Charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures: vehicle taxation

The European Parliament adopted, by 492 votes to 108, with 82 abstentions, following the consultation procedure, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, as regards certain provisions on vehicle taxation.

The proposal seeks to amend Directive 1999/62/EC so as to allow Member States to gradually reduce annual taxes applied to heavy goods vehicles having a maximum permissible laden weight of above 12 tonnes.

Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to amendments.

More flexibility for Member States: Members seek to offer Member States more scope to reduce their vehicle tax rates in order to support the introduction of distance-based tolls and avoid any possible administrative burdens. To this end, they propose to reduce the minimum rates of taxation in a single step, starting on 1 January 2024, instead of the gradual reduction of five steps as proposed by the Commission. This would give Member States as much flexibility as possible to decide on the level of reduction and the speed of its implementation.

According to the amended text, the gradual reduction of the vehicle tax on heavy goods vehicles applied by a Member State shall be fully compensated by additional revenues generated by its toll system.

Polluting vehicles: one amendment also stressed that Member States should be encouraged to dismantle any contradictory tax incentives that discourage low-emission mobility and subsidise inefficient and polluting vehicles, like company diesel cars.