Sustainable Transport: EU Commission Plans 'Green Toll' for Trucks

The News

The EU Commission plans to charge users of transport with the external costs of traffic (i.e. noise, damage to the environment, accidents, traffic jams etc.). To this end, the Commission presented a Greening Transport Package and a Communication on the Internalisation of External Effects (COM (2008) 435 final) in July 2008. The Commission proposes a system of road charges for trucks heavier than 3.5t. The actual charge depends on daytime, place and the volume of traffic. A standardized method of calculation for external costs of traffic was also developed.
The Commission envisages a system which enables traffic experts all over Europe to precisely calculate external effects and to pass these costs on to the polluter. According to the model suggested, traffic users would have to pay less in regions with little environmental impairment and vice versa.

The Background

For years the EU has been planning to introduce a standardized calculation of external costs of traffic. The intensive use of the European road network not only affects the quality of road infrastructure but also entails negative effects on health and the environment, according to the Commission. These unwanted side-effects of traffic lead to costs so far not covered by the market price for the use of the European road network. Instead, they are financed by society. In the future, the Commission therefore wants to apply the “polluter pays principle”, shifting the costs for negative external effects from society directly to the actual polluter.

So far, no coherent calculation method existed. The “Eurovignette-Directive” introduced in 1999 (directive 1999/62/EC) still abstains from charging tolls for lorries exceeding 3,5 t. In spring 2006 two additional amendments to the directive again failed to bring agreement on this issue. Current legislation thus only allows for charging fees on the abrasion of road infrastructure but not on negative external effects. However, the plan for the Eco-toll was never abandoned: the Commission was asked to present a standardized calculation method by summer 2008. The proposals presented in the meantime by the new European Commissioner for Transport, Antonio Tajani, confront Europe-wide unanimous criticism by industry associations. They fear massive economic repercussions on the logistics and transport sector and estimate that the price for a lorry drive on the motorway might increase by 65 eurocent per kilometre. The Commission estimates merely a 4-5 cent increase per kilometre.

The Road-Map

At EU level the proposals for an Eco-toll are decided under the co-decision procedure, which means that both the Council as well as the European Parliament (EP) are involved in the decision-making process. The Communication of the Commission suggesting the amendment of the “Eurovignette” Directive was sent to the Council and the European Parliament on 11 July 2008. Within the EP, the Committee on Transport and Tourism chaired by Paolo Costas (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe/ ALDE) is responsible for discussing and drafting a common position. There will be a first discussion within the Council in October 2008. The EP’s first reading of and vote on the legislative proposal is currently scheduled for March next year.

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