Toll Committee Meeting 23.02.2009

EN

ENEN

TOLL COMMITTEE MEETING 23.02.2009

WORKING DOCUMENT (VERSION 11)
on the definition of the European Electronic Toll Service and its technical elements

(1)Directive2004/52/EC introduces a European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) which provides interoperability at technical, procedural and legal level of electronic toll systems in the Community.

(2)It is appropriate to define essential requirements for the whole of the Community which will apply to EETS.

(3)In view of the extent and complexity of EETS, it has proved necessary, for practical reasons, to break it down into two subsystems, respectively dealing with technical and organisational aspects. For each of these subsystems the essential requirements must be specified and the technical specifications determined for the whole of the Community, particularly in respect of constituents and interfaces, in order to meet these essential requirements.

(4)To comply with the appropriate provisions on procurement procedures in the road sector and in particular Directive2004/18/EC[1], the contracting entities should include technical specifications in the general documents or in the terms and conditions for each contract. To this end it is necessary to build up a body of technical specifications in order to serve as references.

(5)Within the meaning of Directive2004/18/EC, a technical specification can be among others a common technical specification, a European technical approval, a national standard implementing a European standard or a harmonised standard. Harmonised standards are to be drawn up by a European standardisation body such as the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), to the order of the Commission, and their references published in the Official Journal of the European Communities[2].

(6)An international system of standardisation capable of generating standards which are actually used by those involved in international trade and which meet the requirements of Community policy would be in the Community's interest. The European standardisation bodies must therefore continue their cooperation with the international standardisation bodies.

(7)Further technical specifications or other standards might have to be defined at a later stage. These specifications should help to complete the EETS requirements that have been harmonised at Community level.

(8)The procedures governing the assessment of conformity to specifications and of suitability for use of EETS interoperability constituents should be based on the use of the modules covered by Decision768/2008/EC[3]. As far as possible and in order to promote industrial development, it is appropriate to draw up procedures involving a system of quality assurance.

These procedures must enable the bodies notified to assess the conformity to specifications and suitability for use of EETS interoperability constituents to be certain that, at the design, construction, putting into service stages and during operation, the result is in line with the regulations and technical and operational provisions in force. It must also enable manufacturers to be able to count upon equality of treatment whatever the country.

(9)These notified bodies must coordinate their decisions as closely as possible.

(10)A single contract should allow EETS users to pay their tollsin all toll domains of the European road network, in accordance with Article3(1) of Directive2004/52/ECby means, among others, of a single on-board equipment (OBE), which is part of the single contract and can be used on all toll domains where EETS applies.

(11)To ensure transparency and non-discriminatory access to EETS toll domains for all EETS Providers, Toll Chargers shall publish all the necessary information relative to access rights in an EETS toll domain statement.

(12)The efficient management of a fair and non-discriminatory access to EETS requires a Regulatory Authority[4] that oversees the application of these Community rules, which handles eventual appeals, notwithstanding the possibility of judicial review.

(13)For national or local purposes, Toll Chargers may keep or set up their specific national or local services, with manual, automatic or electronic systems. EETS is a complementary service to the national or local electronic toll services of the Member States for the payment of toll, but where Member States have toll systems, they shall take the necessary measures to increase the use of electronic toll systems and endeavour to ensure that at least 50% of traffic flow in each toll station can use electronic toll systems.

(14)Tolling policies are based on European, national or local legislation; their application is of the responsibility of Toll Chargers. Each Member State decides in a non discriminatory way on toll declaration monitoring, in conformity with European legislation where applicable. EETS shall provide interoperable means for monitoring whether a toll is being declared correctly for vehicles allegedly using EETS.

(15)Tolling technology permits, to the benefit of road safety and decrease of congestion, the collection of tolls without use of physical barriers to guarantee collection.

(16)Toll income generally contributes to finance the construction and maintenance costs of transport infrastructures; hauliers not paying the tolls would deprive Member States and the Community of financial resources to this end and would gain an unfair competitive advantage in comparison to hauliers who pay; toll evasion could undermine transport policy objectives in terms of traffic, congestion and pollution management.

(17)This decision covers the exchange of information between Member States, toll operators, service providers and road users in view to ensure the correct declaration of tolls due within the context of EETS.

(18)The introduction of EETS will entail the processing of personal data, which shall be carried out in strict accordance with relevant Community rules, as set out, inter alia, in Directive 95/46/EC[5] and Directive2002/58/EC[6].

(19)Directive2004/52/EC, Article4(4), foresees that the Commission takes decisions relating to the realisation of EETS in accordance with Council Decision1999/468/EC laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission[7]. Where appropriate, the Annex to Directive2004/52/EC may be modified for technical reasons in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5(2) of that Directive.

(20)The present decision is based on the work done in pan-European research projects[8] supported by the Commission involving major stakeholders, and in Expert Groups set-upby the European Commission, which aimed to define precisely EETS content and organisational structure.

(21)The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Electronic Toll Committee established by Article5(1) of Directive2004/52/EC.

CHAPTER I

General provisions

I

I.1. In accordance with Articles1 and 3(1) of Directive2004/52/EC, the aim of this Decision is to establish the general conditions to be met in order to achieve interoperability within Community territory of the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS), which allows its users to circulate vehicles and pay the corresponding tolls incurred in any EETS toll domain by subscribing a single service contract and by means of a single on-board equipment.

I.2.EETS distinguishes three broad categories of stakeholders, namely EETS Users, Toll Chargers and EETS Providers.

I.3. Users are free to use the national or local service offered by a Toll Charger or EETS. Without prejudice to Member States’ rights to maintain or introduce road user charging, subscription to EETS is at the discretion of the user.

I.4. Member States will provide and maintain registers electronically accessible to the public of:

(a)the toll systems within their jurisdiction to which Directive2004/52/EC applies, including information relative to the corresponding Toll Chargers or their authorised representatives, the tolling technologies employed pursuant to Article2(1) of the Directive, the Toll Context Data and the EETS toll domain statement. A Member State shall enter modifications to the Toll Chargers register, including where applicable the date of their entry into force, immediately after these modifications have been adopted, taking into account AnnexV.3 and V.4;

(b)the service providers or their authorised representatives establishedon their territory fulfilling the requirements mentioned in Annex II.2.2.2.1and delivering or applying to deliver EETS (hereafter the EETS Providers). Unless otherwise specified, Member States shall verify at least once a year that requirements (a), (e), (f) and (g) in Annex II.2.2.2.1are still met and update the register accordingly. A Member State shall not be held liable for the actions of the EETS Providers mentioned in its register.

These registers must be available within 6 months of the entry into force of this Decision.

Member States shall communicate by electronic means to the other Member States and the Commission up-to-date registers of toll systems and EETS Providersat the end of each calendar year.

I.5.An EETS Provider has the right to enter into contracts with Toll Chargers regarding the European Electronic Toll Service. An EETS Provider must conclude EETS contracts covering all the EETS toll domains within 24 months after its registration.

The EETS Provider shall maintain its coverage of all EETS toll domains. He has 6months delay to re-establish full coverage in case of changes of the EETS toll domains or any other reason having reduced its full coverage.

If an EETS Provider does not fulfil these obligations, the Member State of registration, in agreement with the European Commission, will take any necessary decision concerning theEETS Provider. The Commission will consult the Electronic Toll Committee.

I.6.EETS Providers shall make a yearly declarationto the Member State of registration relative to their EETS toll domainscoverage. The Member State of registration shall communicate the declarations to the other Member States and the Commission.Member States shall assess these coverage declarations relative to their national EETS toll domains and shall inform forthwith the Member State of registration and the Commission of any discrepancy.

I.7.EETS Providers shall keep their users informed without any undue delay of their EETS toll domains coverage.

I.8.[9] Where a toll system does not comply with the technical and procedural EETS interoperability conditions set by Directive2004/52/EC and this Decision, the responsible Toll Charger shall assess the problem with the involved stakeholders and, if within its sphere of responsibilities, take remedial actions in view to ensure EETS interoperability of the toll system. If the case arises, the Toll Charger shall inform the Member State in order to update the register referred to under I.4(a).

I.9.An EETS Provider’s OBE and procedures shall ensure interoperability with a Toll Charger tolling system in compliance with this decision.

I.10.A Toll Charger shall accept on a non-discriminatory basis any EETS Provider requesting to provide EETS on the EETS toll domain(s) under the Toll Charger’s responsibility. To this purpose, Toll Chargers shall develop and maintain an EETS toll domain statement which shall contain information setting out general conditions for EETS Providers for accessing their toll domains, as detailed in Annex 0. A Toll Charger shall communicate its EETS toll domain statement to the Member State and, upon request and forthwith, to any EETS Provider.

Acceptance of an EETS Provider in a toll domain shall be governed by compliance with such general conditions and to bilateral negotiations with the Toll Charger on specific contractual conditions.

If a Toll Charger and an EETS Provider cannot reach an agreement, the EETS Provider can appeal to the Toll Charger’s national Regulatory Authority of the concerned toll domain, notwithstanding the possibility of judicial review.

I.11.The toll charged by Toll Chargers to EETS Users will be no more than for the corresponding national/local toll.

II

For the purpose of this Decision

(a)“EETS” means European Electronic Toll Service, a service which allows users to circulate a vehicle in all the toll domains falling under the scope of Directive2004/52/EC and pay the corresponding tolls with a single contract and a single on-board equipment;

(b)“On-board equipment” (OBE) means the complete set of hardware and software components required for providing EETS which is installed on board of a vehicle in order to collect, store, process and remotely receive/transmit data;

(c)“interoperability” means the ability of systems to provide services to and accept services from other systems and to use the services so exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together;

(d)“interoperability constituents” means any elementary component, group of components, subassembly or complete assembly of equipment incorporated or intended to be incorporated into EETS upon which the interoperability of the service depends directly or indirectly. The concept of a “constituent” covers both tangible objects and intangible objects such as software;

(e)“conformityto specifications” means the fulfilment by a constituent of the technical requirements set out in this decision and all relevant technical specifications;

(f) “suitability for use” means the ability of an interoperability constituent to achieve and maintain a specified performance when in service, integrated representatively into EETS in relation with a Toll Charger’s system;

(g)“subsystems” means that EETS is, as described in ArticleVII, subdivided for practical reasons into a technical and an organisational subsystem for which essential requirements must be laid down;

(h)“essential requirements” means all the conditions set out in AnnexII which must be met by EETS, its subsystems and their interoperability constituents;

(i)“technical specification” means a specification as defined in Article23 of Directive2004/18/EC;

(j)“notified bodies” means the bodies notified by Member States, which are entitled to assess the conformity to specifications and/or suitability for use of EETS interoperability constituents;

(k) “EETS User” means a (legal) person who subscribes a contract with an EETS Provider in order to have access to EETS;

(l)“EETS Provider” means a company registered as under I.4(b), which grants access to EETS to a user by providing him, where necessary, the on-board equipment required for transmitting the information relative to the tolls and charges incurred by the user (EETS User) and by ensuring the toll payment to the Toll Charger;

(m)“vehicle classification parameters” means the vehicle related information according which tolls are calculated based on the Toll Context Data;

(n)“toll” means a charge, tax or duty levied in relation with circulating a vehicle in a toll domain;

(o)“toll declaration” means a statement to a Toll Charger that confirms the circulation of a vehicle in a toll domain in a format agreed between the toll service provider and the Toll Charger;

(p)“toll transaction” means an action or sequence of actions in which a toll declaration is passed to the Toll Charger;

(q) “Toll Context Data” means the information defined by the responsible Toll Charger necessary to establish the toll due for circulating a vehicle on a particular toll domain and conclude the toll transaction;

(r)“toll domain” means an area of EU territory, a part of the European road network or a structure such as a tunnel, a bridge or a ferry where a toll regime is applied;

(s)“EETS toll domain” means a toll domain falling under the scope of Directive2004/52/EC;

(t)“EETS toll domain statement” means a Toll Charger’s statement which sets out in detail the general rules regarding the acceptance in its toll domain of an EETS Provider;

(u) “toll regime” means the set of rules, including enforcement rules, governing the collection of toll in a toll domain;

(v) “toll scheme” is a generic term used for toll regime and/or toll domain and/or toll system;

(w)“Toll Charger” means a public or private organisation in charge of levying toll for the circulation of vehicles in a toll domain;

III

In accordance with the annex of Directive 2004/52/EC, this Decision defines

(a)the conditions under which EETS provision is made, and

(b)the EETS subsystems and interoperability constituents, interfaces and procedures as well as the conditions of overall compatibility of EETS required to achieve its interoperability.

IV

EETS, its subsystems and interoperability constituents, including interfaces, shall meet the essential requirements referred to in AnnexII to this decision.

CHAPTER II

EETS Regulatory Authority

V

V.1.Member States with at least one EETS toll domain shall designate or establish a Regulatory Authority competent for regulating EETS according to the applicable European and national legislation.

This Authority shall function according to the principles outlined in this Chapter.

V.2.The EETS Regulatory Authority shall ensure that the conditions of contracts set by a Toll Charger to different EETS Providers are non-discriminatory and a fair reflection of the costs and risks of the parties to the contract. Where necessary, negotiation between an EETS Provider and a Toll Charger shall be carried out under the supervisionof the EETS Regulatory Authority.

V.3.The EETS Regulatory Authority shall be independent in its organisation, funding decisions, legal structure and decision-making from the interests of any Toll Chargers or EETS Providers. The Member States shall take the adequate measures to ensure the independence of this Regulatory Authority.

Without prejudice to European and national legislations, the EETS Regulatory Authority shall have powers to arbitrate in the case of disputes and make binding decisions and where necessary apply penalties on anyToll Chargers whose toll domain is located in its territory and any EETS Providers operating in its territory.

V.4 The EETS Regulatory Authority shall have powers to request relevant information from the Toll Charger, EETS Provider and any third party involved within the Member State concerned, which must be supplied without undue delay.

The EETS Regulatory Authority mayrequest to audit Toll Chargers registered in its territoryand EETS Providers registered and/or operating in its territory, for the purpose of Article V.2 above.

V.5.Within the scope of its regulatory function regarding EETS, as provided for by ArticleV.2 and V.3, the EETS Regulatory Authority may be required by the Toll Charger or the EETS Provider to decide on any complaint related to the EETS and shall state within a period of one month after receipt of the complaint, if all necessary documents for the handling of the complaint arein its possession. After thisstatement the EETS Regulatory Authority will decide as soon as possible, but not later than sixmonths after receipt of the complaint.

The EETS regulatory authority may make temporary decisions, if necessary.

V.6. The national EETS Regulatory Authorities shall exchange information about their work and decision-making principles and practice for the purpose of coordination of their decision-making principles across the Community. If appropriate the subject can be dealt with by the Electronic Toll Committee.