EC meets to clear way for cabotage
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/ EC trans meeting in Brussels next week will attempt to reach agreement on the long-awaited lorry taxation Directive.
Disagreement on this has so far blocked the introduction of cabotage.
The tax directive, which would start in January 1994 for vehicles over 12 tonnes, lays down minimum tax rates based on axle configuration and permitted gross weight.
The directive will also allow governments of individual EC countries to introduce their own user charges on motorways.
O Transportation in Europe needs to be more expensive if the problem of congestion is to be eased, said EC transport commissioner Karel van Miert in Frankfurt last week. More freight needs to be shifted away from roads to rail and water — a third of lorries travel empty, he claimed.