Costs of Traffic Police Are Not Infrastructure Costs According to ECJ

The Federal Association of Freight Transport, Logistics and Disposal (BGL) e.V. welcomes the clarification of fundamental questions regarding the toll calculation procedure by the ECJ. According to the European Court of Justice, the costs of the traffic police are not infrastructure costs that should be considered in the calculation of truck toll fees.

(Frankfurt am Main/Luxembourg) – The costs for the traffic police may not be included in the collection of truck tolls in Germany. This was decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today, ruling in favor of a Polish freight forwarder. The company had filed a lawsuit in Germany for the reimbursement of toll fees from the years 2010 to 2011. The Higher Administrative Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster had referred questions to the ECJ regarding the interpretation of the relevant road cost directive through a preliminary ruling procedure under Article 267 TFEU (Case C-321/19).

Only Infrastructure Costs for Setting Toll Fees

The ECJ states in its ruling that only infrastructure costs, namely for the construction, operation, maintenance, and expansion of the relevant road network, should be considered when setting toll fees. “Police activities fall under the responsibility of the state, which exercises sovereign powers and does not merely act as an operator of the road infrastructure,” the European judges ruled. Therefore, the costs of the traffic police cannot be regarded as operating costs within the meaning of the directive on the collection of fees.
Regarding the fact that the infrastructure costs in this case are only exceeded to a relatively small extent due to the consideration of the costs of the traffic police, the Court notes that the road cost directive, among other things, opposes any exceeding of infrastructure costs due to the consideration of non-eligible costs.

BGL Welcomes Decision

The BGL welcomes the clarification of fundamental questions regarding the toll calculation procedure by the ECJ. In particular, the eligibility of costs for the traffic police in the toll calculation had been questioned by the BGL in the past and addressed in its model toll lawsuits from 2009. With its decision today, the ECJ has provided legal certainty for our member companies.
Following the ECJ’s decision, the OVG in Münster still needs to decide on the specific case in the model proceedings.
www.bgl-ev.de
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