At the work meeting, held on 30th June, 2021, new ASECAP activities in the EU bodies and the Reports on COPER Activities were discussed. Five webinars were organized, 3 external and 2 internal, which are: the ASECAP webinar on alternative fuels, the webinar on the EU recovery plan, the Marketing Workshop, the ASECAP webinar on the C-ITS manifest and also the ASECAP webinar on road traffic safety. More than 400 participants participated in all webinars, among them the representatives of the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Presidency of the EU Council, members of ASECAP and representatives of interested parties, experts from those fields.
As part of the consultations with the EU, ASECAP prepared 3 answers, the meeting of the secretariat COPER was held, including the management of ASECAP RISM study designs, ASECAP outlined its attitude submitted to the EU at the EIP webinar as well as the statement of ASECAP regarding the initiative and the report on the “Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy”. The protected zone data base (PZDB) has been updated, as well as the EFC webpages, in cooperation with the EFC secretariat. All chairmen of the COPER provided their activity reports.
Secretary General provided an overview of the topics: the Eurovignette database, modulations and fees for CO2 emission and user fees for heavy vehicles based on the CO2 emission, with present and future applications of toll variations or user fees based on ecological performances. A very important law on taxonomy and delegated actswere presented – the Taxonomy Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU with conditions that a certain economic activity must fulfill in order to be deemed ecologically sustainable, where 6 ecological objectives were established: Climate Change Mitigation, Climate Change Adaptation, Sustainable Use and Protection of Water and Sea Resources, Moving towards a Circular Economy, Pollution Prevention and Control and Protection and Renewal of Biodiversity and Ecosystems.
The COPER II chairwoman informed the members on the RISM directive, concerning road infrastructure safety management and presented the Study on Traffic Safety Assessment Methodology. The topic Road Marking and Signs in the EU was paid particular attention to.
In April 2021, an ASECAP workshop on marketing and communication was held and COPER II organized that virtual annual event, focusing on the impact of the pandemic on the road sector and the response of the motorway concessioners, with the aim of providing continuity of service to buyers, even during the state of emergency.
In June 2021, an ASECAP webinar on road safety was held, where COPER II, together with the ASECAP secretariat, prepared the agenda, under the auspices of MEP TRAN, with the subject – How to contribute to development of road traffic safety in order to achieve the goal “Vision Zero EU on road traffic safety“.
The Work Group for Sustainability has, based on the Initiative for 2021 and the Report on the Sustainability of the Association, ordered COPER II to make a report on that, including different elements from projects implemented already by the ASECAP concessionars for roads in their respective countries. The new work group will decide which key success indicators for sustainability will enter the ASECAP Report on Sustainability for the Digital Day, 10th November, 2021. Good cooperation with IBTTA has been requested.
The chairwoman of COPER III informed the members that an ITS directive review is expected by 2021, since there is no draft for this Review. ASECAP priorities consist of the C-ITS legal framework,which must be established, and digitalization, which provides cyber security, quality of data and responsibility for the data, and explanation of responsibility and strengthening of the road manager role. COPER 3 should be in contact with TRAN / TRAN and DG MOVE.
The following activitieshave been undertaken: ASECAP participated in public consultations, and COPER 3 was ordered to perform consulting activities for the purpose of helping the members. Participation in the “2nd Public EC Workshop on Assessment of Impact for ITS Directive Review“ is being prepared, members have given feedback on the “Assessment of Impact on Intelligent Transport System Directive Review (2010/40 / EU) and research of national governments and interested parties from the industry has been conducted.“
ASECAP organized several workshops. The first one is the ASECAP webinar on the C-ITS manifest, held in May 2021, where, together with European Commission and the European Parliament officials and interested parties, the total of 115 people from 22 countries took part. The webinar provided an assessment of what is necessary to encourage the application of C-ITS, an application for encouraging application of green, safe and innovative transport methods, with a separate assessment by the Coper III chairwoman. ASECAP believes that C-ITS is the key incentive of the future European digital objective for accomplishing the vision and goals of the EU regarding the carbon-free mobility. ASECAP has the same vision of the C-ITS and its Manifest provides insight in how installation of the C-ITS serves to the public goal of accomplishing road traffic safety, traffic management and sustainable transport at this moment, (now) when transferring onto combined traffic and in the autonomous mobility system. The European Commission is preparing key elements for distribution, regarding the ITS directive review, where funding will be available through the CEF program and the program for research and innovations “Horizon Europe“. The EC representatives explained the possibilites of development regarding the road industry in the next few years. Joint efforts in the C-ITS ecosystem were emphasized.
In order to connect the European Digital Objects 2021-2027, the following steps will be taken: perform an analysis of the CEF2 digital program, prepare documents with a focus on economic and market aspects, technological aspects and interoperability and reverse compatibility, joint cooperation aspects will be provided, it will be outlined which interested parties support the “ASECAP One Way doctrine“ and impart this European Commission information.
As for the charging and the VS RLAN, a Report ECC 330 on RLAN at 5.8 GHz is planned (Wi-Fi parallely with the charging frequency), and is the subject of public consultations and could be a draft for other countries for the opening of a frequency range from 5.8 GHz for RLAN/Wi-Fi. At the COPER III meetings, an ASECAP statement regarding the public consultations will be prepared. Regarding the delegated acts on the charging -VS RLAN, ASECAP will activate requests for accomplishing information security of radio equipment in the Expert Group for Radio Equipment (EG RE) and is concerned regarding the risk of double regulation. COPER III has, together with the “DG GROV“ imparted its attitude and relayed information on the activities concerning the C-roads and the CCAM.
The chairwoman of the COPER IV informed the members on the KPI – Key Perfomance Indicators. Members of the Coper IV are already filling the new matrix and the old one will be valid until the end of 2021 and from 2022 thereon, only the new data base will be allowed for use. The great impact of COVID-19 was stressed when it comes to statistical data in the member countries. The number of motorway kilometres in 2020 was almost the same in comparison with 2019, but the number of employees was reduced. As for the traffic and travelled kilometres, in 2020 an abrupt reduction of -26,6% in comparison with 2019 took place regarding light vehicles, while the reduction of the number of heavy vehicles was -3,2%. As for ADT (Average Daily Traffic), on 1st March,2021, traffic was much lighter. A mild increase of the number of heavy vehicles has been recorded in some countries, however, the decrease is still present. As for the PDS in the period January-March 2021, in comparison with 2019, the number of heavy vehicles is greatly reduced, and still some countries have an increased, while others have decreased flow. The tolling income in 2020 is also reduced in comparison with 2019. It was stressed that the ASECAP data base must be updated more promptly, the COPER IV team will verify the data, taking into account new categories, and also data for the Report on Sustainability will be gathered.
The ASECAP Days 2021 will be virtual, on 10th November, 2021, with two plenary sessions and a discussion. An appeal has been sent to members to raise sponsorship since that represents a vital support to ASECAP.
At the Round Table, ASECAP members briefly presented the development of transport and the data on road traffic safety in their countries, the negotiations with the governments regarding the compensation due to reduced traffic flow during the blockade periods or limited movement during the state of emergency. The representative of SUNDBÆLT, Denmark, talked particularly about his country. It has been agreed that a Statement on Concessions in Europe should be prepared, following up on the previously published ASECAP Publication on Concession Model, developed on the basis of the ASECAP Manifest on concessions, so that policy creators could be informed (in the EU) on the ASECAP stand. The next ASECAP meeting is on 14th December, 2021.