Article 3

United Kingdom

For journeys which involve transit of goods by road through Austria, the regime established for journeys on own account and for journeys for hire or reward under the First Council Directive on the establishment of common rules for certain types of carriage of goods by road of 23 July 1962^f1 and Regulation (EEC) No 881/92 shall apply subject to the provisions of this Article.

From 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2004, in order to encourage the use of environment-friendly heavy goods vehicles for transit traffic through Austria the following provisions shall apply:

(a)

the transit of heavy goods vehicles which, otherwise, would use five points or less shall not be subject to the transitional points system;

(b)

the transit of heavy goods vehicles using six, seven or eight points shall be subject to the transitional points system^f2;

(c)

the transit of heavy goods vehicles using more than eight points shall be prohibited, with the exception of the transit of such heavy goods vehicles registered in Greece and of the transit of certain highly specialised vehicles of high cost and with a long economic lifespan;

(d)

the total NO_x emissions from heavy goods vehicles crossing Austria in transit shall be set according to the values given for the year concerned in Annex I;

(e)

the value of the total NO_x emissions attributable to heavy goods vehicles shall be determined on the basis of the former ecopoint system as laid down in Protocol 9 to the 1994 Act of Accession. Under that system, any heavy goods vehicle crossing Austria in transit shall require a number of points equivalent to its NO_x emissions (authorised under the conformity of production (COP) value or type-approval value). The method of calculation and administration of such points is described in Annex II;

(f)

Austria shall issue and make available in good time the points required for the administration of the transitional points system, pursuant to Annex II, for heavy goods vehicles crossing Austria in transit;

(g)

the annual total quota for NO_x emissions is given in Annex I and shall be managed and distributed among Member States by the Commission in accordance with the same principles as those applicable to the ecopoint system in 2003, pursuant to the provisions of Commission Regulation (EC) No 3298/94^f3;

(h)

the reallocation of points of the Community reserve shall be weighted according to the criteria set out in Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) 3298/94 and, more particularly, according to the actual use made of the points allocated to Member States as well as to the specific needs of hauliers transiting through Austria on the route Lindau-Bregenz-St. Margrethen (Hörbranz-Transit).

If the ‘Eurovignette’ proposal on charging for the use of infrastructure is not adopted by 31 December 2004, all terms of paragraph 2 shall be extended for one further year, and, if that proposal is not adopted by 31 December 2005, for a second year at the most^f4. After 2006, no transitional points system shall be applied.

The Commission shall manage the transitional points system in accordance with the applicable provisions of Regulation (EC) No 3298/94. The Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5(2), shall adopt, if necessary, further measures concerning the procedures relating to the transitional points system, the distribution of points and technical issues concerning the application of this Article.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: OJ 70, 6.8.1962, p. 2005/62. Directive as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 881/92 (OJ L 95, 9.4.1992, p. 1).
f2: The available points for 2004 are given in Annex I.
f3: Commission Regulation (EC) No 3298/94 of 21 December 1994 laying down detailed measures concerning the system of rights of transit (ecopoints) for heavy goods vehicles transiting through Austria (OJ L 341, 30.12.1994, p. 20). Regulation as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 2012/2000 (OJ L 241, 26.9.2000, p. 18).
f4: The available points for 2005 and 2006 are given in Annex I.