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European electronic toll service

Overall state of Play

Evaluation finalised: SWD(2017)192, SWD(2017)193, 31 May 2017
Commission proposal: adopted on 31 May 2017, COM(2017)280
Legal Act: adopted Directive (EU) No 2019/520

Summary:

The evaluation of the existing legal framework (Directive 2004/52/EC on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems in the Community and Commission Decision 2009/750/EC on the definition of the European Electronic Toll Service and its technical elements) showed that it largely failed to achieve its objectives. In particular, the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) only covers a few countries; EETS providers are blocked or slowed down in their expansion into new markets by numerous market entry barriers and hurdles imposed by the EU legislation itself.

In a proposal to recast Directive 2004/52/EC and in a parallel draft Decision revising Commission Decision 2009/52/EC, the Commission proposed provisions to facilitate the operation of the EETS by addressing the obstacles at national and EU level, as well as by better specifying and protecting the rights of EETS providers vis-à-vis toll chargers and Member States. The Commission proposed to put in place an automatic mechanism for the exchange of information on the identity of toll offenders, so as to enhance enforcement of electronic tolling schemes. It also suggested some changes to the technological requirements set by the legislation, both to facilitate the provision of the EETS in specific situations (e.g. light vehicles) and to allow users to benefit from the EETS in an enlarged number of types of electronic tolling schemes.

The Commission proposal was adopted by the legislators in 2019.

Estimated savings and benefits

The initiative is expected to bring cumulated net savings in regulatory burden, between now and 2025, of €254 million. This figure results from a cumulated saving for road users of €370 million, cumulated savings for EETS providers of €10 million, and cumulated costs for toll chargers €126 million.

The main benefits result from the reduction in the number of on-board units, contracts and invoices with which every user has to deal to be able to pay tolls electronically across the European Union.