The European Parliament adopted, by 492 votes to 108, with 82 abstentions, following the consultation procedure, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, as regards certain provisions on vehicle taxation.

The proposal seeks to amend Directive 1999/62/EC so as to allow Member States to gradually reduce annual taxes applied to heavy goods vehicles having a maximum permissible laden weight of above 12 tonnes.

Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to amendments.

More flexibility for Member States : Members seek to offer Member States more scope to reduce their vehicle tax rates in order to support the introduction of distance-based tolls and avoid any possible administrative burdens. To this end, they propose to reduce the minimum rates of taxation in a single step, starting on 1 January 2024, instead of the gradual reduction of five steps as proposed by the Commission. This would give Member States as much flexibility as possible to decide on the level of reduction and the speed of its implementation.

According to the amended text, the gradual reduction of the vehicle tax on heavy goods vehicles applied by a Member State shall be fully compensated by additional revenues generated by its toll system.

Polluting vehicles : one amendment also stressed that Member States should be encouraged to dismantle any contradictory tax incentives that discourage low-emission mobility and subsidise inefficient and polluting vehicles, like company diesel cars.

The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted, following the consultation procedure, the report by Deirdre Clune (EPP, IE) on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, as regards certain provisions on vehicle taxation.

The proposal seeks to amend Directive 1999/62/EC so as to allow Member States to gradually reduce annual taxes applied to heavy goods vehicles having a maximum permissible laden weight of above 12 tonnes.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament approve the Commission proposal subject to amendments.

Members seek to offer Member States more scope to reduce their vehicle tax rates in order to support the introduction of distance-based tolls and avoid any possible administrative burdens. To this end, they propose to reduce the minimum rates of taxation in a single step, starting on 1 January 2024 , instead of the gradual reduction of five steps as proposed by the Commission.

The gradual reduction of the vehicle tax on heavy goods vehicles applied by a Member State shall be fully compensated by additional revenues generated by its toll system.

One amendment also stresses that Member States should be encouraged to dismantle any contradictory tax incentives that discourage low-emission mobility and subsidise inefficient and polluting vehicles, like company diesel cars.

PURPOSE: to allow Member States to gradually reduce annual taxes applied to heavy goods vehicles having a maximum permissible laden weight of above 12 tonnes.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Directive.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion.

BACKGROUND: Directive 1999/62/EC (the Eurovignette Directive) provides the legal framework for the charging heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) for the use of certain roads. It sets the minimum levels of vehicle taxes for HGVs.

Annual vehicle taxes are payments linked to the fact that the vehicle is registered on behalf of the taxpayer during a given period. Vehicle taxes are not effective when it comes to incentivising cleaner and more efficient operations, or reducing congestion. Tolls, on the other hand, being directly linked to road-use, are considerably better fitted to achieve these objectives.

The application of vehicle taxes represents a cost the industry must so far bear in any event, even if tolls were to be levied by Member States. Therefore, vehicle taxes may act as an obstacle to the introduction of tolls .

Therefore, the Commission considered that Member States should be afforded more scope to lower vehicle taxes .

This proposal is part of the Commission's effort to create an Energy Union, and of a series of proposals related to low-emission transport. It is presented together with another proposal which intends to promote the application of tolls, i.e. a form of road charging that is related to the distance travelled.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the option chosen is the one which includes the variation of charges for light vehicles according to their CO2 and pollutant emissions. This variation may be complemented with the requirement of external cost charging on at least part of the network for heavy duty vehicles and the phasing-out of time-based charging for light vehicles over a sufficiently long period.

CONTENT: the proposal seeks to amend Directive 1999/62/EC to allow Member States to gradually reduce annual taxes applied to heavy goods vehicles having a maximum permissible laden weight above 12 tonnes. It implies reducing the minima set out in Directive 1999/62/EC.

In order to minimise the risk of distortions of competition between transport operators established in different Member States, such reduction should be gradual .

The Commission considers that the reduction in vehicle tax paid for the use of HGVs by hauliers (which are all SMEs, and in most cases micro-enterprises) could serve as a compensation for potentially increasing road charges related to the application of distance-based schemes.