Transport companies can breath a sigh of relief: unexperienced users who have paid the toll, but with delay or not according to the regulation respectively based on false declaration, are granted amnesty by a legislative amendment in the introduction phase of the e-toll payment system.
At the end of March the government decided to set up a committee with the aim of establishing the equitable regulation of fines related to e-toll. The amendment proposal has been prepared as a result of the reconciliation between the Ministries and the interest organisation representing the freighters. Through the fine tuning of the successfully introduced e-toll system the fines fixed on an equitable basis and the efficient control can protect the law-abiding users even more successfully. The onboard unit excluding human error – such as the OBU S550 unit of i-Cell Kft. – is increasingly being used by the freighters. Nine out of ten domestic registered carriers are already carrying out the declaration in this manner, therefore the problem is not expected to reappear.
By waiving e-toll fines imposed in well defined cases the amendment can now save transport companies from insolvency. Bona fide carriers booked their right for road usage subsequently but at latest in 8 hours after the detection of the usage or they changed from the predefined route to a functionally parallel road section which may be available at a lower price. The repeatedly failed toll payment could lead in each case the imposition of a fine of up to an 165 thousand forints. A smaller group of freighters is affected by the problem, however, it is estimated that a significant part of the 100-120 enterprises can become ruined due to the accumulated fine without intervention. The Parliament is entitled to lay down a temporary regulation without prejudice to the public interest in order to avoid that road users not paying toll are placed in a competitively more advantegous position compared to law-abiding users. However, it is important to note: it is only an amendment proposal, it has not yet entered into force,therefore the old rules are valid for the time being.
