ECJ rules German ‘user pays’ toll is ‘unlawful’

The legal framework for what the German authorities call an ‘infrastructure use charge’ has been in place since 2015, and requires passenger vehicles using the country’s highways to pay a vignette of no more than €130 per year. The legal sticking point is that, while owners of vehicles registered in Germany qualify for relief from motor vehicle tax “to an amount that is at least equivalent to the amount of the charge that they will have had to pay”, foreign drivers do not enjoy such a concession. In
June 20, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The legal framework for what the German authorities call an ‘infrastructure use charge’ has been in place since 2015, and requires passenger vehicles using the country’s highways to pay a vignette of no more than €130 per year.

The legal sticking point is that, while owners of vehicles registered in Germany qualify for relief from motor vehicle tax “to an amount that is at least equivalent to the amount of the charge that they will have had to pay”, foreign drivers do not enjoy such a concession.

In a rare example of one EU member state in effect taking legal action against another via the ECJ, Austria (backed up by the Netherlands) argued that this put drivers from countries outside Germany at a financial disadvantage. The ECJ has agreed, saying: “The infrastructure use charge, in combination with the relief from motor vehicle tax enjoyed by the owners of vehicles registered in Germany, constitutes indirect discrimination on grounds of nationality.”

The judgment continues: “The effect of the relief from motor vehicle tax enjoyed by the owners of vehicles registered in Germany is to offset entirely the infrastructure use charge paid by those persons, with the result that the economic burden of that charge falls, de facto, solely on the owners and drivers of vehicles registered in other member states.”

Germany’s intention was to move to financing road infrastructure on the ‘user pays’ and ‘polluter pays’ principles, calculating costs on the basis of a vehicle’s cylinder capacity, engine type and emission standard.

But the ECJ is not convinced, saying: “Germany has not established how the discrimination found to arise could be justified by environmental or other considerations.

Charging, Tolling & RUC

Related Content

  • Road user charging - replacing the gas tax with a mileage based fee
    January 19, 2012
    Oregon Department of Transportation's James Whitty discusses his state's progress with VMT fee-based charging. Back in 2001, the state of Oregon stole a lead on the rest of the US when it decided to address the need to do something about the gas tax and its decreasing ability to fund highway construction and upkeep. Recognising that a dwindling pot of money could only shrink further as vehicles became more fuelefficient, Oregon's Legislative Assembly passed laws which led to the setting up, by the state's g
    Read More
  • In-vehicle systems as enforcement enablers?
    January 30, 2012
    From an enforcement perspective at least, Toyota's recent recalls over problems with accelerator pedal assemblies had a positive outcome in that for the first time a major motor manufacturer outside of the US acknowledged publicly what many have known or suspected for quite a while: that the capability exists within certain car companies to extract data from a vehicle onboard unit which can be used to help ascertain, if not prove outright, just what was happening in the vital seconds up to an accident or cr
    Read More
  • IBTTA 2010 meeting focuses on sustainability
    February 2, 2012
    Ken Philmus, chief meeting organiser, talks about what attendees can expect to see at this year's IBTTA annual meeting and exhibition
    Read More
  • Call for truck tolls on Austria’s rural highways
    April 18, 2012
    The Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ) which is the principal organisation in the country working for environmentally sustainable, socially just, and economically efficient mobility, has called for the introduction of truck tolls for rural highways. The organisation says that trucks wear down roads 35,000 times more than cars and also claims that in 2010 truck transport caused road infrastructure-related costs of US$4.78 billion but it paid only $3.46 via tolls and taxes.
    Read More

Highlighted Content