On Wednesday 4 March, the Member States’ representatives to the EU (Coreper) approved their negotiating position on the proposed revision of the directive on road charging for heavy duty vehicles with trailers, according to these trailers’ CO2 emission class.
The EU Council considered that these measures would potentially create an additional administrative burden, increase the complexity of toll pricing, and could potentially impact the introduction of electronic toll services. Furthermore, according to the EU Council, the proposed trailer categories could have led to reduced tolls, even when combined with less modern, more CO2-emitting lorries.
“Considering the forthcoming application of CO2-based charging rules to the vehicle sub-groups, the Council has adopted a position for rapid action and clarity for both operators and administrations”, explained Cyprus’s Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Alexis Vafeades in a press release. The new rules governing road tolls until 2031 are due to come into force on 1 July (see EUROPE 13739/30).
However, the EU Council’s negotiating mandate covers clarifying the definitions relating to CO2 emissions, including ‘zero-emission’ vehicles, low-emission heavy-duty vehicles, vehicle groups, emissions reduction trajectory and reference CO2 emissions. It also wanted to specify the date from which the CO2-based variation in road charges will apply to a given sub-group of vehicles and to establish uniform implementation timetables for introducing this variation in charges.
The EU Council also invites the European Commission to assess, within two years, the possible policy options for “retrofitted” electric vehicles (where the internal combustion engine has been replaced by an electric motor).
Presented in May 2023 by the Commission (see EUROPE 13176/5), the proposal was the subject of a draft report by MEP Matteo Ricci (S&D, Italian), which aligns with the EU Council’s mandate (see EUROPE 13819/10). (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)