EU reaches draft deal on fairer, greener road charging rules
Motorway tolls - Photo by News Oresund
(BRUSSELS) - Euro-Parliament and EU Council negotiators reached a deal Wednesday on new road charging rules for trucks to transition from time-based to distance-based charging, reducing CO2 emissions.
The provisional deal on the 'Eurovignette' will update the rules defining charges EU member states can impose on trucks and lorries, but also buses, vans and passenger cars using trans-European transport (TEN-T) network roads. The aim of the new rules is to move road charging from a time-based model to distance-based or an actual kilometres-driven system, to better reflect the polluter-pays and user-pays principles.
In addition to encouraging wider use of more environmentally-friendly vehicles, under the new rules EU countries will need to set different road charging rates based on CO2 emissions for trucks and buses, as soon as additional rules on CO2 classes for vehicles are set, possibly in 2023, and based on environmental performance for vans and minibuses as of 2026, with considerable charging reductions for zero or low emission vehicles.
While "vignettes" (time-based road charging) will be phased out across the core TEN-T network from 2029 for heavy-duty vehicles, member states will still be able to retain vignettes for a specific parts of this network, if they can prove that a new mode of charging would be disproportionate relative to expected revenue.
To ensure equal treatment and fair competition, the new rules will be extended not only to buses, but also to lighter vehicles, such as, vans, minibuses and passenger cars. EU countries choosing to charge these vehicles will be able to use toll or vignettes systems. To ensure occasional users and drivers from other EU countries are treated fairly, the provisional deal also created shorter validity periods (one day, one week or 10 days) and price caps on "vignettes" that can be imposed on passenger cars.
Five years from the entry into force of these rules, the Commission will assess the charging practice of light-duty vehicles in order to decide if vans used for commercial purposes should follow the same charging models as trucks and if there should be more robust rules on road charges for private cars.
Three years after the entry into force of the agreed rules member states will report publicly on tolls and user charges levied on their territory, including information on the use of these revenues. MEPs were keen to make sure that the revenues generated from these charges contributes to sustainable transport, infrastructure and mobility.
The informal Eurovignette deal now needs to be approved by EU states' representatives and the Parliament's transport committee, and then the Council and Parliament as a whole.
Further information, European Parliament