On Wednesday 17 April, the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union submitted to national delegations a second draft compromise, of which EUROPE has received a copy, on the revision of Directive 1999/62/EC on road infrastructure user charges, in which it maintains its approach in this matter.
The suggestions that Bucharest is pushing differ relatively little from the first draft compromise tabled on 1 April and detailed in our columns (see EUROPE 12227/5). The EU Council's ‘land transport’ working group discussions on this first text revealed, not surprisingly, a desire on the part of the Member States for a more flexible approach (see EUROPE 12232/17).
Thus, in this second draft compromise, the Romanian Presidency recommends the same measures as those already outlined at the beginning of the month with regard to the end of time-based user charges (such as vignette) for heavy-duty vehicles (maximum permissible mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes), minibuses and light commercial vehicles.
It should be noted that the current monthly, bimonthly and ten-day rates of user charges compared to the annual rates for light-duty vehicles are here revised downwards compared to the first draft compromise, but remain higher than what the Commission proposes in its proposal under the first ‘mobility’ package (see EUROPE 11799/6). Bucharest also suggests that States should have the option of applying only the annual rates for vehicles registered in their territory.
The Romanian Presidency of the EU Council also proposes that, 4 years after the entry into force of the text, Member States levying tolls should apply an external-cost charge to heavy-duty vehicles on certain parts of the network when the environmental damage caused by these vehicles is greater than the average damage caused by these same vehicles on other roads. In the first compromise text submitted, it was intended not to make this fee mandatory in this particular case.
It is further argued that an optional mark-up, as proposed by the Commission, on the infrastructure charge ('toll' type) levied on specific road sections that are regularly congested or whose use is harmful to the environment cannot be introduced on roads subject to a congestion charge or an external-cost charge. Similarly, Bucharest suggests that the variation in the price of the infrastructure charge, in order to reduce congestion, cannot be applied if a congestion charge or an external-cost charge is already applied on a given section.
Finally, it should be noted that some new recommendations appear, which concern the variation in the price of infrastructure charges for heavy-duty vehicles with regard to their CO2 emissions.
Agenda. Discussions will continue in the EU Council working group after the Easter break. The Romanian Presidency of the EU Council will try to obtain a political agreement (‘general approach’) for the June ‘transport’ Council meeting.
The European Parliament, for its part, adopted its position at first reading on this text last October (see EUROPE 12125/2). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)