Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an ecopoint system applicable to heavy goods vehicles travelling through Austria for the year 2004
Date: 2001-12-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Austria, Union transit, carriage of goods, combustion gases, tradeable emission permit

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an ecopoint
system applicable to heavy goods vehicles travelling through Austria for the year 2004

(2002/C 103 E/18)

COM(2001) 807 final — 2001/0310(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 21 December 2001)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(5) An ecopoint system should therefore be established for the

year 2004,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 71(1) thereof,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Article 1

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1) Article 11(2)(a) of Protocol 9 to the Act of Accession of the
Republic of Austria to the European Union (1) stipulates
that the ecopoint system will lapse on 31 December 2003.

(2) Paragraph 58 of the conclusions of the Laeken European
Council of 14 and 15 December 2001 requested that the
ecopoint system be extended as a temporary solution. This
extension is in keeping with policy on environmental
protection in vulnerable areas such as the Alpine region.

(3) This measure is required while waiting for the adoption of
the framework proposal on charging for the use of infra-
in the White Paper on European
structure, as set out
transport policy for 2010 (2).

(4) In accordance with Article 2 of Council Decision
1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures
for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the
Commission (3), measures for the implementation of this
Regulation should be adopted by use of
the advisory
procedure provided for in Article 3 of that Decision.

(1) OJ C 241, 29.8.1994.
(2) COM(2001) 370 of 12 September 2001.
(3) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions
shall apply:

(a) vehicle — ‘vehicle’ as defined in Article 2 of Regulation

(EEC) No 881/92 (4);

(b) international carriage — ‘international carriage’ as defined

in Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 881/92;

(c) transit traffic through Austria — traffic through Austrian
territory from a point of departure to a point of arrival,
both of which lie outside Austria;

(d) lorry — all motor vehicles with a maximum authorised
weight of more than 7.5 tonnes registered in a Member
State and designed for the transport of freight and all trailer
or semi-trailer combinations with a maximum authorised
weight of more than 7.5 tonnes drawn by a motor vehicle
with a maximum authorised vehicle weight not exceeding
7.5 tonnes registered in a Member State;

(e) transit of goods by road through Austria — transit traffic
of lorries through Austria, whether such vehicles are loaded
or empty;

(f) bilateral

journeys — international

journeys on routes
carried out by a given vehicle where the point of
departure or point of arrival is located in Austria and the
respective point of arrival or point of departure is located
in another Member State and where unloaded journeys are
carried out in conjunction with these journeys.

Article 2

This regulation shall apply to the carriage of goods by road on
journeys carried out within the territory of the Community.

(4) OJ L 95, 9.4.1992, p. 1.

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Article 3

Article 4

1.
the
As long as the provisions of Article 3(2) apply,
Member States, under their mutual cooperation arrangements,
shall
take any necessary measures compatible with the EC
Treaty against misuse of the ecopoint system.

2.
Hauliers with a Community authorisation issued by the
competent authorities in Austria shall not be entitled to carry
goods on international
journeys where neither loading nor
unloading takes place in Austria. All such journeys involving
transit
to the
through Austria shall, however, be subject
provisions of Article 3.

To the

extent necessary,

3.
any monitoring methods
including electronic systems relating to the implementation
of Article 3 shall be decided in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 5.

Article 5

1.
The Commission shall be assisted by a committee
composed of the representatives of the Member States and
chaired by the representative of the Commission.

2. Where reference is made to this article,
the advisory
procedure laid down in Article 3 of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall apply,
in compliance with Article 7(3) and Article 8
thereof.

Article 6

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publi-
cation in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
applicable in all Member States.

1.
For journeys which involve transit of goods by road
through Austria, the regime established for journeys on own
account and for journeys for hire or reward under the First
Council Directive of 23 July 1962 (1) and Council Regulation
(EEC) No 881/92 shall apply subject to the provisions of this
Article.

From 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2004,

2.
following provisions shall apply:

the

(a) The total NOx emissions from lorries crossing Austria in
transit shall be set according to the table in Annex 1.

(b) The value of the total NOx emissions from lorries shall be
set according to an ecopoint system. Under that system any
lorry crossing Austria in transit shall require a number of
to its NOx emissions (authorised
ecopoints equivalent
under the Conformity of Production (COP) value or type-
approval value). The method of calculation and adminis-
tration of such points is described in Annex 2.

(c) Austria shall

issue and make available in good time the
the
lorries

the administration of
to Annex 2,

for

ecopoint cards required for
ecopoint
system, pursuant
crossing Austria in transit.

(d) The ecopoints shall be distributed by the Commission
among Member States in line with provisions to be estab-
lished in accordance with paragraph 4.

If the framework proposal on charging for the use of
3.
infrastructure is not adopted by then, the terms of paragraph
2 will be extended for one further year and thereafter,
if
necessary, for a second year at most.

acting

The Commission,

laid down in Article 5,

in accordance with the
4.
procedure
shall adopt detailed
measures concerning the procedures relating to the ecopoint
system,
issues
the distribution of ecopoints and technical
concerning the application of this Article.

(1) OJ 70, 6.8.1962, p. 2005/62.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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ANNEX 1

referred to in Article 3(2)(a) of this Regulation

Year

1991

2004

Percentage of ecopoints

Ecopoints for EU-15

100 %

40 %

23 306 580

9 422 488

ANNEX 2

CALCULATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF ECOPOINTS

referred to in Article 3(2)(b) of this Regulation

The following documents must be submitted by the driver of a lorry each time it crosses the Austrian border (in

1.
any direction):

(a) a document showing the COP value for NOx emissions from the vehicle in question;

(b) a valid points card issued by the competent authority.

Concerning (a):

In the case of heavy goods vehicles registered after 1 October 1990, the document showing the COP value must be a
certificate issued by the competent authority giving details of an official COP value for NOx emissions or the type-
approval certificate showing the date of approval and value established for type-approval purposes. In the latter case the
COP value will be the type-approval value plus 10 %. Once such a value has been determined for a vehicle it cannot be
changed during the vehicle's life.

In the case of vehicles registered before 1 October 1990 and vehicles for which no certificate is submitted, a COP value
of 15,8 g/kWh will be set.

Concerning (b):

The points card contains a certain number of points and is endorsed as follows on the basis of the COP value for the
vehicles in question:

1. Each g/kWh of NOx, calculated according to paragraph 1a, counts as one point.

2. NOx emission values are rounded up to the next full point if the decimal is 0,5 or more, otherwise they are rounded

down.

At three-month intervals the Commission, acting in compliance with the procedures laid down in Article 5,
2.
calculates the number of journeys and the average level of NOx emission from lorries and maintains statistical
records broken down according to nationality.