The revision of the Eurovignette Directive fits within the 2015 Energy Union Strategy, in which  the Commission announced  a comprehensive road transport package promoting in particular more efficient pricing of infrastructure.

The Eurovignette Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures provides certain rules to be followed by the Member States which decide to introduce road charges (tolls or vignettes), although they are not mandatory. Together with its two updates, the regulatory framework aims at ensuring that revenues are invested in infrastructure maintenance, that discrimination on the market is prevented and that some main external costs (such as congestion, noise and air pollution) are internalised.

On 31 May 2017, within the context of the Commission’s first ‘Europe on the Move’ package, the Commission adopted the proposal for a Directive amending Directive 1999/62/EC.

The proposal would extend the scope of the Directive to cover not only heavy goods vehicles (HGV) but heavy duty vehicles (HDV) and light duty vehicles (LDV) i.e. the Directive would encompass passenger cars, minibuses and vans as well as coaches and buses. The proposal makes progress in the application of the ‘polluter pays’ and ‘user pays’ principles by gradually phasing out the use of time-based user charges (vignettes), to gradually replace time-based user charges by distance-based charges which are considered fairer, more efficient and more effective. The Commission text is also proposing to allow the application of congestion charges, on top of infrastructure charge, to address the issue of interurban congestion. On the same day, the Commission adopted a separate proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 1999/62/EC as regards certain provisions on vehicle taxation, which is based on different Treaty provisions.

The legislative proposal has been assigned to the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), which designated Christine Revault d’Allonnes Bonnefoy (S&D, France) as rapporteur. As per rule 54 of the EP Rules of Procedure, the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) was the associated committee (rapporteur: Seb Dance, S&D, UK). TRAN  Members adopted the report on 24 May 2018. The report supports the Commission’s proposal but seeks to reinforce the ‘user pays’ and ‘polluter pays’ principles in a number of areas. The Parliament at the June 2018 plenary confirmed the Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional (trilogue) negotiations. However, as discussions did not move forward in Council, which had yet to agree on its position, Parliament decided to put the TRAN committee report to the October II 2018 plenary session, with a view to consolidating Parliament’s position. The plenary adopted its first reading position on the draft rules on 25 October 2018, by 398 votes in favour, 179 against and 32 abstentions. The text adopted by the Parliament notably mentions that road charging imposed by Member States would need to become distance-based from 2023 for HDVs and larger goods vans and from end of 2027 for LDVs. Passenger cars were removed from the definition of LDVs.

After the parliamentary elections, in September 2019, the TRAN Committee designated Giuseppe Ferrandino (S&D, Italy) as rapporteur. On 9 October 2019, the TRAN Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations was announced in plenary.

On the basis of the German presidency compromise proposal of 1st December 2020, the Council adopted a negotiating mandate  that was approved by Coreper on 18 December 2020. A first adjustment introduced the possibility to exempt from charges vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes, carrying out operations to transport materials, equipment or machinery on their own account. The text also included the possibility of applying an additional toll (mark-up) on specific congested road sections, if all affected Member States agreed.

Under the Portuguese presidency in the spring 2021, interinstitutional negotiations  reached a provisional agreement on 15 June 2021.The agreed text was approved by Coreper on 30 June. EP TRAN Committee confirmed the agreement on 12 July 2021, with 28 votes for and 21 against.

While the current rules cover lorries over 3.5 tonnes, the agreement extends the scope to all heavy and light vehicles and foresees more proportionate road charges for cars, too. Strengthening the 'user/polluter pays' principle, future charges for lorries and buses will address CO2, as well as pollutant emissions.This translates into a general phase-out of vignettes for trucks on the core TEN-T network over an eight-year period and a shift to distance-based charging. Member States will also be able to set up a combined charging system incorporating distance, time, and CO2 emission criteria. An external cost charge for air pollution will be introduced for heavy goods vehicles after a period of four years following the introduction of the tolls. The revised Directive will also introduce the option to charge for congestion and charge more for travel in sensitive areas, with revenues from those additional charges used for the benefit of sustainable transport.

The Council formally adopted its position on 9 November 2021 and transmitted it to the Parliament.

The EP TRAN Committee approved the agreement on 13 January 2022 by 30 votes to 16 and 3 abstentions.

The text has been approved by the EP plenary on 17 February 2022.

The final act has been published in the Official Journal of the EU on 24 February 2022 and is already in force. Member states had two years to prepare for the application of new rules.

References:

• EP Legislative Observatory, Procedure file on a Directive on charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, 2017/0114(COD)

• Directive (EU) 2022/362 amending Directives 1999/62/EC, 1999/37/EC and (EU) 2019/520, as regards the charging of vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures
• European Commission, Proposal for a directive amending Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, COM(2017)0275
• European Economic and Social Committee, Opinion on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, as regards certain provisions on vehicle taxation, TEN/640, EESC/2017
• European Committee of the Regions, Opinion, Europe on the Move: promoting seamless mobility solutions, COTER VI/032, CDR/2018
• Council, Position of the Council at first reading, 16 November 2021
• European Commission, Communication pursuant to Article 294(6) of the TFEU concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive (...) as regards the charging of vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, 17 November 2021
• European Parliament, press release, Eurovignette: Transport MEPs clear way for plenary vote, 13 january 2022

Further reading:

• European Parliament, EPRS, Revision of the Eurovignette Directive, Briefing, EU Legislation in Progress, March 2021
• European Parliament, EPRS, Initial Appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment, Briefing, September 2017

Author: Monika Kiss, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu

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