COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems in the Community

2003/0081 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems in the Community

1- BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council (document COM(2003) 132 final - 2003/0081(COD)): // 25 April 2003

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: // 29 October 2003

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions: // 20 November 2003

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament (first reading) delivered on: // 18 December 2003

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: // N/A

Date of adoption by the Council of the common position: // 22 March 2004

2- PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION'S PROPOSAL

In its White Paper on transport policy, [1] the Commission stresses the need for a European Directive on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems put in place within the Community and in neighbouring countries. The primary objective is to avoid major difficulties which drivers, and more particularly HGV drivers, are likely to encounter in the years to come by virtue of the multiplicity of incompatible national systems, not to mention the risk of finding themselves in involuntary breach of the national legislation of countries other than their own. A further objective is to safeguard the proper functioning of the internal market by preventing the erection of new technological barriers between Member States.

[1] Commission White Paper of 12 September 2001: "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide", COM(2001) 370 final.

To that end, the Commission has presented this proposal for a Directive, which is aimed at:

- ensuring interoperability between the various systems, both existing and future,

- proposing a single technical solution for future systems,

- setting up a European Electronic Road Toll System by 2006.

3- COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

The common position includes in the Council's general approach and in the first reading vote in the European Parliament most of the European Parliament and Council amendments, as adopted on 5 and 18 December 2003.

It differs from the initial proposal put forward by the Commission in the following two respects:

- The common position proposes that steps be taken to maintain the coexistence of the 5.8 GHz microwave technology alongside the satellite technology, whereas the Commission's initial proposal advocated the imposition of satellite technology as a single solution for the future. Since the tabling of the original proposal, the position with regard to microwave technologies has been clarified, and the industry has made significant progress towards achieving standardisation and guaranteeing compliance with the Single Market's rules on open competition. In the light of progress to date, this technology can now be usefully retained.

- The common position alters the Commission's initial timetable. It represents a compromise between Parliament's position and the position expressed by the majority of the Council. Henceforth the European Electronic Road Toll System will be deployed in accordance with the following timetable.

1. All the components making up this service will need to be defined by 1 July 2006 (Parliament would have preferred 1 January 2007).

2. The obligation to provide the service will apply to lorries and coaches no later than three years after the date mentioned in point 1 below, i.e. 1 July 2009 (Parliament would have preferred a time limit of two years beyond the date indicated in point 1, i.e. 1 January 2009).

3. This obligation will apply to the other types of vehicle five years after the date mentioned in point 1, i.e. 1 July 2011 (Parliament would have preferred a time limit of five years beyond the date indicated in point 1, i.e. 1 January 2011).

4- CONCLUSIONS

The Commission considers that the common position proposed to the Council on 22 March 2004 is faithful to the aims and spirit of the Commission's proposal. The Commission can therefore approve the common position.

The common position includes, either in letter or spirit, virtually all the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at first reading. There is consequently a high level of agreement between the Council, Parliament and the Commission on the key aspects of the proposal. These three institutions have worked very actively throughout the procedure and have ultimately succeeded in producing a text that strikes a very good balance.

Accordingly, the Commission invites the European Parliament to approve the common position. The work which the experts from the Member States and the neighbouring countries will need to accomplish in order to set up the European Electronic Road Toll System in the context of the Regulatory Committee will take a long time, and it is important for this work to be carried out through the Regulatory Committee responsible for governing this sector in the years to come.