1.   INTRODUCTION

1.1.   General context

1.

Interoperable electronic tolling systems provided through the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) contribute to reliable, user-friendly and cost-efficient tolling systems in the European Union (EU). Directive (EU) 2019/520 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) aims to promote the widespread deployment of interoperable electronic road toll systems to reduce the costs and burdens resulting from the existence of different road toll systems across the EU.

2.

In accordance with point (6) of Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2019/520, an ‘EETS provider’ means ‘an entity which […] grants access to EETS to an EETS user [and] transfers the tolls to the relevant toll charger […]’. In practice, and in accordance with Article 3(4) of Directive (EU) 2019/520, the EETS provider makes available to the road user an interoperable on-board equipment (OBE) enabling payment of tolls on different transport infrastructures. The EETS provider collects tolls on behalf of the toll charger and transfers them to the toll charger, thereby also providing a service to that economic actor.

3.

Once Directive (EU) 2019/520 has been fully implemented, road users will be able to pay tolls in the EU with a single subscription contract, through a single provider and a single on-board unit. Not only will this be of economic importance for the EU, it will also greatly benefit society, by reducing the administrative burden, the time spent queuing and congestion on the roads.

4.

The right of EETS providers to receive remuneration for electronic tolling services rendered to toll chargers was introduced by Directive (EU) 2019/520 and is currently governed by Article 7 of that Directive.

5.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/204 (2) provides detailed rules on arrangements for the remuneration of EETS providers. In particular, point 1.2 of Annex II to that Implementing Regulation lists the elements that may be used to determine their variable remuneration.

6.

However, the fair remuneration of EETS providers by toll chargers has generated disputes (3) over the last few years. In particular, the resulting uncertainty on the market, has made it difficult for some providers, in particular small providers, to enter the market and to do business and has hindered the development of competition, putting the roll-out of interoperable electronic tolling in the EU at risk. It is therefore appropriate for the Commission to provide guidance on the fair remuneration of EETS providers and to suggest a formula for their remuneration.

7.

To gain insight into the complex matter of EETS remuneration, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport conducted a study (4) with the assistance of an external consultant. It analysed existing remuneration schemes and parameters and made recommendations for a fair EETS remuneration model. The findings of this study have informed these guidelines.

1.2.   Objective of the guidelines

8.

These guidelines aim to respond to the electronic tolling sector’s need for clear and fair rules on the remuneration of EETS providers by providing additional explanations and guidance on how the Commission interprets Articles 6 and 7 of Directive (EU) 2019/520. Member State authorities, toll chargers, EETS providers and conciliation bodies (5) are encouraged to use these guidelines when determining the methodology for, rules on and level of remuneration for the provision of EETS. They are also encouraged to report to the Commission on their experience with these guidelines in order to allow their review by the Commission at a later stage.

9.

This Commission Notice does not create any new rules. The interpretation of EU law is ultimately the prerogative of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

2.   FAIR REMUNERATION OF EETS PROVIDERS

10.

Under Article 7(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/520, the remuneration of EETS providers by toll chargers is a right that must be legally guaranteed by Member States. Recital 22 also explains that EETS providers should be remunerated fairly.

11.

In accordance with point (8) of Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2019/520, an EETS domain means a road, a road network, a structure, such as a bridge or a tunnel, or a ferry where tolls are collected using an electronic road toll system.

12.

The essential rights and obligations of EETS providers on each EETS domain are set out in the EETS domain statements developed and maintained by toll chargers in accordance with Article 6(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/520. The list of the minimum elements that EETS domain statements must contain is provided in Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/204.

13.

Domain statements should be as precise as possible in order to enable EETS providers to make well-informed business decisions when choosing to offer their services on the market. The domain statement, which needs to be regularly maintained by the toll charger, is to set out the general conditions for EETS providers in accordance with Article 6(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/520. The domain statement should set out all the relevant services that toll chargers expect from EETS providers, as listed under point 16 of these guidelines. Similarly, the methodology for the remuneration of EETS providers is to be fully described in the commercial conditions set out in the domain statement in accordance with Article 7(2), second sentence, read in conjunction with recital 38 of Directive (EU) 2019/520, and with point 1.2 of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/204. Given the fundamental role of the domain statement in setting out the respective rights and obligations of EETS providers and toll chargers and in view of the principle of transparency as referred to in recitals 20 and 22 and Article 7(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/520, contracts between EETS providers and toll chargers for the provision of EETS should not contain significant new elements not mentioned in the domain statement. This however does not apply if the contract is made public together with the domain statement.

14.

The scope of services, the remuneration methodology and the level of remuneration of EETS providers set out in the domain statement should not be changed, except as a result of maintenance performed by the toll charger as referred to in point 13 above or as a result of new or amended national or Union legislation. EETS providers and toll chargers should engage in a dialogue in view of adapting the level of remuneration of the EETS providers in case the changes to the scope of the services, including to operational requirements, resulting from new or amended national or Union legislation involve additional costs for the EETS providers.

15.

A transparent, non-discriminatory and identical methodology for determining the remuneration of all EETS providers in a given EETS domain is necessary to comply with Article 7(2), first sentence of Directive (EU) 2019/520. This methodology should be valid for a reasonable, predetermined period of time. In accordance with the second sentence of that paragraph, that methodology must be part of the commercial conditions set out in the published domain statement. However, that does not prevent toll chargers from using relevant performance indicators in their relationship with EETS providers, which could result in differences in their actual remuneration, in so far as those performance indicators are part of the methodology, are achievable, are transparent, and are non-discriminatory.

16.

In practice, the services rendered by EETS providers, which should be remunerated and can be considered as making up the general business structure of an EETS provider, can be grouped as follows: (a) ‘customer management’, comprising services related to: (i) the registration of EETS users and vehicles; (ii) customers information and support, including targeted marketing and communication activities, insofar as they are specified and requested by the toll charger; (iii) invoicing of customers; and (iv) management of the contracts with users; (b) ‘toll charger management’ comprising services related to: (i) management of contracts with toll chargers; (ii) monitoring of and reporting key performance indicators; (iii) tasks related to ‘suitability for use’, as defined under point (14) of Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2019/520; and (iv) transferring toll payments; (c) ‘technical management’ comprising services related to: (i) procuring and certifying OBE hardware; (ii) developing and maintaining OBE software; (iii) the technical operation and the distribution of OBE; (iv) implementation and operation of back office systems hardware and software; and (v) implementation of the toll charger interfaces; (d) enforcement related services, such as system design, when requested by the toll charger and replacing or complementing enforcement tasks not performed by the toll charger. The remuneration of the above-mentioned services should include ‘company management’ costs related to: (i) human resources; (ii) accounting and taxes; (iii) legal services, and other similar services.

17.

In accordance with the principle of transparency referred to in Article 7(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/520, the domain statement should also clearly indicate services that are excluded from remuneration because they are not performed by the EETS provider, for example, toll road usage detection (6), where this is performed centrally by the toll charger.

18.

In accordance with Article 7(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/520, in domains with a main service provider, ‘the methodology for calculating the remuneration of EETS providers [is to follow] the same structure as the remuneration of comparable services provided by the main service provider’. That means that for comparable services rendered, the same parameters (such as number of kilometres, number of on-board equipment) are used in the methodology for calculating the remuneration of both types of providers. However, this does not necessarily have to lead to an identical level of remuneration for the two types of providers for the same services rendered.

19.

Indeed, in accordance with Article 7(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/520, the level of remuneration of the main service provider and that of EETS providers may differ provided that this is justified by the elements listed in points (a) and (b) of that paragraph. Those differences should be highlighted and explained in the EETS domain statement, in accordance with the principle of transparency, and as laid down in point 1.3 of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/204.

20.

Article 7(3), point (a), of Directive (EU) 2019/520 allows the remuneration of EETS providers to differ from that of the main service provider where this is justified by the cost of specific requirements and obligations imposed on the latter. Similarly, if the obligations and tasks of the EETS providers go beyond those of the main service provider, the EETS providers are entitled to receive a higher remuneration than the main service provider.

21.

Article 7(3), point (b), of Directive (EU) 2019/520 allows the toll charger to deduct fixed charges from the remuneration of EETS providers on the basis of some of the costs it incurs. The Commission notes that this provision has never been used by toll chargers. The EETS aims at a Union-wide tolling service for road users and has multiple benefits for users, as point 3 of these guidelines says. It is the road user who is the main beneficiary of EETS, which the Directive aims at promoting. The Commission is therefore of the opinion that, when appropriate, it is preferable to include the costs of operating and maintaining an EETS-compliant system, including the accreditation costs incurred by the toll charger, in the toll to be paid by the road user.

22.

In addition to services rendered to the toll charger, EETS providers also render, in particular through the use of an OBE, services to road users, other than the collection of tolls. Some of the resulting costs are common to both types of services. In accordance with the principle of transparency, for the calculation of the remuneration, these common costs should be made known to the toll charger by the EETS providers so that they can be allocated to each type of service based on usual cost accounting methods.

23.

EETS providers have to adapt to the requirements of each domain statement. The complexity of this task results in specific costs which have to be considered by the toll charger. At the same time, the provision of similar EETS services in various toll domains can give rise to cost efficiencies. When determining the remuneration of the EETS provider, the toll charger can take these aspects into account.

3.   FORMULA FOR CALCULATING THE REMUNERATION OF EETS PROVIDERS

24.

The services rendered by EETS providers and referred to in point 16 of these guidelines generate costs that can be remunerated through various types of fees (fee per user/company, fee per registered vehicle, fee per active OBE assigned to a company, fee as a percentage of the amount of toll revenue collected, fee per number of transactions processed, annual fixed fee). Those fees together constitute the overall remuneration of EETS providers.

25.

To establish a formula for the remuneration of EETS providers, the fees referred to in point 24 of these guidelines could be grouped into the four main categories set out below: (a) FixFee: a fee remunerating the costs of business processes or other costs that do not relate to the number of transactions, the total distance travelled, the number of vehicles or the amount of toll revenue collected; (b) Feetrx : a fee for using the tolled network, namely the number of transactions or number of kilometres driven; (c) Feevehicle : a fee for the number of vehicles handled or the number of (active) OBEs for a given toll domain and their management. It can also apply to the number of users (individuals and companies); (d) Feetoll : a percentage of the amount of toll revenue collected by the EETS provider. It can also apply to requirements imposed by the toll charger in relation to the bank guarantee to be provided under point 1.1(c) of Annex II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/204, or costs relating to the user’s credit rating/general payment risk.

26.

Once it has been determined that remuneration is to be paid for EETS services referred to in point 16 of these guidelines, each one should be covered by only one fee category. Each fee category, when relevant, can thus cover several EETS services to be remunerated (7). Fee categories should be used in the calculation of remuneration on the basis of the actual services provided in a given toll domain and the specificities of each domain. The time frame for remuneration should also be set (yearly or monthly), and a clear description of all fee categories should be provided for each domain.

27.

Once the value of the various fee categories referred to in point 25 of these guidelines has been determined, the following remuneration formula (8), adapted to the specificities of each domain, can be used to determine the remuneration:  (9)

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(1)  Directive (EU) 2019/520 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating cross-border exchange of information on the failure to pay road fees in the Union (OJ L 91, 29.3.2019, p. 45, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/520/oj), which had to be transposed into the national laws of the Member States by 19 October 2021.

(2)  Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/204 of 28 November 2019 on detailed obligations of European Electronic Toll Service providers, minimum content of the European Electronic Toll Service domain statement, electronic interfaces, requirements for interoperability constituents and repealing Decision 2009/750/EC (OJ L 43, 17.2.2020, p. 49, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2020/204/oj).

(3)  Disagreements between EETS providers and toll chargers and national mediation procedures as provided for under Article 12 of Directive (EU) 2019/520.

(4)  European Commission: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, Mobycon, Plan.ES and Rapp Trans, Study on the remuneration of EETS (European Electronic Toll Service) – Analysis of existing remuneration schemes in the EU and relevant parameters for the remuneration of EETS, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2832/1900355.

(5)  In accordance with Article 12(2) and (3) of Directive (EU) 2019/520, the conciliation Body is to ensure that all documents needed for the mediation procedure are in its possession within one month of it receiving a request to intervene and is to issue its opinion no later than six months after receiving the request to intervene.

(6)  The toll road detection is the service whereby a system processes the data and reconstructs the vehicle’s route, allowing for route verification and determining the amount due.

(7)  For example, Feevehicle can cover services relating to registering users and vehicles, customer support, contract management, etc.

(8)  For further details about the use of the formula, please consult the study referred to in footnote 4.

(9)   Notrx represents the number of transactions processed or the number of kilometers driven in a certain period of time. Novehicle represents the number of vehicles or OBEs counted in a certain period of time. Tollamount represents the toll amount in currency value per period of time (the processing of credited or reimbursed tolls should be taken into account).