Report on vignette exemption for freeway sections near the border

Mar 24, 2021 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The amendment to the Federal Road Toll Act 2002 (Bundesstraßen-Mautgesetz, BStMG) passed by the National Council on 13 November 2019 was supposed to solve the problem: Due to the existing toll obligation in Austria, there was "almost continuous evasive traffic on non-toll motorway roads", especially on three motorway sections close to the border (Salzburg, Tyrol, Vorarlberg). In December 2019, the amendment exempted these three particularly affected areas from the obligation to display a vignette for motor vehicles (up to 3.5 tons maximum permissible gross weight). Due to a legal regulation, the responsible Federal Minister was obliged to carry out an evaluation and to present it in a report:

The background of the amendment is to prevent evasive traffic on non-toll roads and thus to prevent an impairment of the safety and ease of traffic as well as noise pollution and air pollution. The traffic and environmental effects of the measures were now examined. The aim was to identify modal shift effects, to show to what extent the exemption from vignettes relieves the burden and how they affect ASFINAG's toll revenues.

As a result of the report, it can be summarized that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting reduction in traffic on Austria's roads, there is no sufficient data situation. These data are not sufficient for a systematic before-and-after comparison, which is also pointed out by the affected federal provinces in their statements. The data that are available show that there has been a significant reduction in traffic, especially at weekends. However, there was no relevant reduction in environmental impacts (air pollution or noise), whereby the decisive effects cannot be clearly determined due to the data situation. This is also the reason why an introduction of the vignette exemption is not (yet) planned.

Report of the Federal Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology; Short Report - Evaluation of the Vignette Exemption Transport and Environment; Parliamentary Correspondence