38
A further step towards internalising all externalities in infrastructure pricing would be a
reform of the Eurovignette Directive which the Commission had announced for summer
2002. At the time of writing, this proposal has not come into existence yet, "fuelling
fears that the principle of charging transport its full costs is being quietly dropped from
the EU agenda." 140
4.3.3. The Ecopoint system
In the context of trans-Alpine traffic through Austria, the Ecopoint system is another
key topic. This system had initially been introduced in 1992 by an agreement of
international law between Austria and the Community. Later, the system was integrated
into the Austrian Accession Treaty 141 . According to the European Environment Agency,
the Ecopoint system works as follows:
"It seeks to reduce NO x emissions starting from the base year of 1991 by 60% by
the year 2003. A limited number of ecopoints are attributed annually to each
country in the European Community. Each heavy goods vehicle (weighing more
than 7.5 tonnes, and registered in the Community) has to pay a number of
ecopoints for each transit trip through Austria. The number of ecopoints depends
on the emission characteristics of the truck.
As a safeguard to ensure that technical progress in the development of cleaner
engines did not make the ecopoint system ineffective, the agreement also laid down
a quantitative limit of 108% of the journeys made in 1991. If this limit was
exceeded then the number of ecopoints made available the following year would be
revised downward through a formula laid down in the agreement." 142
The ecopoint system aimed to limit pollution and the number of heavy goods vehicles
transiting the Austrian Alps. A critical assessment of the system gives not very
satisfactory results. First, the limitation of pollution only focused on one specific
component of pollution, NO x . leaving out all others as, for example, CCE and noise. In
140 "Ministers reject MEP's proposals on 2004 ecopoints extension", (2003) 117 T&E Bulletin 2. This fear
has been fostered recently by comments by EU's Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio in two
German Newspapers. On 21 February 2003. she said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung, Nr. 44. p.13: "The Commission will not let the costs of environmental pollution be included in
the road charging scheme, in order not to punish road transport. Europe's most efficient mode."
See as well the Article mentioned in note 139. where the European Federation for Transport and
Environment asks de Palacio either to retract her comments or to resign from her functions.
141 Protocol No. 9 to the Austrian Accession Treaty. OJ C 241, 29 April 1994. p.361.
142 See supra, note 7. p.8.
