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IRU enraged by Austrian tolls
Page 8
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The International Road Transport Union says it will continue to lobby the European Union in a bid to get Austria to drop its "discriminatory" road tolls on trucks transiting the country; it says these should end by 2003.
The IRU, which Is the umbrella organisation for haulage trade bodies around the world, has long complained that Austria's Ecopoint toll-regime contravenes EU law because It only imposes tolls on foreign-registered trucks.
In 2000 the European Court of Justice agreed and ordered Austria to stop discriminating against foreign hauliers using its strategically important Brenner motorway—but the charges remain.
For Austrians this matter has become politically important. The country is one of the main trans-Alpine routes, particularly between Northern It* and Southern Germany, so it is crossed by a huge number of trucks. Austria had threatened to block EU enlargement rather than give up its toils, which are said to reduce traffic levels.
Hubert Unssen, Head of the IRU Permanent Delegation to the EU, says: "The unacceptable Ecopoint system is only the tip of the Iceberg—Austria's whole Alpine transit policy is a muddle. Austria's threat to block EU enlargement if It did not get its own way over Ecopoint prolongation merely added Insult to Injury and should be resisted."
• The IRU has been forced to suspend its TIR carnets scheme for operators heading into the Russian Federation. This follows a decision by the Russian Guaranteeing Association ASMAP's insurers to withdraw their coverage on Russian territory. This measure will come into effect from midnight on Christmas Eve.