Directive (EU) 2019/520 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating cross-border exchange of information on the failure to pay road fees in the Union (recast) (Text with EEA relevance.)
Modified by
Directive (EU) 2022/362 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 24 February 2022amending Directives 1999/62/EC, 1999/37/EC and (EU) 2019/520, as regards the charging of vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, 32022L0362, March 4, 2022
Directive (EU) 2019/520 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 19 March 2019on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating cross-border exchange of information on the failure to pay road fees in the Union(recast)(Text with EEA relevance)CHAPTER IGENERAL PROVISIONSArticle 1Subject matter and scope1.This Directive lays down the conditions necessary for the following purposes:(a)to ensure the interoperability of electronic road toll systems on the entire Union road network, urban and interurban motorways, major and minor roads, and various structures, such as tunnels or bridges, and ferries; and(b)to facilitate the cross-border exchange of vehicle registration data regarding the vehicles and the owners or holders of vehicles for which there was a failure to pay road fees of any kind in the Union.In order to respect the principle of subsidiarity, this Directive shall apply without prejudice to the decisions taken by Member States to levy road fees on particular types of vehicles, and to determine the level of those fees and the purpose for which such fees are levied.2.Articles 3 to 22 do not apply to:(a)road toll systems which are not electronic within the meaning of point 10 of Article 2; and(b)small, strictly local road toll systems for which the costs of compliance with the requirements of Articles 3 to 22 would be disproportionate to the benefits.3.This Directive does not apply to parking fees.4.The objective of the interoperability of electronic road toll systems in the Union shall be achieved by means of the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) which shall be complementary to the national electronic toll services of the Member States.5.Where the national law requires a notification to the user of the obligation to pay before a failure to pay a road fee can be established, Member States may also apply this Directive to identify the owner or the holder of the vehicle and the vehicle itself for notification purposes, only if all the following conditions are fulfilled:(a)there are no other means to identify the owner or holder of the vehicle; and(b)the notification to the owner or holder of the vehicle of the obligation to pay is a compulsory stage of the road fee payment procedure under national law.6.Where a Member State applies paragraph 5, it shall take the measures necessary to ensure that any follow-up proceedings in relation to the obligation to pay the road fee are pursued by public authorities. References to failure to pay a road fee in this Directive shall include cases covered by paragraph 5 if the Member State where the failure to pay takes place, applies that paragraph.Article 2DefinitionsFor the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:(1)"toll service" means the service that enables users to use a vehicle in one or more EETS domains under a single contract and, where necessary, with one piece of on-board equipment (OBE), and which includes:(a)where necessary, providing a customised OBE to users and maintaining its functionality;(b)guaranteeing that the toll charger is paid the toll due by the user;(c)providing to the user the means by which the payment is to be made or accepting an existing one;(d)collecting the toll from the user;(e)managing customer relations with the user; and(f)implementing and adhering to the security and privacy policies for the road toll systems;(2)"toll service provider" means a legal entity providing toll services on one or more EETS domains for one or more classes of vehicles;(3)"toll charger" means a public or private entity which levies tolls for the circulation of vehicles in an EETS domain;(4)"designated toll charger" means a public or private entity which has been appointed as the toll charger in a future EETS domain;(5)"European Electronic Toll Service (EETS)" means the toll service provided under a contract on one or more EETS domains by an EETS provider to an EETS user;(6)"EETS provider" means an entity which, under a separate contract, grants access to EETS to an EETS user, transfers the tolls to the relevant toll charger, and which is registered by its Member State of establishment;(7)"EETS user" means a natural or legal person who has a contract with an EETS provider in order to have access to the EETS;(8)"EETS domain" means a road, a road network, a structure, such as a bridge or a tunnel, or a ferry, where tolls are collected using an electronic road toll system;(9)"EETS compliant system" means the set of elements of an electronic road toll system which are specifically needed for the integration of EETS providers in the system and for the operation of EETS;(10)"electronic road toll system" means a toll collection system in which the obligation, for the user, to pay the toll is exclusively triggered by and linked to the automatic detection of the presence of the vehicle in a certain location through remote communication with OBE in the vehicle or automatic number plate recognition;(11)"on-board equipment (OBE)", means the complete set of hardware and software components to be used as part of the toll service which is installed or carried on board a vehicle in order to collect, store, process and remotely receive/transmit data, either as a separate device or embedded in the vehicle;(12)"main service provider" means a toll service provider with specific obligations, such as the obligation to sign contracts with all interested users, or specific rights, such as specific remuneration or a guaranteed long term contract, different from the rights and obligations of other service providers;(13)"interoperability constituent" 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, including both tangible objects and intangible objects such as software;(14)"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;(15)"toll context data" means the information defined by the responsible toll charger as necessary to establish the toll due for circulating a vehicle on a particular toll domain and conclude the toll transaction;(16)"toll declaration" means a statement to a toll charger that confirms the presence of a vehicle in an EETS domain in a format agreed between the toll service provider and the toll charger;(17)"vehicle classification parameters" means the vehicle related information in accordance with which tolls are calculated based on the toll context data;(18)"back office" means the central electronic system used by the toll charger, a group of toll chargers who have created an interoperability hub, or by the EETS provider to collect, process and send information in the framework of an electronic road toll system;(19)"substantially modified system" means an existing electronic road toll system that has undergone or undergoes a change which requires EETS providers to make modifications to the interoperability constituents that are in operation, such as reprogramming or adapting the interfaces of their back office, to such an extent that re-accreditation is required;(20)"accreditation" means the process defined and managed by the toll charger, which an EETS provider must undergo before it is authorised to provide the EETS in an EETS domain;(21)"toll" or "road fee" means the fee which must be paid by the road user for circulating on a given road, a road network, a structure, such as a bridge or a tunnel, or a ferry;(22)"failure to pay a road fee" means the offence consisting of the failure by a road user to pay a road fee in a Member State, defined by the relevant national provisions of that Member State;(23)"Member State of registration" means the Member State where the vehicle which is subject to the payment of the road fee is registered;(24)"national contact point" means a designated competent authority of a Member State for the cross-border exchange of vehicle registration data;(25)"automated search" means an online access procedure for consulting the databases of one, more than one, or all of the Member States;(26)"vehicle" means a motor vehicle, or articulated vehicle combination intended or used for the carriage by road of passengers or goods;(27)"holder of the vehicle" means the person in whose name the vehicle is registered, as defined in the law of the Member State of registration;(28)"heavy-duty vehicle" means a vehicle having a maximum permissible mass exceeding 3,5 tonnes;(29)"light-duty vehicle" means a vehicle having a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 3,5 tonnes.Article 3Technological solutions1.All new electronic road toll systems which require the installation or use of OBE shall, for carrying out electronic toll transactions, use one or more of the following technologies:(a)satellite positioning;(b)mobile communications;(c)5,8 GHz microwave technology.Existing electronic road toll systems which require the installation or use of OBE and use other technologies shall comply with the requirements set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph if substantial technological improvements are carried out.2.The Commission shall request the relevant standardisation bodies, in accordance with the procedure laid down by Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ L 241, 17.9.2015, p. 1). to swiftly adopt standards applicable to electronic road toll systems with regard to the technologies listed in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 and the ANPR technology, and to update them where necessary. The Commission shall request that the standardisation bodies ensure the continual compatibility of interoperability constituents.3.OBE which uses satellite positioning technology and is placed on the market after 19 October 2021 shall be compatible with the positioning services provided by the Galileo and the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service ("EGNOS") systems.4.Without prejudice to paragraph 6, EETS providers shall make available to EETS users OBE which is suitable for use, interoperable and capable of communicating with the relevant electronic road toll systems in service in the Member States using the technologies listed in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1.5.The OBE may use its own hardware and software, use elements of other hardware and software present in the vehicle, or both. For the purpose of communicating with other hardware systems present in the vehicle, the OBE may use technologies other than those listed in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, provided that security, quality of service and privacy are ensured.EETS OBE is allowed to facilitate services other than tolling, provided that the operation of such services does not interfere with the toll services in any EETS domain.6.Without prejudice to the right of Member States to introduce electronic road toll systems for light-duty vehicles based on satellite positioning or mobile communications, EETS providers may until 31 December 2027 provide users of light-duty vehicles with OBE suitable for use with 5,8 GHz microwave technology only, to be used in EETS domains which do not require satellite positioning or mobile communications technologies.