Belgium to introduce nationwide light-vehicle vignette in 2027

Following on from the cancellation of the Brussels Smartmove programme - which would have implemented distance based congestion pricing, the three Belgian regions have agreed to establish a nationwide vignette (time-based charge) for light vehicles from 1 July 2027.  

It will cover travel on all motorways, highways and many major roads in all of Belgium, and cover all vehicles with a registered weight of < 3.5 tonnes excluding motorcycles. This includes all EVs, PHEVs and BEHVs, as well as diesel and petrol powered vehicles.

What is a vignette?

Vignettes are an unknown concept outside Europe, and are essentially access passes bought in advance of travel, for use of a road network within a jurisdiction.  Vignettes exist for light vehicles in the following countries in Europe:

• Switzerland
• Austria
• Czechia
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Hungary
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Moldova

Of course you wouldn't know this from the EU's published map of light vehicle charging below which characteristically ignores non-EU Member States, such as Switzerland and Moldova.

Map of light vehicle road charging in the EU

Vignettes are legally what is called a “road user charge” under EU law. They are distinct from both tolls and distance-based charges (which are called tolls under EU law). Confusing? Yes. 

Tolls apply to specific facilities and are charged on actual use. Distance based road user charges are effectively metering for actual use travelled. Vignettes are time-based road user charges, which are sold on the basis of prepaying for access to a network for a set number of days.

Thinking of vignettes as prepaid access charges to a network of roads is perhaps the best explanation. It doesn't matter if you actually use the roads, you buy a "pass" to use them for a set period. It's a more flexible version of the annual vehicle registration or licence fee seen in virtually all jurisdictions.

What will they cost?

Belgium will be selling vignettes for 1 day, 10 days, 1 month, 2 months or 1 year.  This gives users flexibility to pay for a single transit of the country (common for driving from say France to the Netherlands) or for a longer visit. All light vehicles using the road network will be charged, including both Belgian registered and visiting foreign registered vehicles.

The rates for vignettes vary based on duration and the emissions class of the vehicle. A one year vignette will vary from €90 for EVs through to €125 for older higher emitting vehicles.  The charges for shorter periods for an average car (rated EURO IV) show there’s clearly much higher charges for very short periods.

1 day - €9 (EV €8.10)

10 days - €12

1 month - €19

2 months - €30

1 year - €100

Let’s be clear this is not a replacement for fuel tax. Vehicle owners in Flanders and Wallonia will see reform of registration fees, meaning the new vignette will partly be offset by such reductions. It is not clear if the same will happen in Brussels.

A major issue will be whether the European Commission approves of it. When Germany attempted to introduce a light vehicle vignette, it also proposed significant reductions in annual vehicle registration fees to largely offset the charge for German registered vehicle owners.  The European Union Court of Justice ruled that the proposal was discriminatory, because by reducing the fees for German vehicle owners, the burden of the vignette lay mostly on foreign registered vehicles.

It is expected to raise over €450m per annum gross, but around €300m of that would be offset by reduction in other fees. The net revenue will be used for road maintenance and upgrades.

How will it work?

Light vehicle owners will be expected to purchase vignettes through an online portal, linking their vehicle number plate to the vignette. Vignettes will be enforced by the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras on key strategic locations, with failure to pay enforced by a fine. The cameras will check if a vignette has been paid for a specific vehicle.

What about fuel tax?

No EU Member State has moved to replace fuel tax. Only Iceland has replaced part of its fuel tax with a distance-based road user charge, but it is not an EU Member State. A key issue in Europe is that the EU Energy Directive requires member states to maintain tax on petroleum at a minimum level of €0.359 per litre (US$1.59 per gallon). 

Any road user charge to replace fuel tax could currently only reduce it down to that level. Malta has its petrol tax at exactly the lowest limit, so it could not reduce it. The Netherlands has the highest petrol tax at  €0.845/l (US$3.74 per gallon), so could conceivably reduce fuel duty by a significant amount in exchange for a distance based road user charge. 

Could vignettes have wider application?

Clearly "yes" if it can be implemented in a way that avoid being overthrown by the European Court of Justice. So Belgium will be a test case.  It is entirely possible that if Belgium succeeds, other European countries will introduce light vehicle vignettes, especially the ones with few toll roads (think the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden), and Germany may try again.  It might be seen as a step on the path towards distance-based charges for light vehicles. Why? Because Austria does this right now.

In 2004, Austria's Federal highway company - ASFINAG - introduced a distance-based toll, using DSRC technology, for heavy vehicles using its highway network, but also introduced a vignette for light vehicles. These two charges essentially fully fund ASFINAG (alongside other revenue it generates from facilities such as roadside EV charging stations), and balances charging by weight/distance and emissions for heavy vehicles, and pre-paid duration of travel for light vehicles. 

There may be a case in future for a nationwide distance based charge for all vehicles, on all roads, not just the ASFINAG network, but pressure for that appears modest at present, and would likely only come as a response to declining fuel tax revenue.

A vignette, as a prepaid pass for travel, is a particularly elegant solution for visiting vehicles, as it is easy to understand, sell and enforce. That compares to paying by distance, which would require some independent measurement of distance at the point of entry and exit. Without access to data from OEM telematics, mandating third-party devices with suitable applications, or requiring imaging of odometers at borders (which are almost entirely open), distance based charges by country for light vehicles become challenging to implement for visitors.

While Europe looks at this challenge, the implications for federal jurisdictions are considerable. It is entirely possible to see the United States being a patchwork of vignette systems for visitors and local vehicles, with locals paying at registration and visitors buying passes to travel in each others' states, maybe as an alternative to distance based fees.  

What's wrong about vignettes?

Vignettes are blunt, and they don't reflect actual road use. A one-day pass may be for a short distance of travel once, or it might be for a very long trip. A year pass covers both regular use a few times a month and daily.  So its reflection of use is poor.  Those who pay the most are actually those using it the least, as charges are relatively high for short period passes (visitors), but lowest for locals who pay annually, but regularly use the network throughout the year.  This may be politically popular (and questionable in terms of EU law*), but is not a "usage" based charge.

All of the European distance-based truck toll/ heavy vehicle road user charging systems replaced vignettes for heavy vehicles. The effect of this change was to generate much more revenue, because actual usage grew compared to estimated average usage based on time-based passes.

So I don't think vignettes are an ideal option to replace fuel tax, as a way of charging electric vehicles for road use, but they are not the worst option to do so. They might provide an alternative for just those vehicles, as a step towards distance based charging.

*I was part of the Booz & Co team that wrote this report for the European Commission ("Study on Impacts of Application of the Vignette Systems to Private Vehicles") in 2012. This is a comprehensive review of vignette systems for light vehicles in EU Member States at the time, including issues around rate setting and enforcement practices.

Romania to be the next country to implement heavy vehicle road user charging

Following on from the Netherlands on 1 July, Romania will become the 15th European country to launch a distance based road user charging system (truck toll in European parlance), using GNSS technology. It becomes the 16th full country worldwide to have heavy vehicle RUC and the 20th jurisdiction globally to introduce such a system (bearing in mind I am counting the nationwide DSRC based toll systems in Austria and Slovenia in this count, as they are priced by distance across the national highway networks).

TollRo as it is branded is expected to be launched on 1 October (this is a second delay from 1 July and 1 January) and will effectively mean heavy vehicle RUC systems will apply from the Low Countries at the English Channel (Belgium/Netherlands) all the way through central and eastern Europe to the Greek border, and the borders of the former USSR (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova).  TollRo will be the responsibility of CNAIR.

CNAIR is the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration.

It applies to travel on all motorways (“A” roads), expressways (“DE” roads) and national roads (“DN” roads). This covers over 18,100km of roads (around 29,000 miles).

TollRo will apply to all heavy vehicles with a registered gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes.  It will replace Romania’s vignette system for those vehicles (although the vignette will remain for light vehicles). The rates for the vignette (essentially a time based pass for those unfamiliar) are below

Category	Vehicle type	Validity	RON	US$
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	1 day	20.39	$4.00
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	7 days	81.54	$16.00
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	30 days	163.08	$32.00
C	Goods vehicle 3.5 t–7.5 t	12 months	1,630.82	$320.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	1 day	35.67	$7.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	7 days	142.70	$28.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	30 days	285.39	$56.00
D	Goods vehicle 7.5 t–12 t	12 months	2,853.93	$560.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	1 day	45.87	$9.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	7 days	183.47	$36.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	30 days	366.93	$72.00
E	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, up to 3 axles	12 months	3,669.34	$720.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	1 day	56.06	$11.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	7 days	280.30	$55.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	30 days	616.65	$121.00
F	Goods vehicle ≥12 t, 4 or more axles	12 months	6,166.52	$1,210.00

Charges will be based on:

• Distance travelled;

• Vehicle weight category;

• Road type (different rates for motorways compared to national highways); and

• Emissions class.

Vehicle owners will have two initial choices to comply with the system:

• Account with a telematics provider (typically supplying a GNSS enabled on-board unit)

• Pre-declared single trip route ticket

To enable interoperability between account managers for toll and RUC systems across Europe into Romania, it has set up an organisation called Serviciul European de Taxare Rutieră Electronică (RoSETRE). It is essentially the European Electronic Tolling System platform for Romania. This will enable existing providers in neighbouring countries to sign up to be certified to operate in Romania, so that, for example, a Hungarian registered truck using a service provider for the Hungarian HuGO system, could use that very system and the account for that system to pay Romania’s charges.  

The rates for motorways and expressways are as follows (per kilometre in Romanian Leu):

 

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	0.31	0.38	0.43	0.52	0.61
Over 12 t	0.42	0.49	0.56	0.69	0.81

 

Lower rates apply for “main national roads” presumably reflecting the lower level of service

 

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	0.25	0.30	0.35	0.43	0.49
Over 12 t	0.32	0.39	0.45	0.56	0.62

 

For US readers, the rates in US$ per mile are below

 

Motorways and expressways — approximate charges in US$ per mile

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	$0.111	$0.136	$0.154	$0.186	$0.218
Over 12 t	$0.150	$0.175	$0.200	$0.247	$0.290

 

Main national roads — approximate charges in US$ per mile

Vehicle Mass	Euro 6	Euro 5	Euro 4	Euro 3	Euro ≤2
3.5 t - 12 t	$0.089	$0.107	$0.125	$0.154	$0.175
Over 12 t	$0.114	$0.140	$0.161	$0.200	$0.222

Seven providers are apparently registered to be account managers for the Romanian system. I'll provide more details once it is up and running (and hopefully it won't be delayed for a third time)!

Iceland's world first: What does it teach others?

Ten years ago nobody talked about Iceland and road user charging.  Even five years ago there was little thought given to the small European island, which is both outside the European Union and inside NATO.  With a population barely exceeding 400,000, it ranks alongside the Bahamas and Brunei in numbers.  In economic size it sits alongside Honduras, Cyprus and Georgia, although in GDP per capita (PPP) it exceeds Australia, Germany, Japan, France and Saudi Arabia.   Iceland's land area is slightly smaller than Guatemala, but larger than Hungary, south Korea or Jordan.  It's more than double the size of Switzerland or the Netherlands.  However, its road network is small in length, akin to Burundi and smaller than North Macedonia. It has a similar road density to Australia, indicative of a vast area of undeveloped land.

Around 64% of the population of Iceland lives in the Reykjavik metropolitan area. Around a fifth of its population are immigrants, a quarter of whom are Poles. 93% of the population speak Icelandic, but around 98% know English.

The point of all this is to note it is unique in many ways, but it is not especially small compared to many countries. It certainly is a high-income country, and has a notable number of immigrants as a proportion of population.

Given all that, the launch on 1 January 2026 of the world's first all vehicle road user charging (RUC) system is notable as an achievement. 

I wrote before about the launch of EV/PHEV/Hydrogen light vehicle RUC as a big step forward and then again in 2025 it was confirmed that Iceland would transition all vehicles to RUC, and abolish fuel tax. 

Not only is it an expansion of scope of the EV/PHEV/Hydrogen vehicle "kilometer tax", but it also appears to replace the heavy vehicle kilometer tax that has been in place since 

How is it being implemented?

Electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen light vehicles have been subject to the fee since early 2024, so will continue to pay as before.  They comprise around 16.5% of the vehicle fleet as of the end of 2025.  Around a third of cars sold new in Iceland in 2025 are battery electric vehicles, with another 21% cars sold being plug-in hybrid vehicles.  

As the fee applies for distance travelled in January 2026, it is expected that an odometer reading will be submitted on 1 February 2026 (with the deadline of 14 February for submitting it).  Those that have not submitted a reading for distance travelled in January will be assessed based on the average distance travelled by a car in Iceland during the month of January.  This is the basis for future fee payments. Either provide a measurement or be invoiced for an average.

If no odometer reading is made by 1 April 2026, a fine of ISK20000 (US$164.28) will be levied and it will be mandatory for the vehicles to be driven to a vehicle inspection point to have the odometer read.  On this occasion, vehicle owners will have 30 days to do this after 1 April.

There are various options for vehicle owners to submit odometer readings:

• The Icelandic Government's "island.is" app;
• Icelandic Government's internet portal account;
• N1 app (app for a  fuel, EV charging station and convenience store chain)
• At scheduled vehicle safety inspections (Most vehicles are required to be inspected annually)
• Scheduling an odometer reading at a vehicle inspection station.

Vehicles up to a maximum registered weight of 10 tonnes (and rental cars) must submit a reading at least once a year, but may do so every 30 days.  Vehicles above that weight must submit a reading at least once every six months, but can submit new ones at a time. 

Given the legal requirement for vehicle safety inspections, this becomes the primary enforcement mechanism.

Change of ownership triggers a requirement to report the odometer reading at that point, so that the previous owner can be invoiced for the final amount, and the subsequent one has the account for the fee.

There are no telematics based options in Iceland at present, although it appears likely that there will be a strong case for enabling this for trucks with trailers at least, to reduce compliance costs.

How often must you pay?

Vehicle owners are required to pay monthly (with 14 days to pay after each invoice). The choice being whether to send an odometer reading so that it is actual distance driven, or to have an estimate calculated. Estimates will be based on previous readings, or if not available, but the average reading by vehicle type calculated by the Directorate of Internal Revenue (which for cars is 40km per day). 

How much are vehicles being charged?

The rate structure is based on registered vehicle weight as follow (US$ are rounded estimates based on today's conversion from Icelandic Krona.

Vehicle class/weight	ISK per kilometre	US$ per kilometre
Motorcycle/moped	4.15	0.034
0 – 3.5 tonnes	6.95	0.057
3.5 – 5 tonnes	9.85	0.08
5 – 6 tonnes	10.44	0.086
6 – 7 tonnes	11.06	0.09
7 – 8 tonnes	11.73	0.096
8 – 9 tonnes	12.43	0.102
9 – 10 tonnes	13.18	0.108
10 – 11 tonnes	13.98	0.115
11 – 12 tonnes	14.81	0.124
12 – 13 tonnes	16.29	0.134
13 – 14 tonnes	17.92	0.147
14 – 15 tonnes	19.71	0.162
15 – 16 tonnes	21.68	0.178
16 – 17 tonnes	23.86	0.197
17 – 18 tonnes	26.25	0.215
18 – 19 tonnes	27.37	0.224
19 – 20 tonnes	28.55	0.234
20 – 21 tonnes	29.77	0.244
21 – 22 tonnes	31.06	0.255
22 – 23 tonnes	32.40	0.266
23 – 24 tonnes	33.79	0.277
24 – 25 tonnes	35.24	0.289
25 – 26 tonnes	36.75	0.301
26 – 27 tonnes	38.04	0.312
27 – 28 tonnes	39.36	0.323
28 – 29 tonnes	40.74	0.334
29 – 30 tonnes	42.17	0.346
30 – 31 tonnes	43.65	0.358
Over 31 tonnes	45.17	0.37

Buses get a 10-30% discount for the first three years, and electric, hydrogen, methanol and methane powered heavy vehicles get an 80% discount for the next five years. 

Trailers with registered weights over 10 tonnes face similar fees as powered vehicles do in the above table.  Trailers are not required to be fitted with hubodometers (as in New Zealand), but those that do not have the fees added to the powered unit, with an independent recording needed to be made by the owner of that unit for distance travelled with trailers (it seems likely that this could be a compliance issue). 

Exemptions

Three categories of vehicles are exempt:

- Vehicles for use by rescue teams

- Vehicles registered no later than 1 January 1965 or earlier if demonstrated that the vehicle has no odometer and cannot be equipped with one

 - Vehicles owned by foreign embassies and diplomats.

Fuel tax?

On 1 January 2026, fuel tax was abolished in Iceland, resulting in a reduction in the price of petrol and diesel by around US$0.656-0.738 per litre on average (with some petrol dropping by around US$0.78 per litre).  This is a reduction of around 30% in the price of petrol and diesel overall.

Revenue from the new system is expected to be akin to that from fuel tax, being around ISK22 billion (US$180 million) per annum.

Lessons to draw?

It is possible to rollout a simple odometer based RUC system, with easy means to report distance travelled using apps as long as it is backed up by a regular vehicle inspection system that provides solid evidence of distance travelled from each vehicle.  Together, it means that there is a backup that reduces the risk of fraud.

Invoicing vehicle owners monthly, either by actual or estimated distance travelled means RUC can be seen as more of a utility bill, than a toll or an irregular tax.

Having the option of estimated bills helps to lower the burden for those who don't want to report distance regularly, but also incentivises vehicle owners to report distance to get exact invoices.

Starting with a smaller proportion of the fleet (EVs/PHEVs) reduces risks of any system, because it can provide a bedding in of the business rules and processes with a smaller number of customers (and in particular, ones more likely to be compliant).

Abolishing fuel tax at the same time as rolling out RUC for all vehicles, helps build public acceptance and trust that RUC exists to replace fuel tax, but it is unclear how easy it would be to introduce RUC for all vehicles in one step, if the vehicle fleet were significantly larger.

Having a RUC rates table based on weight classes is likely to better reflect the different levels of wear and tear on the network based on weight, noting that fixed costs don't vary by vehicle weight.  However, I question whether one tonne increments are necessary from 5 tonnes upwards, rather than wider bands to reflect averages.

Sure, Iceland has a small population, with many concentrated in one city, and it has little cross border travel  (so there is no need for any sophisticated means to distinguish distance travelled outside the country or to tax visitors' vehicles, as this happens infrequently), but it has the foundations of a functional, efficient system to collect revenue and send reasonable price signals as to paying for the costs of providing road infrastructure.  

There was some opposition to the tax, mainly from vehicle retailers concerned the tax would suppress EV sales, which it appears to have initially done, but there remains significant savings from owning an EV compared to a petrol vehicle, based on operating costs. 

It's early days to determine how much non-compliance there is, which will be important to watch. In particular, whether it affects vehicle registration compliance or if residents of rural areas may be less compliant.  

One thing to note is Iceland largely did all of this without a pilot, and without an extended period of detailed design and testing.  Iceland had a small amount of help in the early days, but between showing interest in RUC and putting all vehicles on it, has been a period of under five years.  The contrast with pretty much any other jurisdiction is astonishing, and perhaps demonstrates a clarity of policy objectives and assessment of options that other jurisdictions could do well to emulate.