The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has granted Austria’s claim and overturned the German car toll on Tuesday. The relief and joy in Austria is great across all political directions. Transport Minister Andreas Reichhardt was satisfied in a first reaction to the verdict. He now assumes that Germany takes the plans off the table or changes the toll so that it is then non-discriminatory.
„We like to support you with know-how, if that is what you want,“ said Reichhardt on Tuesday in front of journalists. The judgment of the ECJ is remarkable and leaves nothing to be desired in clearness, so Reichhardt. All criticisms of Austria have been recognized.
It is therefore also an important signal for other areas of the EU. „I do not want to imagine what that would have meant if a precedent had been created here.“ Austria had filed a lawsuit in the autumn of 2017 against the German car toll. At that time, the Minister of Transport was Jörg Leichtfried (SPÖ).
The SPÖ delegation leader in the European Parliament, Andreas Schieder, said: „The ECJ today becomes the airbag for European motorists.“ Former Transport Minister Norbert Hofer (FPÖ) said he was glad that the ECJ judges had followed Austria’s arguments. NEOS cheered on the „clear sign for an open Europe without borders“.
The motorist clubs ARBÖ and ÖAMTC were also relieved. Also the autocritical traffic club VCÖ was glad about the judgment, „because the German toll model would have contradicted the European idea“.
As the ECJ argues
The verdict came as a surprise as an ECJ Advocate General recommended in a legal opinion to dismiss the case when preparing the case in February. The judges of the highest European court often follow the opinion.
The CJEU justifies its decision as follows: An infrastructure charge in connection with the tax relief for motor vehicle tax, which benefits vehicle owners registered in Germany, constitutes indirect discrimination based on nationality and infringes the principles of the free movement of goods and the freedom to provide services.
Disability in access to the German market
The infrastructure charge paid by German vehicle owners would be fully compensated, so that the economic burden of this levy is in fact solely on the owners and drivers of vehicles registered in other EU states, the ECJ continued.
With regard to the free movement of goods, the Court found that the German car toll was liable to hinder the access of products from other Member States to the German market. The Court also notes that the contested measures are likely to hinder the access of service providers and recipients from another EU country to the German market.
By contrast, the EU judges ruled that, contrary to Austria’s submissions, the modalities of the design and implementation of the infrastructure charge were not discriminatory. These are the random surveillance, the possible refusal to continue with the vehicle in question, the subsequent recovery of the infrastructure charge, the possible imposition of a fine and the payment of a security.
Kapsch sees no loss
Georg Kapsch, head of Kapsch TrafficCom, said Tuesday morning at the beginning of the annual press conference of the listed Viennese company that he could „say nothing at the moment“ about the ECJ ruling on the German car toll. Losses would not arise the toll specialist, who had been awarded the contract for the collection together with the German oeticket mother CTS Eventim.
„We have to look at the verdict, there may be requirements inside that we do not know yet. We have contractual protection. Nobody needs to believe that we are going to make a loss there, „said the Kapsch TrafficCom boss to journalists.
Austria complained in 2017
Austria brought an action for failure to fulfill obligations before the European Court of Justice because it considers the scheme discriminatory due to the relieving of German vehicle owners. Austria was supported by the Netherlands in the proceeding.
It was one of the rare cases in which one EU country initiated another infringement case against another. The dispute between Austria and Germany concerned a principle of the European Union: a prohibition of discrimination against EU citizens.
Heart project of the Bavarian CSU
The toll laws in Germany had already been decided in 2015
