24/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The French Senate and National Assembly reached agreement on Thursday 23 July 2009 on the draft programming law on implementation of the “Grenelle de l'environnement” law. This law includes a new kilometre-based “eco-tax” system for heavy goods vehicles that would come into force in 2011 calculated in terms of distance driven and emissions measured by the “EURO” classification. The tax would be levied on heavy goods vehicles on the French mainland's main roads (routes nationales) and the regional roads drivers might take to avoid the charge for the main roads. The Transport and Environment (T&E) organisation has welcomed Thursday's agreement saying: “The charge is expected to reduce the total amount of lorry kilometres in France each year by 800 million, around 7 percent of the 11 billion covered by the scheme.” A charge per kilometre driven is currently levied in Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Germany. (A.By./transl.fl)