WRITTEN QUESTION No. 965/98 by Markus FERBER to the Commission. Electronic debiting system for Eco-points
Date: 1998-03-30
Institutions: European Parliament, FERBER
Subjects: Austria, Union transit, road transport, toll, transport company, transport regulations, vehicle parts, vehicle tax

19. 11. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 354/47

Returning to the question in hand, it should be noted that ratification and implementation of the decision by the
European Radiocommunications Committee (ERC) of 1 December 1995 on the free movement of radiocom-
munications equipment throughout the ECPT countries is a matter solely for national governments, including
Russia.

However, the Commission is willing to try to encourage the Russian government to ratify this decision in the
relevant fora.

(98/C 354/84)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0965/98

by Markus Ferber (PPE) to the Commission

(30 March 1998)

Subject: Electronic debiting system for Eco-points

The windscreen of a lorry was damaged as a faulty Eco-point meter was being removed. Who is liable for

1.
compensation to the haulier?

2. What happens if a driver wishing to make only a bilateral trip, forgets to press the appropriate button on the
meter, so that points are needlessly debited? Can they be restored?

How flexibly can the state of an Eco-point account be read? Can hauliers call up the current state of their
3.
Eco-point accounts on a daily basis, and check whether the correct number of Eco-points has been debited?

4. Why does the Eco-point meter have to be fixed to the windscreen? Could it not rather be sealed to the
vehicle and fitted to another vehicle when appropriate?

5. Will  the  spot  checks  on  the  Eco-point  system,  especially  in  the  transitional  phase,  be  conducted  in  the
pettifogging manner customary for such checks in Austria?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(15 May 1998)

The Commission has not been informed of any incident where the windscreen of a lorry has been damaged

1.
by an ecotag.

2.
A driver making a bilateral journey to or from Austria who forgets to select the (cid:145)bilateral(cid:146) mode on the
ecotag (and thus leaves it in (cid:145)transit(cid:146) mode) will have ecopoints deleted from the account of the operator since the
system will register the lorry as making a transit journey.

If there are no ecopoints in the account of the operator then the lorry would be stopped by the control authorities,
as it will be designated as a lorry transiting Austria without paying ecopoints. Under such circumstances the
Commission would expect the driver not to be fined if he can prove to the satisfaction of the control authority that
a bilateral journey is being undertaken.

3.

The electronic ecopoint system enables information on the use of ecopoints to be updated every 24 hours.

The ecotag is mounted on the windscreen to enable it to be read by roadside scanner and to allow the drivers

4.
to set its mode. Its mounting is permanent since each ecotag is unique to each lorry.

5.
The Commission expects the Austrian authorities to have sufficient mobile controls to deter those wishing
to transit Austria without paying ecopoints. The Commission is confident that such controls will not be carried
out in a discriminatory way.