Heavy vehicle tax (Switzerland)

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The heavy vehicle charge is the toll levied in Switzerland and Liechtenstein for heavy motor vehicles (trucks, etc.) over 3.5 tons .

In Switzerland, the use of national roads (motorways) became subject to tax from 1985. Since then, the motorway vignette has been required for passenger cars , and a flat-rate heavy vehicle tax has been introduced for vehicles over 3.5 tons. It was similar to the Euro vignette that was subsequently introduced in several EU countries, including Germany.

After a basic referendum of 1994 (Protection of the Alps in the Swiss Constitution, Article 84) the law was adopted a performance-based delivery in September 1998, based on which the flat-rate levy in place since 1 January 2001, the HVF ( L eistungsabhängige S chwer v erkehrs a bgabe) is collected. In contrast to the German and Austrian tolls , the HVF is due on all roads , not just on the autobahn . It has earned Switzerland the reputation of taking on a European leadership role in the field of true cost of truck traffic.

Amount of the fee

The amount of the HVF is the same for domestic and foreign vehicles. It measures itself

  • the number of kilometers covered in Switzerland
  • the permissible total weight of the vehicle
  • the emissions of the vehicle (according to the EU emission classification )

The fee was introduced on January 1, 2001 at a rate of 1.0 euro cents per tonne and kilometer (medium emission category). At the same time, the weight limit was increased from 28 to 34 tons. On January 1, 2005, the rate was increased to 1.6 ct / tkm and the weight limit to 40 tons.

With the opening of the NEAT - Lötschberg base tunnel in summer 2007, the prerequisites for a further increase, which took place on January 1, 2008, were met. For the middle emission class it is the equivalent of around 1.7 ct / tkm.

The levy is currently 2.28 cents per tonne and kilometer. (As of January 9, 2013)

For the most frequently used transit route from the German to the Italian border (around 300 km), the HVF has been CHF 320 since January 1, 2008 for a 40-ton truck in the medium pollutant category, and CHF 271 (around EUR 170) for one of the lowest category ( EURO-3 or better).

Transport policy

Shift to the rails

Oriented at an introduced in 1994 by referendum constitutional article ( Alpeninitiative ), the Swiss transport policy aims to shift to the cross-Alpine freight to rail. Truck traffic, which quadrupled on the Gotthard road tunnel between 1981 and 2001, is to be restricted. The technical prerequisites for this will be created with the new railway lines on the Lötschberg and Gotthard ( NEAT ). The idea of ​​limiting the number of truck trips was rejected by the EU. The EU accepted control over the price for transit journeys in the form of road traffic charges.

However, the aim of the related modal shift seen about everything not only to the trans-Alpine traffic, but is a nationwide goal of all Swiss transport policy and the HVF is also charged by the not transalpine freight traffic. The goal per se is older than the Alpine Initiative and is rooted in the forest dying discussion of the 1980s.

Compromise with the EU

The bilateral negotiations between Switzerland and the EU since the mid-90s, who demanded EU Council of Ministers in the subject area land transport of Swiss politics to take over the EU principles of a free, non-discriminatory trade that apply in Switzerland as well as in EU and EEA economic area, if Switzerland wants to be treated equally in other areas. Accordingly, the EU demanded that Switzerland accept 40-ton trucks; however, the Swiss weight limit nationwide was 28 tons. The EU had to accept the driving ban regulation that trucks are not allowed to drive in Switzerland between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. There was a haggling over the transit fare - the EU was based on 200 francs for the transit over the Brenner axis , the Swiss calculated on the basis of the fees for the Mont Blanc tunnel with 600 francs for their Alpine transit route. In the end, the EU accepted transit fees of 325 francs or 200 euros for a north-south passage of a 40-ton truck between Basel and Chiasso . It was agreed that the fee in this full amount may only be levied from the opening of the Lötschberg base tunnel , which is why lower taxes were charged before 2008.

Swiss legal regulation

The EU would have accepted that 50 francs would be charged for the Alpine transit and the rest for the rest of the route, but for domestic political reasons Switzerland did not want to make trips to the canton of Ticino (through the Gotthard tunnel ) more expensive than a trip of the same length to other parts of the country . Since transit traffic must not be discriminated against, this agreement meant that a tax of the same amount would also be required for a 300 km journey from Geneva to Winterthur with the 40-tonne truck, which was approved from 2005. The prospect that with 40 tonnes instead of 28 tonnes and by avoiding empty runs due to the HVF could reduce the traffic load caused the law to be passed by voters.

outlook

Since, according to the available forecasts, a further increase in the price of road transport appears necessary in order to enable the NEAT to operate independently, the federal government aimed to introduce an Alpine transit exchange between 2004 and 2013 in addition to the HVF .

Use of the income

The HVF brings an annual income of 1.5 billion francs (from 2009). Two thirds of this will go to the federal government, which will primarily use this money to finance large-scale public transport projects (FinöV) (e.g. Bahn 2000, Neue Eisenbahn Alpentransversalen (NEAT), connection to the European high-speed network, noise abatement of the railways). The remaining third will go to the cantons, who will use this income for the construction and maintenance of roads.

technology

The toll applies to domestic and foreign vehicles used to transport goods on the entire public road network and is collected electronically. The developer and supplier of the Tripon fee collection device used for this purpose was Fela Management AG from Diessenhofen . The client was the Federal Customs Administration (EZVA).

Stationary HVF control system on the A4 motorway near Cham

Since the HVF is due on all roads , not just on the highways , the technical implementation has been made much easier. The Tripon system only has to determine which distances have been covered within a toll area and not, as in the German system, which road types were used. However, it is equipped in such a way that journeys through the Alps can be recognized and stored in the device. The distances are technically determined very easily by reading out and storing the speedometer data. However, a GPS module is also installed in the Tripon OBU (on-board unit) . This is used for the parallel acquisition of distance data and, together with other sensors, provides data that is used to control the values ​​determined by the speedometer and the DSRC radio beacons (microwave antennas) at the border stations. This reliably prevents manipulation of the recorded data at various levels. Tripon was the world's first recording device to use GPS in the area of ​​charging. According to the Federal Office for Spatial Development, the introduction went smoothly.

After a tender started in 2005, an order for new software and devices was placed with Siemens Schweiz AG. The 70,000 new on-board Unit 2 devices, which are designed for a service life of 13 years, are to be installed in the trucks in place of the Tripon devices over a period of two years from 2009. The devices are manufactured by VDO Automotive , a company that Siemens AG sold to Continental AG in 2007 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nina Renshaw, Vice Director of the European umbrella organization Transport & Environment, in echo from November 2010
  2. ↑ SWITZERLAND - Higher taxes for heavy goods vehicles from January 1, 2008 ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. HVF increase in Switzerland from 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / portal.wko.at
  3. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ezv.admin.ch
  4. ↑ Context broadcast by Schweizer Radio DRS 2 on July 22, 2010
  5. ↑ Compendio Bildungsmedien : Wirtschaft, Umwelt und Raum 1st edition 2009 p.92
  6. ↑ efd.admin.ch ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.efd.admin.ch
  7. ↑ Nutzfahrzeughandel.ch All HVF devices will be replaced (July 4, 2006)
  8. ↑ Switzerland: Siemens VDO delivers new OBU. Traffic news from July 5, 2006