1 Introduction The Directive 2004/5

1 Introduction The Directive 2004/52 of the European Parliament and the Council restricts the implementation of new Electronic Fee Collection Systems in the EU to some specific technologies to enable the interoperability among these systems. On the other hand this directive leaves the definition of details of local EFC implementations to the member states. These apparently contradictory definitions require a detailed description of the boundaries of an acceptable variety on both sides – the vehicle units roaming through Europe and the operators defining details of their set-ups. Currently a lot of different activities are resulting in the partial definition of these limits: ƒ Various experts and standardisation groups are working on details of the definition of the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) based on GNSS/CN technology ƒ Well advanced is the technical specification ISO 17575 defining the overall architecture and concentrating on the data exchange between an OBU and the back office ƒ A first (in details partly incomplete) draft of an implementation of ISO 17575 defining the minimum features to achieve interoperability among a variety of EETS operators is defined in the “MISTER” (Minimum Interoperability Specification for Tolling on European Roads) ƒ Other standards on short, medium and long range communication are ready or well advanced ƒ New standardisation items and projects are defined and work on them will start soon
But it is not completely clear whether all items needed for a widespread introduction in Europe are covered. This report is the output of a series of workshops held by experts from different EU member states looking for the available definitions and environments to find out what is missing to make consistent and complete the framework for the implementation of new EFC systems according to the EU directive enabling European-wide interoperability among these EFC systems. In order to enhance the understanding of the unclear items covered in this document it is necessary to have a common understanding of the current definition of the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS)which is briefly summarised in the following.
1.1 Summary of existing definition of the EETS In order to allow a wide range of variety in the definition of local EFC systems and still be able to handle all of this in a single OBU there are limits defined on what parameters and algorithms by which road fees may be determined. The EETS will support fee collection according to: ƒ distance travelled on dedicated roads (Germany) ƒ distance travelled in defined areas (Switzerland)