Brussels, 08/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 July, the European Commission adopted a package of measures aimed at internalising external transport costs (congestion, pollution, accidents, etc). These measures are supposed to make transport in Europe more environmentally friendly. Entitled “Greening Transport Package”, the package is composed of five legislative proposals including revision of the Eurovignette directive (directive on taxation of heavy vehicles for use of certain infrastructure), a communication of the internalisation of external costs for all modes of transport (EUROPE 9086) and a communication announcing measures for reducing wagon noise. The package also includes an inventory of measures already taken for making transport more environmentally friendly, as well as a communication on greener transport, foremost in all the adopted texts. In this package, the Commission has counted on economic instruments encouraging drivers to use the routes with the least traffic, and the most silent and least polluting means of transport. Other measures will follow during the next 18 months.
Eurovignette. As foreseen (see EUROPE 9647), review of this 2004 directive brings in two new criteria (congestion and pollution) for calculating heavy goods vehicle (HGV) charges and extends the scope of the former directive beyond the trans-European network. Charges were hitherto limited to meeting the needs of the infrastructure only. Member states will now have the choice of levying charges on HGVs in relation to external costs (indirect costs) entailed in terms of congestion and pollution (noise and air pollution). The directive will apply to vehicles of over 3.5 tonnes in weight and states will have until the end of 2010 to come into line with the provisions. The amount of charges should be determined by an independent national authority according to a common method of cost calculation (maximum values having been established by the Commission on the basis of a study published in January 2008). Contained in Annex III of the directive, the maximum values for charges are in relation to time (day/night), traffic saturation (peak or off peak), the kind of road (suburban/intra-urban) and the EURO category of the vehicles concerned. For example, for noise pollution on suburban roads during the day, this maximum value is 1.1 centime per kilometre. For air pollution, costs vary between 16 centimes per kilometre for a EURO 0 class (the most polluting) lorry on a suburban road, and 2 centimes for the HGV of EURO V category on interurban roads. For congestion, charges will be between 65 centimes/km for a lorry travelling at peak hours on a suburban road, and 0 centime for a lorry on the same road during off peak periods. The amounts will be periodically revised and updated where necessary.
Receipts from these charges should finance projects for sustainable mobility such as research and development on clean vehicles, plans for reducing pollution or building alternative infrastructure. Charges should be levied by automatic systems so that the traffic flow is not slowed down. The proposal also authorises a certain increase in tolls in mountainous areas in order to finance priority projects of the trans-European network. The Commission considers that the measures could contribute to an 8% reduction of CO2 emissions. In 2013, it will present a report examining the possibilities of introducing compulsory minimum charges.
Two key ideas were at the basis of the present proposal. On one hand, encouraging carriers to make the most effective use of the cost of their journey by choosing the least congested routes or the periods when there is the least traffic and, on the other hand, transferring part of the indirect costs generated by transport from the taxpayer to the polluter. Some, however, comment that the Commission has shown itself to be quite cautious in presenting this proposal. Firstly, as far as the allocation of proceeds from charges is concerned, although the text provides for charges levied on external costs to finance measures to make transport more sustainable, there is nothing to guarantee that charges are not reallocated to the traditional road transport sector. Member states will in fact remain free to decide on how income from charges is broken down. On the subject of charges, the road sector will pay neither the cost of accidents nor costs relating to climate change, to the great disappointment of the rail sector (which considers it is penalised by the greenhouse gas emissions quota trading system applied in the electrical sector). The Commission nonetheless stresses that the directive proposed is only one of the instruments which, through levying charges, aims to better manage the flow of freight transport by road. The cost of CO2 emissions being more closely linked to fuel consumption than to the use of road infrastructure, it will be the subject of a directive on taxation of fuels for which revision is foreseen for the end of this year. When it comes to the cost of accidents, which is more in relation to security than the number of kilometres covered, it should weigh more on vehicle producers. The action plan on road safety, expected for 2010, should tackle this issue.
Wagon noise. Rather than invest in anti-noise barriers (at a cost of some €150-200 million per year), the Commission wants to tackle the source of the noise by proposing to equip most freight wagons with more efficient braking systems by 2015. According to the communication, the refit will affect those freight wagons in Europe which travel more than 10,000 km annually and have a life expectancy of at least five years, that is, some 370,000 wagons. Those which do not travel 10,000 km per year only account for 3% of rail freight transport. This measure will, according to Commission calculations, reduce noise by almost 50%. Given the significant cost involved (from €200 million for the least expensive brake blocks to €1.85 billion for the most efficient systems, to which will have to be added €200-400 million in supplementary costs by 2025 for servicing and maintaining these systems), the Commission is providing for a three-stage approach to allow the sector a return on its investment. Firstly (legislative proposals will be brought forward at the review of the first rail package, scheduled before the end of the year), the Commission will bring in a system of differentiated tolls for use of the infrastructure. Infrastructure managers (currently responsible for establishing charges for the use of the infrastructure) will be able to vary duty in relation to environmental costs. The basic model will introduce three toll options: a bonus-malus system which would see quieter wagons charged less, and noisier wagons more; a bonus system where quieter wagons would be subject to lower rates with financial compensation granted by states to infrastructure managers (on condition that this aid is used solely to finance investment); and a malus system which would charge noisier wagons at a higher rate (and would thus increase the revenue of infrastructure managers). The last of the three, probably the one that would bring in most to the rail sector, was made possible by the review of the Eurovignette, given that, hitherto, directive 2001/14 of the first rail package did not allow the overall level of revenue to increase, unless similar rates were applied in competing transport modes (road). A follow-up report will be published no later than three years after the adoption of the communication. Once these measures have been applied, the Commission will bring forward proposals for the introduction of noise thresholds (review of directive 2002/49 on noise assessment) on the busiest lines and to encourage voluntary commitments from the industry.
Internalisation of external costs. At the request of the European Parliament, the Commission has attached to the package a model, in the form of a communication, for estimating external transport costs and an internalisation strategy for these costs in all transport modes. With regard to road transport, apart from the review of the Eurovignette directive, the Commission undertakes to: - present, by autumn 2008, an action plan on an intelligent transport system, followed by implementing decisions on the interoperability of electronic road toll collection and a series of technical measures (such as standards for the certification of tyres); - bring forward an urban mobility action plan, in autumn, which will consider ways to improve mobility in towns (harmonisation of urban traffic restrictions and the promotion of interoperable technologies could form part of this plan). The Commission does not rule out the differentiated toll systems' being extended to private cars, while complying with the principle of subsidiarity. Rail transport: priority will be given to noise reduction, with concrete proposals to be presented at the review of the first rail package. Air transport: apart from measures already envisaged (inclusion of aviation in the ETS by 2011 or 2012 and modulation of airport duties in line with environmental damage) the Commission is preparing a proposal (for the end of 2008) which seeks to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx). Maritime transport: working from the conclusions of the Council of March 2007, the Commission decided to give priority to solutions negotiated at international level, within the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which could, by 2009, result in action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If no progress is made through the IMO, the Commission assumes the right to propose measures at European level in 2009, such as including the maritime sector in the European emissions trading scheme. The package, which also includes an inventory of the measures taken to make transport more environmentally friendly, and the method for calculating external transport costs can be viewed at http: //ec.europa.eu/transport/greening/index_en.htm (A.By./transl.jl/rt)