Eurovignette: Council clarifies and simplifies EU rules on road tolls and user charges for heavy duty vehicles 11:17 The Council agrees on a position on clearer, simpler[...]

Today the Council agreed on a negotiation mandate for targeted amendments to the Eurovignette directive, setting the rules for road tolls and user charges for heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) in the EU. The proposed changes focus on improving the legal clarity of the current directive, simplifying its implementation and ensuring the consistent application of CO₂-based charging rules.

The mandate clarifies some key provisions of the current directive. These clarifications are important as new CO₂-emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles will impact the directive from 1 July 2026, and their smooth interaction is needed to advance in the calculation of road charges according to CO₂ emissions.

Main elements in the Council position

The Council negotiating mandate most importantly:

• Clarifies definitions related to CO₂-emissions, including zero-emission vehicles, low-emission heavy-duty vehicles, vehicle groups, emission reduction trajectory and reference CO₂ emissions, while preserving their original policy objective.
• Specifies the point in time from which CO₂-based variation of road charges for a given vehicle sub-group apply.
• Establishes uniform implementation timelines for introducing the variation of charges for newly defined vehicle sub-groups following publication of their reference CO₂-emissions and for introducing updated reference CO₂-emissions.

The Council's position also acknowledges the climate benefits of certain modifications to a vehicle's technical characteristics - whether through software updates or physical upgrades - known as retrofitting. However, under the current framework, retrofitting does not permit reclassification of a vehicle's CO₂-class according to its new technical characteristics.

To address this issue without delaying the legislative process, the Council invites the Commission to assess, within two years, possible policy options regarding retrofitted electric vehicles.

Trailer-based toll reductions

The Council decided not to retain a proposal to reduce road charges for HDVs with more sustainable trailers due to potential additional administrative burden, more complex toll pricing and its potential impact on the introduction of electronic toll services and the need to respect existing concession contracts. Finally, the proposed trailer categories could have resulted in a tolling reduction, even when combined with less modern, more CO₂-emitting trucks.

Next steps

The Council is now ready to enter negotiations with the European Parliament, once the latter reaches its position.

• Amendment of the original Commission proposal