Brussels, 9/02/2007 (Agence Europe): Before 10 June 2008, the Commission will have to present its report on the external costs of transport, which could then serve as the basis for future calculations of infrastructure prices, and for the analysis of the impact of the internalisation of these costs. The study is being conducted in all the EU-27 states, as well as in Norway and Switzerland. The first meeting between participants in the road transport sector is scheduled for 15 March.
The aim of the future report, foreseen by the directive on the taxation of heavy weights for the use of certain infrastructures (2006/38), is the revision of current pay toll strategies for the use of transport infrastructures (the use of the pay toll system as a tool for the internalisation of external costs in the different transport branches), as well as the analysis of the effects of internalisation. The aim of this possible internalisation, envisaged in the Commission's Green Book of 20 December 1995 (European Commission (95)691) would be to spread the external costs provoked by the transport sector (ie costs linked to congestion, to pollution, and even to accidents) to all road users in order to encourage them to use the roads more efficiently and judiciously.
“What the Commission is doing now, is examining the different scenarios and exploring all the options” which could be applied, Huib van Essen from the Dutch organisation CE Delft (which is leading the analysis for the Commission's DG Transport) said to EUROPE. Internalisation doesn't assume, however, an automatic increase in costs for private individuals, although everything depends on the scenarios chosen. “Internalisation assumes that users pay the costs until now imposed on companies” he explained. An idea would be, for example, to cover all the roads in a similar way, instead of charges being differentiated according to country as happens now. According to Mr van Essen, another option would be “to impose higher charges on heavy weights, or on the most polluting cars. (aby)