The Federal Ministry of Transport has prepared the final draft for charging for the use of German roads
Who does the toll apply to?
All passenger cars and motorhomes registered in Germany and abroad. For owners of vehicles registered in Germany, the paid toll will be deducted from the annual vehicle tax.
Which roads does the toll apply to?
Exclusively to autobahns. Theoretically – also to federal highways (Bundesstraße), but the presence of a vignette granting the right to travel will not be checked on them. Federal highways are included in the bill only from a legal perspective, to oblige German drivers to purchase vignettes as well.
As recently as summer, Dobrindt planned to levy a toll for the use of all German roads, but was forced to yield to pressure from coalition partners: the Christian Democrats of Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia feared that the transport minister's demands would have an excessive impact on traffic on local roads in border regions.
How many vignettes will there be?
Three: a ten-day vignette costing €10, one valid for up to two months for €22, and an annual vignette. The federal freight transport authority will check their presence on autobahns.
What does the cost of the annual vignette depend on?
On the engine displacement and type of the vehicle. The maximum cost for both passenger cars and motorhomes is €130. For the latter, the annual vignette cost is calculated based on weight (€16 per 200 kilograms). Engine displacement and type, as well as its environmental cleanliness parameters, also affecting the cost of the vignette, are specified in the vehicle documents.
For gasoline cars meeting Euro 3 or lower emission standards, the vignette will cost €3 per 100 cubic centimeters of engine displacement, for diesel – €9.50. Cars of Euro 4 or Euro 5 class are subject to a toll of €2 per 100 cc of gasoline engine displacement and €5 for diesel. The most modern engines, meeting Euro 6 emission standards for exhaust toxicity, will cost €1.80 per 100 cc of gasoline engine and €4.80 per 100 cc of diesel.
For example, the toll for driving on autobahns in a 2009 diesel Volkswagen Golf V with an engine displacement of 1896 cc and Euro 3 emission standard will amount to the full €130. The vehicle tax for such a car is €293.36 per year – thus, it will be reduced to €163.36 to keep the election promise given by Chancellor Merkel that no German motorist will have to pay extra due to the toll.
The toll for a 2014 gasoline Volkswagen Polo with a 1.2-liter engine and the most environmentally friendly engine meeting Euro 6 standards will be €21.60. This amount will also be deducted from the tax of €62. Finally, an expensive 2014 diesel BMW 730d with a three-liter engine of the best eco-class Euro 6 will also cost an extra €130, deducted from the vehicle tax (its amount of €391 will be reduced to €261).
Where can a driver get a vignette?
Foreigners can buy it online or at special terminals that will be installed at border gas stations. German vehicle owners will not have to stick the vignette on the windshield, as in many neighboring countries. The previous option of mailing it together with the vehicle tax document is a thing of the past.
The current concept of the Transport Ministry involves electronic monitoring of license plates of cars entering autobahns, which has drawn numerous complaints from privacy advocates. However, Minister Dobrindt is confident: talk of a 'transparent driver' is pure speculation, and road checks can be set up in full compliance with the law. A legal review commissioned by the Transport Ministry and prepared by Bonn law professor Christian Hilgruber considers the concept of toll motorways in its current form to be in line with European legal standards: earlier doubts were regularly voiced that the European Union would tolerate the German toll for foreigners. EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas recently emphasized that Dobrindt's plan is apparently 'developing in the right direction.'
How much will the German state earn?
The figures are contradictory, but in any case, the project reduced to a 'little toll' implies lower revenues. Experts believe that after deducting the costs of registration and sale of vignettes, the state will be left with less than €500 million per year. Initially, the Transport Ministry expected the toll to bring in about €600 million. In connection with the new concept, Alexander Dobrindt stated revenue 'significantly exceeding €300 million.'
Representatives of the ADAC automobile club, which opposes the introduction of the toll, doubt the profitability of the plan due to the high implementation costs. The proceeds from the autobahn toll are to be spent on the repair, maintenance, and development of Germany's transport infrastructure.
Now the timeline for the vignette's introduction depends solely on politicians: the concept will be presented to the Bundestag in its current form. Whether it can be adopted and implemented as planned by January 1, 2016, remains an open question.
Maxim SMIRNOV.
Russian Germany