Towards implementation of truck charges in Catalonia and Spain: opportunities of the revised Eurovignette Directive

24 and 25 April, Barcelona


In June 2006 the European Union adopted a new legal framework to regulate charges and toll systems applicable to lorries (usually known as the ‘Eurovignette Directive'). This revision aimed to increase the efficiency of the land freight transport system, being an important step towards the implementation of a European road charging policy. The underlying idea in the Eurovignette Directive is to achieve an internalization of direct costs of infrastructure and operation. Although the incorporation of the externalities or environmental external costs is still under discussion , the revised Directive opens significant new possibilities for Member States to implement truck charging schemes.

Given these developments on the legal framework and also new technologies available, many European countries have started off with new charging schemes (the best known examples are Germany and Austria) and some other Member States have announced ambitious plans for implementation (for example, in the Netherlands or France, after the announcement of President Sarkozy).

This conference promoted by T&E, European Federation for Transport and Environment, aims to discuss the feasibility of the application of a road charging scheme for Lorries in Catalonia and Spain, taking into account the opportunities of the new legal framework, the experiences of other European countries and the need to increase the efficiency of the of freight transport system.


The programme of the conference tries to foster the debate amongst operators of the logistics chain, transport operators, public administrations and NGOs.

The conference is organized by T&E, and is supported by the Transit Catalan Service of the Government of Catalonia and other stakeholders.