Impacts of the proposal for amending Directive 1999/62/EC on road infrastructure charging: An analysis on selected corridors and main impacts

The internalization of external costs is main priority of transport policy at EU level. Charging heavy duty vehicles according to the "polluter pays" principle is one of the main policy options in an effort to reduce the negative impacts of transport on the environment. In this context, the European Commission is proposing the amendment of Directive 1999/62/EC on road infrastructure charging. The proposal foresees the application of charges on heavy duty vehicles that are proportional to the damage the produce in terms of pollution, noise and congestion. The Commission's proposal establishes the methodology to be followed for the estimation of external cost charges as well as the areas of their application. The proposed amendment is currently being discussed between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council in order to ensure that the proposed measure meets the policy objective of reducing the external cost of freight transport while minimizing the negative impacts for the freight transport sector and economy as a whole. As part of the process, the Council of Ministers requested additional information on the possible impacts through case studies. The European Commission, DG TREN, presented preliminary calculations to the Land Transport Working Party of the Council on 12th March 2009 and an analysis of three case studies was discussed with experts from the Member States on 26th June 2009. As a result, it was requested that additional corridors and indicators were analysed. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) took the responsibility for the additional analysis that combined data from actual operations with models that simulate the level of charges under different assumptions.