Draft Road Charging Directive published

Publication date: 23 July 2003

On 23 July 2003, the European Commission published a draft directive (COM(2003) 448 - 2003/0175 (COD)) to reform the "Eurovignette" directive (1999/62/EC) on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures. This proposal aims to improve the framework for national road use fee in the interests of the proper functioning of the single market. The goal is also to adapt the charging framework of road transport to reflect internal and external costs, in order to comply with the principles of sustainablitliy. The current European legislation only provides a regulatory framework for charging heavy goods vehicles of at least 12 tonnes on toll motorways.

com2003_0448_road_charging.pdf (387 KB)

1999_62_ec_eurovignette.pdf (143 KB)

The new directive would widen the road charging policy to all lorries exceeding 3.5 tonnes used for goods transport on trans-European-network roads and allows Member States to levy road charges which cover not only costs of infrastructure provision and maintenance, but also reflect other impacts of road use such as environmental and noise impacts. To compensate for the increased costs for users, the directive would allow Member States to reduce annual vehicle tax. If the proposal gets adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, it has to be implemented by 1 July 2005.

Motoring already pays for itself
The AIT-FIA is concerned that the proposal will be only used to impose even more financial burdens to road users, and states that existing taxes easily cover the costs inflicted by road users.