Progress with the European Electronic Toll Service

Date: 29/1/2010

Source: European Commission

The European Commission has recently published a four-page document summarising the main points of the European Electronic Toll System (EETS). This document follows the adoption of the Commission’s Decision on the EETS definition in October 2009.

The EETS is intended to simplify the movement of goods and people across the EU by reducing the amount of administrative work required to travel between different charging and tolling regimes, and reduce the congestion that can often be created by tolling plazas. The main concept of EETS is that a road user is only required to have one EETS provider, which the user is free to choose. The EETS provider will then either supply the user with an appropriate On-Board vehicle Unit (OBU), or accept the user’s existing one if it meets the technical requirements.

The user will receive a single periodic bill from its EETS provider that will account for all toll charges accumulated by the user while driving in the EU. The charges for the EETS domains and the domains themselves will be defined by the toll chargers. The EETS provider will pay the toll charger according to the user’s vehicle circulation in the EETS domain. Tolling policies remain to be decided by the Member States in compliance with EU legislation. Eventually the EETS should enable free-flow (barrier-free) tolling to become widespread, including across borders, as soon as it is fully put into place.

The Commission Decision on EETS definition entered into force on 8 October 2009. The Commission has also made the decision that the EETS is to be available within three years for vehicles above 3.5 tonnes and/or allowed to carry more than nine passengers (including the driver) — and within five years for all types of vehicle. The European Commission will carry out a mid-term review 18 months after the Decision comes into force.

The four page summary can be seen using the source link above.  The full text of the Commission Decision on the EETS can be seen in the Official Journal of the European Union.

HA recommended to view the summary document

ITS Radar International will continue to monitor the EETS

Key words: European Commission, In-vehicle systems, Payment, Policy