EU opts for standard toll
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Martial Tardy • EU Transport commissioner Neil Kinnock has promised European transport ministers that he will table a strategy on electronic tolling to allow operators to use just one electronic device across the EU.
"We don't want a situation where cars and lorries would need to have 20 transponders on board," says Dutch transport minis ter Anne-Marie Jorritisma. Two incompatible systems already exist in France.
Several EU states, including Britain, Austria, Holland, Germany and Sweden, are developing electronic road pricing systems, while others have opted for modernising conventional toll-collecting transponders.
The European Committee for Standardisation (ECS) has been working on the issue and Kinnock expects it will agree on a solution that would work across the EU within three months.
Kinnock stresses that it is up to individual member states to decide on whether to impose electronic tolls on their territory. But Jorritisma says: "It should be possible to collect tolls in all EU member states with one stardardised vehicle apparatus." Holland currently holds the EU presidency.
E EU transport ministers unanimously rejected a Swiss proposal to introduce a levy of SF600 on every truck crossing Switzerland from 2005.
Switzerland and the EU are currently negotiating a new transit agreement. The Swiss want to limit the volume of road traffic and force trucks on to rail, while the EU wants increased free passage through the country.