Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy

1. The French experience – lessons learned Belgium road pricing Market consultation information meeting September 10th, 2012 Antoine Maucorps (MEDDE / DGITM / SAGS / MT) Phone: +33 1 40 81 78 61Email: mt.sags.dgitm@developpement-durable.gouv.fr Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy General Directorate for Infrastructure, Transport and The Sea (DGITM)

2. The French experience – lessons learned Vehicle type submitted to the tax • Heavy goods vehicles over 3.5 ton • Not concerned : • Agricultural vehicles • Military vehicles • Emergency vehicles • Passenger transport

3. The French experience – lessons learned Geographical scope • Eco-tax to apply to about 15,000 km of roads 10,500 km non-conceded State Road Network around 5,000 km of local governments’ roads, in order to prevent serious traffic shifts (conceded motorway excluded); • Around 800,000 trucks over 3.5 t http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/-Taxe-poids-lourds-.html http://www.ecomouv.com

4. The French experience – lessons learned Legal framework • Eco-tax aims both at: • levying new resources for transport infrastructure developments, guided by a clear inter-modal strategy. • giving a price signal to the general economy through road freight industry, that will press for lower and better use of roads, • Legally, this charge is a tax under French customs regulations (not a fee for service) • Transports companies have to charge, by law, the increase of costs to their contractor

5. The French experience – lessons learned Stakeholders • Vision of future European ET Service enforces to allow eco-tax collection through “ETS Providers”, who grant access to ETS to tax-payers through subscription contracts. • Law on eco-tax provides that tax collection is assigned to one private partner, “manager” of the collection domain, to be duly “commissioned” by the government for that. • The private partner will be entitled for designing, financing, building and operating the system • Partnership contract has been awarded through bidding process based on competitive dialog. • This private partner will be remunerated through performance-adjusted rentals, not directly from eco-tax revenue nor as a percentage of it.

6. The French experience – lessons learned Project team • The organisation was defined by the prime Minister in 2009 • The Minister in charge of transports (ministry of ecology) will sign the contract • The Minister in charge of customs (ministry of budget) will sign the commissioning agreement • The project director coordinate : • The heavy goods vehicle tax task force (7) in the general directorate for customs and excise (indirect taxes) • The modal pricing task force (5) in the general directorate for infrastructure, transports and sea 6

7. The French experience – lessons learned Agenda • Eco-tax concept appeared in the draft “Grenelle I” Act, already passed quasi-unanimously at first reading by National Assembly in October 2008 and adopted in July 2009 • Meanwhile eco-tax was already established by art.153 of the Finance Act for 2009 (Law N°2008-1425 of Dec. 27, 2008) promulgated in December 2008. • Prior call for tenders was put in March 2009

8. The French experience – lessons learned Tendering process zoom • Choice of the 5 candidates between June and august 2009 • Explanation about technical and financial specifications • 4 Initial proposal analysis, including « Proof of concept » operated in January and February 2010 • Dialogue during 9 weeks (1/2 day per candidate per week) in April and May (+ 1 month) • Final documents for tender released July 12th, 2010 • Final Offer submitted on September 29th, 2010 (+1.5 month)

9. The French experience – lessons learned Agenda • The ranking has been published in January 2011 • The signature of the partnership contract came into force on the October 20th 2011 with ECOMOUV, subsidiary of Autostrade per l’Italia • Experimental tax in Alsace to be achieved by April 2013 (18 months) • National tax to be achieved by July 2013 (21 months) • 11,5 years of operation

10. The French experience – lessons learned Collection • In order to assure detection along the roads, every domestic truck, as well as each foreign truck entering the taxable network, will be required by law to equip with a On-Board Unit (OBU) • Technology has been chosen during the competitive tendering process: • « satellite-based », getting vehicle position out of satellite signals (GNSS) communicating with the ground system by mobile telephony (GPRS) as well as short-range microwaves (DSRC) for enforcement needs.

11. The French experience – lessons learned Charging principles • It consists in charging, in free-flow, the distance travelled on the chosen network by trucks over 3.5t • Every route to be split into pricing sections (basically, from junctions to junctions) controlled by as many pricing points (about 4,100 in total) • By passing a pricing point, the eco-tax is due, by law, for the full length of the corresponding pricing section • Law allows to merge a succession of too short sections Pricing Point PRICING SECTION

12. The French experience – lessons learned Tariffs (assumption) • Base rates depend on static characteristics • 2 axles under 12 t : 8 cents per kilometre • 2 axles over 12 t and 3 axles : 10 cents per km • 4 axles and more : 14 cents per km • Geographical reduction • peripheral regions : -25% • peripheral region without conceded highway : - 40% • Euro classes modulations • depends on categories • 0% for class IV • globally between – 30% and + 50 % • Possibility for congestion modulation

13. The French experience – lessons learned Two ways of payment • Post-payment if he did subscribe with an ETS provider (“Société Habilitée de Télépéage”) • Interoperability, firstly with French concession system • Value added services • Tax reduction to subscribers • Down-payment for casual users and other non-subscribers • no guarantees but down-payment on account, from which the eco-tax is deducted as he travels

14. The French experience – lessons learned Inter-operability: main issues • Tax collection • ETS Providers must grant financial guarantee • need for auditable collection process (data transfer,…) • KPI between the private partner and the ETS providers • Free access to ETS provision • established rules, standard contract and need for a referee • “SHT” is preparing and facilitate EETS • Habilitation and notified bodies work on standards • EETS Providers receive automatically habilitation

15. The French experience – lessons learned Current interoperability • TIS-PL* is the existing ETC subscription frame for trucks tolling covering French conceded motorways, a private initiative managed by the Association of French Motorways Concession-Holders (ASFA). It mobilizes four ETS Providers. Here collected tolls are intended to concession-holders. * TIS-PL = Inter Concession-Holders ETC System for Trucks • TIS-PL and the full French motorways tolling system are based on DSRC technology, traditionally and mostly non-free-flow. • A clear challenge and unquestionable necessity for eco-tax: full inter-operability with TIS-PL. • ASFA and members do co-operate with the Ministry so to establish an inter-operability scheme compliant with EETS Decision

16. The French experience – lessons learned Non-subscribers Subscribers ETS Prov #1 Subscribers ETS Prov #2 Manager Toll Charger Subscribers Etat State ETS Prov #3 Subscribers ETS Prov #4 Interoperability

17. The French experience – lessons learned Principles for enforcement • Enforcement strategy based non • Adaptable pressure for fraud detection • Payment of tax up to 500 km • Penalty up to 750 Euros • 3 ways to control the eco-Tax • Automatic enforcement • Control by enforcement forces • Post control of companies

18. The French experience – lessons learned Automatic enforcement • The partner • fixed automatic enforcement (around 200 stations) • moveable automatic enforcement (around 100 stations for 500 places) • Control results transmission • The centralised Customs tax office • Apply sanctions • imposing and collecting any sanctions

19. The French experience – lessons learned Control by enforcement forces • Additional controls by • Customs • Police • French Gendarmerie • Transport control units • On the taxable network and beyond (control areas and dynamic control) • Adapted enforcement tools by the partner • for vehicles • for pedestrians

20. The French experience – lessons learned Post control of companies • French liable to tax (transport companies) • Competent enforcement forces : • French Customs • Transports Control Units • Intervention in companies office

21. The French experience – lessons learned Conclusion • Taxable network: around 15,000 km, of which 5,000 km of local roads • Taxable vehicles (for base year):  550,000 domestic trucks + 250 000 foreign trucks = 800,000 trucks • Taxable travels per day: 650,000 (average distance 45 km) • Average weighted rate: 12 c€ / km (assumption) • Expected revenue: around 1.2 billion Euros • Launch in July 2013