European Electronic Toll Service To Be Available Within 3-5 Years

"The European Electronic Toll Service will enable road users to easily pay tolls throughout the whole European Union thanks to one subscription contract with one service provider and one single on-board unit," European Commission Vice-President in charge of Transport Antonio Tajani said in a press release.

"Electronic toll systems were introduced in several European countries in the early 1990s. Most systems operate with an on-board unit communicating the vehicle's characteristics to the road operators in view to determining the toll, for instance based on the vehicle's weight and size," the EC said in its release, adding that "however, the various national and local electronic road toll systems are generally incompatible and can only communicate with their respective on-board units."

The lack of interoperability between these systems hinders international road transport, the EC said.

"For example, to travel from Portugal to Denmark five or more on-board units might be needed on the vehicle's dashboard, each unit being covered by a particular contract for a particular road operator. For the transporter this entails time-consuming paperwork and costly administrative burden in reconciling travel data, received invoices, contracts clauses and payment orders," the EC said.

The decision adopted Tuesday by the EC also establishes the rights and obligations of authorities that collect the toll, of service suppliers and of users.

"Users will be able to subscribe to the service provider of their choice. Toll chargers will communicate the tolls due to the service providers, who will eventually invoice the users. Tolls paid via EETS may not exceed the corresponding national or local tolls," the EC explains.

"EETS will be available within three years for all road vehicles above 3.5 tons or allowed to carry more than nine passengers, including the driver. It will be available for all other vehicles within five years."

If you liked this story, please follow MEDIAFAX.RO on FACEBOOK »

The content of mediafax.ro is for your information only. Republishing or using this content is forbidden without express consent of MEDIAFAX. For this consent, please ask for it by mail at vanzari@mediafax.ro.