Brussels, 22/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the Commission is to decide, during its weekly meeting, not to reduce the number of ecopoints that should be granted to Member States for the year 2002. Its decision will be made on the basis of the opinion from the Ecopoint Committee which, at its meeting last Thursday, considered by qualified majority (with only Austria voting against) that the data provided by Austria on journeys by heavy vehicles across Austrian territory was mistaken. The Commission will therefore share out one million ecopoints, that it was keeping back pending its decision, between the Member States.
We recall that heavy vehicle transit traffic (vehicles weighing over 7.5 tonnes) through Austria is governed by a system of ecopoints that aims to restrict the number of lorries crossing the country. In addition to the annual reduction in the number of ecopoints, the system provides for an additional reduction mechanism, the "108% clause". If the total number of transit journeys carried out over one year is higher than 108% of the total for the reference year (1991), that is above 1,610,172 transit journeys, the number of ecopoints granted to the Member States is reduced for the following year. For the year 2001, Austria counted 1,640,416 transit journeys and therefore considers that the 108% clause was exceeded. The Commission considers that, out of this number, 162,892 trips cannot be considered as transit journeys. Counting "only" 1,477,524 transit journeys, the Commission considers that the 108% clause was not exceeded in 2001 and that the full number of ecopoints must be granted in 2002.