Road transport: the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, Eurovignette

The Committee on Transport adopted the report by Mr Georg JARZEMBOWSKI (PPE, D) on the proposal for a Council directive on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures. As directive 93/89/EEC was annulled by the Court of Justice on the grounds of procedural irregularities, the committee was asked to examine a proposal by the European Commission seeking to put the charging of heavy goods vehicles and the collection of tolls and user charges on a new legal basis. In a compromise amendment, the report called on the European Commission to submit a proposal (within twelve months) on the external costs of the individual modes of transport so that they can be charged simultaneously to all modes of transport. Another compromise amendment has reduced user charges by 50% for vehicles registered in peripheral regions. Tolls have been set so that the revenue which they generate does not exceed the costs of construction, operation and development of the infrastructures for which they are charged, plus a rate of return equal to the potential return on similar investment projects. In the special case of the Brenner motorway, the Council was permitted, under the procedure laid down in the EC Treaty, to authorize the Member State concerned to increase toll charges by a cost component to help achieve and maintain a sustainable distribution of traffic in the Alpine region. Finally, another compromise amendment was adopted on the table in Annex III concerning the maximum annual rate of user charges (ecus/year) for the various categories of vehicles.�