L 69/2
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
4.3.2022
(5)
According to the European Environment Agency’s 2020 report on air quality in Europe, road transport, in 2018, was the sector with the highest NOx emissions and the second largest emitter of black carbon pollution.
(6)
In its communication of 20 July 2016 entitled ‘A European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility’, the Commission announced that it would propose the amendment of Directive 1999/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) to enable charging also on the basis of CO2 differentiation, and the extension of some of its principles to buses and coaches as well as to passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
(7)
Taking into account the vehicle fleet renewal time and the need for the road transport sector to contribute to the Union climate and energy targets for 2030 and beyond, Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) set the CO2 emission reduction targets for new heavy-duty vehicles for 2025 and 2030 at 15 % and respectively 30 % lower than an established average of CO2 emissions.
(8)
To establish an internal market in road transport with a level playing field, rules should be applied uniformly.
One of the main aims of this Directive is to eliminate distortions of competition between users.
(9)
Notwithstanding the importance of the road transport sector, all heavy-duty vehicles have a significant impact on road infrastructure and contribute to air pollution.
In spite of their economic and social importance, light-duty vehicles are at the origin of the majority of the negative environmental and social impacts from road transport related to emissions and congestion.
In the interest of equal treatment and fair competition, it should be ensured that vehicles so far not covered by the framework set out in Directive 1999/62/EC, in respect of tolls and user charges, are included in that framework.
The scope of that Directive should therefore be extended to heavy-duty vehicles other than those intended for the carriage of goods and to light-duty vehicles, including passenger cars.
(10)
In order to prevent traffic from switching to toll-free roads, which may have a serious impact on road safety and the optimum use of the road network, Member States should be able to levy tolls on all sections of their network of motorways.
(11)
In order to ensure the consistent, harmonised application of the infrastructure charging system across the Union and a level playing field for the freight transport market, it is important that different tolling arrangements calculate costs in a similar way.
Taking into account the fact that existing concession contracts may contain different arrangements than the ones set out in this Directive, Member States should, in order to ensure the financial viability of existing concession contracts, be allowed to exempt them from certain obligations set out in this Directive, until those contracts are substantially amended.
Member States may equally opt to seek to bring existing concession contracts into line with changes to the Union or national regulatory framework or to assess the possibility of applying an external-cost charge for CO2 and for air pollution and/or discounts related to those emissions, where concession tolls are not varied in accordance with this Directive.
(12)
Time-based user charges do not, by nature, accurately reflect the real costs of road use and, for similar reasons, are not effective when it comes to incentivising cleaner and more efficient operations, or reducing congestion.
Nevertheless, in order to secure user acceptance of future road charging schemes, Member States should be allowed to introduce adequate systems for the collection of charges as part of a wider package of mobility services.
Such systems should ensure a fair distribution of infrastructure costs and reflect the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
Any Member States introducing such a system should ensure that it complies with the provisions of Directive (EU) 2019/520 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6).
Due to the significant impact that they have on road infrastructure and their contribution to air pollution, the targeting of heavy-duty vehicles by accurate charging systems should be prioritised.
In particular, in order to promote cleaner and more efficient transport operations, time-based user charges should, in principle, be gradually phased out on the core trans-European transport network, since that network contains the strategically most important nodes and links in the trans-European transport network.
(4) Directive 1999/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 1999 on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures (OJ L 187, 20.7.1999, p. 42).
(5) Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 setting CO2 emission performance standards for new heavy-duty vehicles and amending Regulations (EC) No 595/2009 and (EU) No 2018/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 96/53/EC (OJ L 198, 25.7.2019, p. 202).
(6) Directive (EU) 2019/520 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating cross-border exchange of information on the failure to pay road fees in the Union (OJ L 91, 29.3.2019, p. 45).