Global Daily Tax News, Lithuania Challenged For Failing To Adopt EU Road Levies Law, (Feb 14, 2025)

The European Commission has sent a reasoned opinion to Lithuania for its failure to transpose into domestic law the Eurovignette Directive (Directive 1999/62/EC as amended by Directive (EU) 2022/362).

The Eurovignette Directive sets common rules on imposing distance-based charges (tolls) and time-based user charges (vignettes), allowing member states to recover infrastructure costs.

Amending Directive (EU) 2022/362 now includes passenger cars, buses and coaches, and small heavy-duty vehicles. The revised Directive also requires member states to include the environmental costs of air pollution into their charging systems to set charges based on a vehicle's CO2 emissions.

The deadline to transpose the Directive into national law was March 25, 2024. In May 2024, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Lithuania for failing to fully transpose the Directive into national law. Lithuania has failed to communicate all transposition measures. Therefore, the Commission has decided to issue a reasoned opinion.

Lithuania has two months now to respond and take the necessary measures. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.