Annexes to COM(2012)474 - Implementation of the European Electronic Toll Service - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2012)474 - Implementation of the European Electronic Toll Service. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2012)474  |
| date | August 30, 2012 |
– A Coordination Group of the bodies entitled to certify the “conformity to specifications” or “suitability for use” of EETS equipment has been set up in compliance with Article 18 of Decision 2009/750/EC. This Group will develop guidance documents to be submitted for approval to the Toll Committee which will set common procedures for carrying "suitability for use" tests. Fourteen certification bodies from six Member States are interested in being formally notified to the Commission.
– Professional stakeholders are becoming increasingly aware of their respective rights and obligations[14]. They generally agree that momentum has been gained to put into place EETS and many elements essential to EETS have already been established. Manufacturers are increasingly contacting the Commission services for additional information or clarifications. Contractual negotiations between potential EETS providers and toll chargers have started.
– To gain experience in technical as well as contractual interoperability, some toll chargers have established joint ventures offering to customers on-board units that can be used on all the networks under their responsibility ("EasyGo+", a contractual interoperability service currently in implementation, combining the various DSRC technologies used in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Austria and "TOLL2GO", a technical interoperability service already in operation, ensuring DSRC/satellite interoperability between Austria and Germany). Other toll chargers went even further: an agreement was found on both technical and contractual interoperability between TIS-PL and VIA-T, which allows regional service providers to offer electronic toll services covering toll domains in Spain and France.
However, a number of problems subsist:
– EETS implementation is still hampered by a lack of cooperation between the different stakeholders groups, most of whom have shown too little commitment for resolving problems of common interest. Efforts by Member States have been limited so far at the level of separate national interoperability, which is now implemented in most countries with electronic tolling systems. A step change in the sense of pan-European interoperability is required for a timely delivery of EETS at fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory access conditions.
– Most Member States still have to complete the national framework so that potential EETS providers know how to register in practice and where to complain in case of obstructive behaviour of Toll Chargers. As of now, only two of the Member States having electronic road toll systems have setup a Conciliation Body where such complaints can be addressed[15]. Discussions are still on-going in all the other Member States with a view to finalising the corresponding legal and regulatory framework before October 2012.
– Some Toll Chargers are proposing a contractual clause which automatically ends the contract if the EETS provider has not reached full European coverage within 24 months[16]. Such a clause sets a considerable business risk and discourages potential EETS providers. This was not the legislator's intention, which was to prevent that an EETS Provider would concentrate only on the most profitable markets and unduly delay its coverage of the others. The loss of the status of EETS provider depends on public authorities and should be decided only if there is no genuine intention from the part of the concerned organisation to reach full European coverage.
– The aggregated costs for assessing interoperability and carrying out “suitability for use” tests required by certain Toll Chargers from an EETS Provider may constitute a barrier to business entry. But as explained before, professional stakeholders should use the options offered in the Eurovignette legislation to mitigate the possible financial risks of Toll Chargers and EETS Providers.
– A number of running concession contracts may need to be amended. For instance Toll Chargers may need to adjust the toll rates to be able to finance the necessary investments they must do to adapt their infrastructure. In the case of road tolling, concession contracts for levying tolls are between a Toll Charger and the Member State or an agency working under direct control of public authorities. Therefore the responsibility for making possible the implementation of EETS on their territory lies primarily with the Member State concerned who can amend the existing concession contracts if necessary.
4. Next Steps
In order to facilitate the timely introduction of EETS by Member States and the industry and to promote the necessary cooperation as requested by the European Parliament and the Council, the following actions are necessary:
(1) Accelerate a uniform implementation of the decision
– The Commission and the Member States will intensify the works of the Toll Committee set up by Directive 2004/52/EC. Member States should fulfil as a matter of urgency their obligations provided for by Decision 2009/750/EC regarding in particular the designation of their national Conciliation Body (Article 10). The Commission will launch infringement procedures where appropriate.
– The Commission will monitor the implementation of EETS by the Member States also in the light of its Guidance Note on the interpretation of concepts referred to in Annex I of Decision 2009/750/EC. The Member States and national conciliation bodies should use the note in their contacts with Toll Chargers and potential EETS providers. The latter should also use it in their contractual negotiations. Furthermore the Commission will create a European network of national Conciliation Bodies which would contribute to securing an EU-wide level playing field for the EETS professional stakeholders.
– Members States shall see to it that contractual clauses automatically ending the contract if an EETS Provider does not reach full European coverage within 24 months are not allowed. Such clauses go against the intended useful effect of Decision 2009/750/EC. If such practice is kept, the Commission will launch infringement proceedings.
– The Commission will take an initiative using the structure established by the current EETS legislation to develop a uniform set of protocols for “suitability for use” tests, including on the security aspects, in order to limit the discrepancy of these protocols between toll Chargers, which would in turn contribute to reducing the costs charged to EETS Providers.
– The Commission will set-up with the stakeholders a comprehensive information sharing resource platform, providing up-to-date information on EETS through a single point of access on the Internet. This platform will also contribute to the exchange of best practice and dissemination of up-to-date information on EETS among professional stakeholders.
(2) A stepwise approach
As a first step towards full European interoperability, Member States with significant volume of traffic on the trans-European network should encourage the cross-border interoperability of their electronic road toll systems. These early deployment project(s), on a regional basis, will be promoted in a way so that they can be extended to cover all the electronically tolled road infrastructures in the EU as soon as possible at a later stage and can provide concrete experiences in solving practical EETS issues.
Attention should be paid to the involvement of a sufficiently wide set of Toll Chargers and Member States to ensure these projects are scalable to the entire Union. The knowledge gained in implementing these regional projects fully complying with the single contract/single on-board unit principle should be shared effectively across all the stakeholders.
The Commission is willing to provide a technical assistance to such regional initiatives and is ready to examine the provision of possible financial support to large scale regional projects in the context of the TEN-T programme. Electronic toll systems are an integral component of the trans-European-network (Article 9(3) of Decision 661/2010/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on Union Guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network[17]) and therefore eligible to EU financial support. The Commission will consider including in the next TEN-T work programme a section on EETS and such regional projects. Depending on the adoption of the work programme, a call for proposals could be published by the end of the year.
(3) Closely monitor development and take new initiatives if need be
Member States when starting new projects or renewing concessions should systematically check and ensure compliance with EETS requirements. When adopting its opinion on new tolling arrangements which are notified in the framework of Article 7h of Directive 1999/62/EC (Eurovignette), the Commission will issue a negative opinion if they do not include a fully EETS compatible system.
If disputes between toll chargers and EETS Providers cannot be solved by the Conciliation Body, the Commission will examine the points of contention and whether the arrangements between toll chargers and their existing local/national service providers are discriminatory in comparison with those proposed to EETS providers.
Lastly, it can be noted that the White Paper on transport has indicated that if, despite all these efforts, its assessment shows that no substantial progress has been achieved by mid-2013, with no availability of an interoperable electronic toll service on a substantial scale, the Commission reserves its right to present a new initiative to the European Parliament and the Council.
The Commission reaffirms its commitment to take all the necessary measures to facilitate the establishment of full technical and operational interoperability of European electronic road tolling systems. Together with stakeholders, it will redouble efforts to achieve availability to all interested road users of a genuine European-wide electronic toll service[18].
The European industry is at present a global front-runner in road charging and tolling equipment. European companies keep winning tolling contracts over the world [19]. EETS can facilitate the introduction and roll-out on a global scale of new products such as interoperable on-board units, combining the digital tachograph and tolling with other intelligent transport systems applications. This in turn may give rise to completely new services and applications, again with a potentially global market, which will contribute to the creation of growth and jobs in the European economy.
[1] OJ L 166, 30.4.2004, p. 124.
[2] OJ L 268, 13.10.2009, p. 11.
[3] Today’s road use charging schemes have to put in place costly and cumbersome solutions to deal with occasional users, which are usually not treated on a par with regular users.
[4] Directive 1999/62/EC of the European parliament and of the Council on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, OJ L 187, 20.7.1999, p. 42-50.
[5] Recital 31 and Article 7 j introduced by Directive 2011/76/EU.
[6] For instance extensive studies by Expert Groups and the CESARE projects.
[7] AETIS: Association of Electronic Toll and Interoperable Services established 22 December 2011.
[8] FR, BE, HU and DK.
[9] Goal #10: Move towards full application of “user pays” and “polluter pays” principles …to generate revenues and ensure financing for future transport investments.
Page 15: Externalities (noise, pollution...) could be internalised by RUC: 1 Proposal for Euro-vignette amendment, 2. Further action will examine the gradual phasing in of a mandatory harmonised internalisation system for commercial vehicles on the entire inter-urban network…
Action #32: An EU framework for urban road user charging.
Action #39: Smart pricing and taxation / Evaluate existing car road charging schemes…/ Proceed with the internalisation of external costs…
[10] Members of the Stockholm Group are ministries or national authorities from AT, DE, DK, FI, FR, HU, IE, NL, PL, SE, SI, UK as well as CH, NO.
[11] Standards CEN EN 15509, EN 15876, CEN/ISO EN 14906, TS 14907 and TS 25110.
[12] Standard CEN/ISO EN 12855.
[13] http://ec.europa.eu/transport/publications/doc/2011-eets-european-electronic-toll-service_en.pdf
[14] Professional stakeholders were consulted in 2011 by a questionnaire survey and a conference.
[15] The national Conciliation Body’s main mission is to verify, upon request, that fair and non-discriminatory contractual conditions are granted to all the EETS Providers on any EETS toll domain on the Member State’s territory, i.e. that the contractual conditions required by a Toll Chargers on different EETS Providers are non-discriminatory and a fair reflection of the costs and risks of the parties to the contract.
[16] Article 4(1) of Decision 2009/750/EC on the rights and obligations of EETS Providers provides that EETS Providers shall cover all the EETS domains in the Community within 24 months following their registration.
[17] OJ L 204 of 5.8.2010, p. 1.
[18] The EETS legislation ensures that road users' fundamental rights, in particular the protection of personal data, are fully respected.
[19] E.g. recently Australia, Belarus, Canada, Israel