Road use fees for trucks would cost EUR 13 million

Foreign trucks could pay up to EUR 12.5 million annually

print this

The introduction of road use fees for heavy goods traffic, a so-called vignette system, would cost around EUR 13 million, says a committee that was set up to evaluate the costs of the potential new arrangement.
      In addition, the annual operating costs would amount to about EUR 3 million.
      The planned fees would apply to both domestic and foreign vehicles.
     
A collection system would have to be created for foreign trucks, as for the Finnish operators the fee would be linked with the payment of the vehicle tax.
      The current vehicle tax could just be divided into two parts: one would be the ”traditional” fuel fee or the former diesel tax, while the other part would consist of the vignette fee.
      The fee would be imposed on Finnish vehicles as well, but arrangements would be made to make sure that the total tax burden on Finnish haulers would not increase.
      Foreign operators would pay for the use of Finnish roads around EUR 12.5 million annually, if the vignette fees were raised to the highest possible level allowed by the directive adopted by the European Union. Thus the system would cover both its investment and operation costs.
     
The countries in the Eurovignette system, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Denmark, apply a level of some 70 %, while in Finland the level would be approximately 60 % of the maximum amount, if the costs of heavy goods vehicles are not to be raised.
      In this case, foreign trucks would bring in EUR 7.5 million a year, which alone could cover the costs accruing from the new system.
      Previously a vignette was a specific paper or a sticker, which was attached to the windscreen and which gave haulers the right to use motorways of a particular country for a given period (i.e. a day, a week, a month, or a year).
     
The new system would also allow operators to choose a certain period of validity, but the ”sticker” itself would be electronic.
      The committee evaluated that foreign haulers would pay for their vignettes mostly on a daily basis: a daily fee would be EUR 11 maximum, while the vignette countries charge EUR 8.
      A vignette could be bought online, by a mobile phone, or from service points.
     
No devices would be installed in cars, as the existence of a vignette would be saved into a specific register along with the licence plates of vehicles.
      The payments would be monitored by both mobile patrols and permanent stations, and licence plates would be read automatically and compared with the payment register.
      A vignette system would be introduced in the spring of 2010 or March 2011, if the data system of the Finnish Vehicle Administration (AKE) has to be updated first.
      The committee points out that such a vignette system would not be likely to remove backups of vehicles on the eastern border entirely, but it would make foreign heavy vehicles pay for the use of the Finnish road network.
     
In addition to the planned vignette fee system, Finland also intends to impose parking charges for trucks waiting to cross the border to Russia.
      Such charges would apply to the vehicles in the parking area as well as to those queuing on the roadsides. The proposed fee for a parking space would be around EUR 10 to 25.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Parking fees, tolls, and road use bans in prospect for eastbound truck traffic (6.11.2008)
  Border traffic in Imatra down by more than third in October (4.11.2008)
  Major unemployment threat looming over Hanko as imports of cars grind to a halt (30.10.2008)
  Government plans fees and restrictions to curb congestion caused by Russian lorries in transit (8.8.2008)
  Parking area for eastbound trucks to cost over EUR 24 million (27.3.2007)

See also:
  Complaints cause further delays to construction of Vaalimaa truck park (7.11.2008)

Links:
  European Commission: Road charging
  Vignette (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat