"Interoperability" is one of the key words in current transport policies. For Switzerland's new distance-related Heavy Vehicle Fee (HVF), this means that in an ideal situation the collecting system for this tax could be integrated with the systems of neighbouring countries, and also the HVF on-board unit (OBU) could be utilised for other applications. The report discusses the technical and contractual interoperability issues in detail, and demonstrates the significant variations between current European systems. It will probably take several years from the introduction of the HVF in 2001, for the collecting system and an OBU to be used uniformly on motorways and toll routes in other countries. The functionality of the HVF OBU could be extended to cover several additional services such as access control for city, or construction site logistics. It could also be generally used for the administration of transit controls, for the enforcement of weight, speed and time limit regulations, and for a mileage-related motor vehicle road tax system. There are, however, some technical, legal and political obstacles to overcome, and the introduction of HVF at the beginning of the year 2001 represents a major challenge that must not be jeopardised by the introduction of additional applications. (A)
Samenvatting