Ministers Agree on Eurovignette Road Charging Regulation Amendments

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In the final days of the Portuguese EU presidency, transport ministers agreed with members of the European Parliament revisions to Eurovignette, the rules on road charging to reduce emissions of polluting gases and infrastructure congestion.

Portugal’s minister of infrastructure and housing, Pedro Nuno Santos,  stated that the agreement “with stricter and more comprehensive rules and a new regime to tackle CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions, is a crucial element for the decarbonization of transport and the achievement of climate objectives, in line with the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement.” Santos added that concluding the negotiations on this proposal had been one of the main priorities of the Portuguese EU Council presidency.

After the directive enters into force, member states will have two years to transpose its provisions into their national legislation.

In the future, the EU will leave it up to the member states if they choose to introduce road charging as it has been up until now. The difference will be that the countries who choose to charge, will have to respect certain common rules set out in the Eurovignette directive

The EU aims to ensure that national charging does not discriminate against international traffic or distort competition between transport operators.

Under the newly agreed rules, tolls based on distance traveled and time-based user charges will be changed. In addition, tolls or user charges will be differentiated, taking into consideration their environmental performance.

Source: Euractiv