Instead of the previously announced “ecotax”, France’s Assemblée Nationale has approved a scaled-down toll for lorries, which, says T&E ‘which will do little to improve logistics efficiency as well as lorries’ environmental and health impacts’. It adds that the decision goes against a wider trend of expanding or introducing ambitious lorry km-charging schemes in other countries like Germany, Poland, Austria and Belgium.

Under the plans, lorries on French roads will have to pay a km-charge will be around €0.13/km.

The toll will only apply to vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or over and will now cover just 4,000km of main roads only – the original plan was to cover a 15,000km network of local and national roads, which now has been shrunk to.

Compared to the initial plan the approved law creates a yearly shortfall of nearly €600mn for the national funding agency for transport projects and local governments to maintain roads and promote sustainable transport.

In response, T&E said: ‘This French U-turn, which follows fierce protests by farmers of the Brittany region, runs counter to successful road charging schemes in Germany, Poland, Austria and as from 2016 in Belgium.’

It pointed out that the German lorry toll, the Maut, was introduced in 2005. It provides €4.5bn of revenues for the federal government, part of which is used to improve and maintain transport infrastructure. Contrary to what was feared prior to its introduction, transport prices hardly increased, but the charges encouraged German transporters to drive cleaner and fuller lorries, over shorter distances.

Lorelei Limousin, transport & climate campaigner at Climate Action Network France (RAC in French), said: ‘In addition to their climate impact, trucks cause enormous damage to roads and emit toxic pollutants that ruin people’s health. The fair and smart way is to let polluters pay as they do in Germany; the French way apparently is to let citizens pay.’

T&E highlighted that km-charging for lorries is a smart way to reflect the cost lorries impose on infrastructure (user charging) and charge hauliers for the congestion, pollution and accidents they cause (external costs). Road tolls also provide a powerful financial incentive for fleet managers to maximise the tonnage carried per km travelled or consider greener alternatives. 

William Todts, senior policy officer at Transport & Environment (T&E), said: ‘The European Commission is right to place road charging at the heart of its transport policy. Too many European lorries are still running empty, drive too many kilometres, and create unnecessary pollution. France’s decision is disappointing; but we know that all countries that introduced lorry charging were content about the results and expanded the tolls. So in that respect this is just a first step.’

The toll will take effect in January 2015 after a trial period of three months.