BRATISLAVA, September 28, (WEBNOVINY) — Transport Minister Jan Figel will defend the interests of Slovakia regarding the objections of the European Commission concerning alleged breach of rules when the contract was awarded for the electronic toll collection system in Slovakia. “I want to defend the interests of the Slovak Republic consistently. The Slovak government as well as the ministry are prepared for an open, pragmatic and intensive dialogue on this topic in a way so that we can defend not only arguments but also interests of the Slovak Republic,” said Figel after a meeting with Michel Barnier, Member of the European Commission responsible for Internal Market and Services on Tuesday.
According to Barnier, the European Commission still has certain objections regarding awarding of the contract for the e-toll system in Slovakia. “The Commission has found violation of rules in the awarded state contract for the toll system. We continue to probe into the case and we will send our position to the country tomorrow,” he explained after meeting Slovakia’s Economy Minister Juraj Miskov. As Barnier said, Slovak authorities will have two months to respond to the stance. “After this period we will examine Slovakia’s reply and then we will decide whether to forward the matter to the European Court of Justice,” he added. Transport Minister Figel did not specify Slovakia’s next steps as he wants to examine the formal stance of the commission in detail first.
Slovakia’s e-toll system caught the attention of the European Commission in May 2009. The EU executive body announced at that time that it had information available that, in the public procurement for the electronic toll collection, Slovakia had violated the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination anchored in the Public Procurement Directive and the Treaty establishing the European Community. As a result, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion to the country. The National Highway Company excluded three of four candidates from the tender, claiming that they failed to meet the required conditions. The Public Procurement Office subsequently rejected all twelve objections filed by the unsuccessful candidates.
The operator of the e-toll collection system is company SkyToll, a.s. set up by the members of the winning consortium SanToll, s.r.o. and Ibertax, a.s. The consortium has submitted the most expensive bid in value of EUR 716 million ex-VAT. The lowest bid of EUR 530 million was submitted by consortium Slovakpass. Slovak-Swiss consortium ToSy.sk offered the e-toll system for EUR 547 million and the consortium of Austrian company Kapsch EUR 630 million.
The electronic road toll collection in Slovakia was launched on January 1 of this year. Trucks and buses heavier than 3.5 tons must pay toll on more than 2,000 kilometers of highways, dual carriageways and sections of first-category roads.
SITA