Spain: ECE approval is now the only route
From 1 October 2026 Spain requires an ECE-approved helmet, full stop. Real Decreto 518/2026, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE, the Spanish official gazette) on 26 June 2026, rewrites article 118 of the Reglamento General de Circulación to require "cascos de protección homologados conforme al Reglamento UNECE R22" — helmets approved to UNECE Regulation 22 — for riders and passengers of motorcycles, three-wheelers and quads on every type of road. The old wording accepted helmets that were "homologados o certificados", which left a door open for helmets certified to other standards. That door is now shut for motorcycles. Only mopeds get a transition: the decree's first transitional provision lets moped riders keep using "cascos de protección certificados" for one year after entry into force.
For a visiting rider with a 22.05 or 22.06 helmet, nothing changes — the decree names the regulation, not a series. For a helmet approved only to a non-European standard, Spain is now a clear no. Spanish motorcycle press quotes the fine as €200, a figure from the general traffic law rather than this decree, so check before you travel.
France: the reflective stickers
Regulation No. 22 itself, in section 6.16, allows any signatory country to require retro-reflective markings on helmets: four of them, front, back, left and right, each at least 18 square centimetres, white, and not removable without damaging the helmet. The regulation text is reproduced in this extract of the 2002 consolidated edition. France is the country that took up the option. The French motorcycle site Le Repaire des Motards explains the rule: helmets sold in France come with the stickers, helmets sold elsewhere in Europe do not, and a helmet without them is treated as unapproved, carrying the same €135 fixed fine as riding with no helmet at all.
How strictly this is applied to foreign riders is the uncertain part; the same source describes enforcement as rare. A set of four stickers costs a few euros and takes a minute to fit, which removes the question.
United Kingdom: the list is longer, not shorter
The United Kingdom accepts four kinds of helmet: British Standard BS 6658:1985 with the BSI Kitemark (BSI is the British Standards Institution), UNECE 22.05, UNECE 22.06, or a European Economic Area standard offering equivalent protection with an equivalent mark. Visors and goggles follow the same pattern. Any ECE helmet with an intact label is fine; a DOT-only helmet is not on the list.
Germany and most of the rest
Germany is the clearest documented case of the default position. The ifz newsletter linked above states that 22.05 helmets have no expiry date, may still be sold and bought, and carry no obligation to replace. No other European country has been found to add a visitor-facing marking rule the way France does, but national rules do change — Spain's did this year — so a quick search for the countries on your route is worth doing before you leave.
DOT, Snell and helmets bought outside Europe
This is where most real roadside problems come from, not the 05-versus-06 question. DOT (the United States Department of Transportation standard) and Snell (a private American foundation's standard) are not ECE approvals. A helmet carrying only a DOT sticker has no E-mark, so it fails the United Kingdom's list, and Spanish motorcycle press reports that DOT or Snell marks alone do not satisfy Spain's requirement either. Many helmets sold in North America are dual-approved and carry an ECE label too; check the strap tag, not the shell sticker, before shipping a bike across the Atlantic.
Helmets approved to earlier series — 22.04 and before — are a different problem: technically still Regulation No. 22 approvals, but decades old and past any useful life a manufacturer will stand behind. Shark, for example, advises not exceeding five years of use even while the approval remains valid.
A pre-trip helmet check in two minutes
- Find the label on the chin strap and confirm it is legible and attached.
- Read the series digits: 05 or 06 means legal everywhere this guide covers. Anything else, or no label, means a new helmet before you go.
- On a flip-front, check for P/J before planning to ride it open.
- If France is on the route, fit four reflective stickers.
- Over five years old? Make the trip the excuse to replace it with a 22.06 model.
Riders planning a multi-country loop can see which borders they will cross in the Travel Riders route planner; once the countries are known, the checks above answer the helmet question.
Ride with the lid you have — and know why it is legal
The anxiety around ECE 22.06 is mostly a sales conversation that leaked into a legal one. The standard is better, and the next helmet should carry it, but the helmet already on the shelf is legal across Europe provided it is ECE-approved, labelled and in good condition. Spain's decree and France's stickers are the two country rules worth a minute of preparation. Spend that minute, then spend the rest on the route: open the Travel Riders route planner, draw the ride, export the GPX file (GPS Exchange Format, the standard route file for navigation devices) and get on with the part that matters.