Skip to main content

EU electronic toll service has fallen behind schedule

According to a recent report by the European Commission, EU member states are far behind schedule in implementation of the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS). It is already clear that the target date of 8 October 2012 for heavy duty vehicles will not be met. The system is designed to enable road users to pay tolls throughout the EU with one subscription contract, one service provider and one on-board unit. The aim is to eliminate cumbersome procedures for cross-border users. The legislation requires me
September 10, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
According to a recent report by the 1690 European Commission, EU member states are far behind schedule in implementation of the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS). It is already clear that the target date of 8 October 2012 for heavy duty vehicles will not be met.

The system is designed to enable road users to pay tolls throughout the EU with one subscription contract, one service provider and one on-board unit. The aim is to eliminate cumbersome procedures for cross-border users. The legislation requires member states to open their tolling systems to commercial EETS providers. EETS must be available to all vehicle categories by October 2014.

The report blames incomplete national transposition of the required rules in most member states. There has also been a delay in the necessary investment in both the systems and the resting required by toll chargers.

In response to the report, the Commission has published a warning that it will launch infringement proceedings against member states that fail to meet their obligations to roll out the service. But it also lays out possible assistance the Commission could offer to help speed up the roll-out, including financial assistance for interoperability projects between member states, under the trans-European transport programme.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • HNTB to lead the most ambitious US AET conversion programme
    July 26, 2012
    HNTB Corporation has been selected by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to serve as programme manager to lead the potential implementation of a cashless, all-electronic toll (AET) collection system. The implementation of the new programme across the entire 885km (550 mile) Pennsylvania Turnpike system, which includes more than 70 toll plazas serving more than 186.5 million vehicles and generating more than US$700 million annually, is said to be the largest and most ambitious AET conversion in North Ameri
  • MaaS will be adopted quicker in Europe than in the US: here’s why
    December 5, 2018
    A new report suggests that MaaS will be implemented more quickly in Europe than in the US – but why should this be? Ben Spencer examines the arguments
  • First ScotRail unveils smartcard plan
    January 9, 2013
    In the UK, rail operator First ScotRail plans to install 140 smartcard validation machines across seventy of the 350 stations in Scotland, focusing on the Aberdeen, Stirling and Strathclyde areas. The technology was installed in twenty-seven stations at the end of 2012, and should be implemented in the remaining stations in the next three months. Building on a pilot scheme for annual season-ticket holders that has been running between Edinburgh and Glasgow on the line through Falkirk since 2011, the move wi
  • Central Europe signs up to ITS standards
    May 31, 2013
    Seamless multi-modal traveller information services are becoming reality in the Danube Region. On 15th of March 2013, a Hungarian national holiday of which many people were unaware, unexpected extreme winter weather paralysed Hungary as well as large parts of Slovakia. Several thousand people were stranded on the region’s highways and the railways incurred delays of several hours. Not only did the transport system in the affected regions break down, the information flow to neighbouring countries was very sl