The agreement reached in the fourth round of negotiations in the EU Transport Council maintains the right of national governments to decide how and where to spend revenue from road user charges. The decision comes after two years of difficult negotiations.
The proposed revision of the Eurovignette is EEA relevant, and Norway supports the intentions of the Directive as Norwegian positions communicated to Member States and the Commission are reflected in the modified text.
Under the proposal Member States will gain more freedom to decide important issues as this compromise proves more flexible than previous proposals from the Commission.
Although the Commission recommends using revenue from road charges in the transport sector, Member States will ultimately be free to decide if they wish to spend the funds on the whole or parts of the TEN network, as well as include other roads under this arrangement.
Heavy vehicles of 3.5 tons will be subjected to road tolls under the proposal, allowing individual governments to decide on toll charges taking into account the vehicles’ size, weight and environmental effects. A 13 per cent discount ceiling has further been established for frequent users in the proposal.