Directive 1999/62 / EC (road cost directive)

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Directive 1999/62 / EC

Title: Directive 1999/62 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 17, 1999 on the levying of charges for the use of certain traffic routes by heavy commercial vehicles
Designation:
(not official) 		Road cost guideline
Scope: EU
Legal matter: Tax law
Basis: EC Treaty , in particular Article 71 , Paragraph 1 and Article 93
Procedure overview: European Commission
European Parliament
IPEX Wiki
Come into effect: July 20, 1999
Last change by: Update of Annex II and Annex IIIb Tables 1 and 2 with regard to applicable values ​​in euros in accordance with Article 10a of Directive 1999/62 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, in which Directive 2011/76 / EU of the European Parliament and amended by the Council
To be
implemented in national law by: 		July 1, 2000
Implemented by: Germany
Motor Vehicle Tax Act in the version published on May 24, 1994 ( Federal Law Gazette 1994 I p. 1102 ) which has been amended by Article 31 of the law of June 19, 2001 ( Federal Law Gazette 2001 I p. 1046 )
Reference: OJ L 187 of July 20, 1999, pp. 42-50
Full text Consolidated version (not official)
basic version
The regulation must have been implemented in national law.
Please note the information on the current version of legal acts of the European Union !

The road cost guideline (or Eurovignette guideline ) of the European Union regulates the collection of fees for the use of roads by commercial vehicles. While at the beginning the offsetting of the infrastructure costs was in the foreground ("road costs"), in the future the external costs should also be offset .

history

In 1993 the European Communities adopted the first directive on charging for transport infrastructure - known as the "Eurovignette" directive (93/89 / EEC). The directive was revised and replaced on June 17, 1999 by the directive on the collection of charges for the use of certain traffic routes by heavy goods vehicles (1999/62 / EC).

When Directive 1999/62 / EC came into force, there was already a call for a revision, because the EU Commission under Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock itself had called for external costs in transport to be internalized in various documents . For example in their green paper “Fair and efficient prices in transport” from 1995, in their white paper “Pricing” from 1998 and also in the EU white paper from 2001 on “European transport policy until 2010”.

There was also increased pressure from the member states to revise the directive and to find a uniform regulation of the individual calculation bases for fee rates. For example, new toll systems were introduced in several countries or were being planned, which intensified the call for uniform framework conditions, because there was always the risk that an introduced toll would be challenged by other countries or interest groups before the European Court of Justice . During the discussions about the extension of the Austrian ecopoint system, which stipulated a maximum number of journeys, reference was made in 2003 to the upcoming road cost guideline, which is to be revised, as well as to the possibility of co-financing large transalpine rail projects, such as the Brenner Base Tunnel, through toll revenues in the future . The ecopoint system was extended by the EU, but at that time the pollution-reduced trucks were exempted from restrictions when driving across the Austrian Alps.

In the summer of 2003, the EU Commission presented its first draft for the revision of Directive 1999/62 / EC. The discussions in the Council of Ministers and in the European Parliament were intense and two readings were necessary each. The question of including external costs, the scope of the directive and the use of the revenues were particularly contentious. On December 15, 2005, the European Parliament approved a compromise draft and on March 27, 2006, the Council of Ministers (Transport Ministers) approved the directive. It came into force on June 9, 2006 when it was published in the EU Official Journal.

In mid-2008, the EU Commission presented a draft revision of Directive 1999/62 / EC (Road Costs Directive), which should make it possible in future to include external costs in the toll calculation.

The compromise on the revision of the EU Infrastructure Costs Directive decided by the EU Transport Ministers' Council in Luxembourg in October 2010 essentially confirms the charging of external costs in road freight transport. Congestion costs are no longer viewed as an external cost factor, but the toll should be levied at different times with surcharges of up to 175 percent as a pure incentive tax.

content

Directive 2006/38 / EC does not contain any obligation for member states to introduce user or toll charges. However, if countries introduce fees for trucks on the roads of the trans-European networks, the requirements of the directive must be observed.

  • Scope of the Directive
    • The guideline now applies to all trucks from 7.5 tons (previously 12 tons), until 2012 trucks were only allowed to be taxed from 12 tons
    • The scope of the directive has been extended from motorways only to all European roads. The directive deals specifically only with the trans-European networks , but leaves other provisions to the member states in accordance with the subsidiarity principle .
  • calculation
    • The income from the fees may not exceed the infrastructure costs (construction costs, operating costs). However, there are options to differentiate the fees according to time and emissions, as well as additional control options (see options for sensitive zones).
  • Use of the income
    • The Member States decide how the revenue is used. In order to ensure the expansion of the transport network as a whole, the revenue from charges should be used to benefit the transport sector and to optimize the overall transport system.
  • Options for sensitive areas
    • Surcharges of 25% are possible for sensitive areas. The additional income must be used as cross-financing for the expansion of the rail network . This should enable traffic control (especially transit traffic ), especially in ecologically sensitive areas, such as across the Alps . With this in mind, the introduction of a new control instrument, the so-called Alpine transit exchange , is currently being discussed.
    • The directive allows the non-discriminatory application of additional measures with which time- and location-related traffic congestion is counteracted and environmental impacts, including poor air quality, are combated.

Future developments

The original goal of introducing the full cost truth in road freight transport was not achieved. According to the guideline, however, the EU Commission must present a generally applicable, transparent and comprehensible model for evaluating all external costs including environmental, noise, traffic jam and health costs by June 10, 2008 at the latest, "after examining all options, which future calculations of infrastructure charges should be used. ”The model should be applicable to all modes of transport.

See also

Web links

References

  1. ↑ Directive 93/89 / EEC (road cost directive)
  2. ↑ Directive 99/62 / EC (Road Cost Directive 1999)
  3. ↑ EU Green Book Fair and Efficient Prices in Transport 1995. Accessed on April 13, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Fair and efficient prices in transport - Political concepts for internalising the external costs of transport in the European Union - Green Paper / * COM / 95/0691 ENDG * /
  5. ^ White Paper on Pricing Traffic 1998. Accessed on April 13, 2020 .
  6. ^ White Paper - Fair prices for the use of infrastructure: A graduated concept for a common framework for transport infrastructure charges in the EU
  7. ^ White Book - The European Transport Policy until 2010: Setting the course for the future
  8. ↑ Communication from the EU Parliament on Austrian ecopoints
  9. ↑ Press release EU Parliament December 2005
  10. ↑ Directive 2006/38 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 17, 2006 amending Directive 1999/62 / EC on the collection of charges for the use of certain traffic routes by heavy commercial vehicles (Road Costs Directive 2006) , amendments page 9.