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

2. 2 2 2 September 10th, 2012 Vehicle type submitted to the tax Heavy goods vehicles over 3.5 ton Not concerned :  Agricultural vehicles  Military vehicles  Emergency vehicles  Passenger transport

3. 3 3 3 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/-Taxe-poids-lourds-.html 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.ecomouv.com

4. 4 4 4 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 5 5 5 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 6 6 6 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 6 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

7. 7 7 7 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 8 8 8 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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 12 th, 2010 Final Offer submitted on September 29th, 2010 (+1.5 month)

9. 9 9 9 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 10 10 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 11 11 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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 SECTION Pricing Point

12. 12 12 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 13 13 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 14 14 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 15 15 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 16 16 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 Etat State Non-subscribers Subscribers Interoperability

17. 17 17 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 18 18 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 19 19 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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. 20 20 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 Post control of companies French liable to tax (transport companies) Competent enforcement forces :  French Customs  Transports Control Units Intervention in companies office

21. 21 21 The French experience – lessons learned September 10th, 2012 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