Netherlands leaves the Eurovignette: the shared charge now names two countries

Skatteverket's road-charge pages for Swedish and for foreign heavy vehicles have both changed their heading from “En avgift – tre länder” to “En avgift – två länder”SkatteverketSkatteverket. Where the previous text said that Luxembourg and the Netherlands took part alongside SwedenSkatteverket, and that a charge paid in one of those countries also applied within the other participating countries' road networks, the current text says that Sweden and Luxembourg take partSkatteverket and that a charge paid in one of these countries also applies for travel within the other participating country's road networkSkatteverket. Sweden has belonged to the cooperation since 1 January 1998, so what changed is the list of participants, not Swedish participation itself.

The Swedish rules distinguish vehicles registered in Sweden from those registered abroad, and the pages say so explicitly. A road charge is levied on lorries and lorry combinations with a total weight of at least 12 tonnes that are intended for or used for the carriage of goods by road. For Swedish-registered lorries the charge applies on the whole road network and is levied one year at a time.

For those vehicles the payment mechanics are fixed. Transportstyrelsen sends a payment card to the lorry's owner during the calendar month before a new charge period begins, and the charge must be paid by the last day of that calendar month. Late payment carries a surcharge of at least SEK 100, and if the charge is unpaid when the new period starts the lorry may not be used. Skatteverket's example: for a period beginning on 23 February, the card goes out in early January, payment is due by 31 January, the surcharge falls due on 1 February, and from 23 February the lorry may not be used until the new period is paid. The charge is payable by the person registered as owner in the vehicle register at the start of the calendar month before the period; after a period of deregistration it is payable by the owner when the lorry is put back into use.

Refunds follow the same logic. Transportstyrelsen repays an excess automatically when a lorry is deregistered during a paid period or modified so that a new charge applies, but amounts below SEK 50 are not repaid, and where liability ceases the refund covers the remaining paid days from the day liability ended, less a fee of SEK 289.

Foreign-registered heavy vehicles are charged on a different network. The charge is payable on all motorways and on these roads: the E4 between Uppsala and the Finnish border, the E10 between Töre and the Norwegian border, the E12 between Holmsund and the Norwegian border, the E14 between Sundsvall and the Norwegian border, the E22 between Karlskrona and Norrköping, and the E65 between Svedala and Ystad. The charge must be paid before travel on a chargeable road begins. AGES sells Eurovignettes on behalf of the participating countries, at certain fuel stations and forwarders or online, and the day charge covers 00.00–24.00 — a run between 21.30 and 02.30 therefore needs two days. Charges are paid in SEK and the amounts can change at each year-end depending on the krona's rate against the euro; a refund can be made for a charge paid for a year, month, week or day, decided by Skatteverket on an application sent to AGES.

The statutory framework is lagen (1997:1137) om vägavgift för vissa tunga fordon, particularly 5 and 7–10 §§, with the participating countries described in Skatteverket's vehicle guidance.