S.L. 499.74 ст. 2Interpretation. Cap. 499.  S.L. 601.09.

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Act" means the Authority for Transport in Malta Act;

"Authority" means the Authority for Transport in Malta established in accordance with the Act;

"coach" and "bus", for the purpose of these regulations, mean a heavy-duty vehicle intended for the carriage of more than eight (8) passengers, in addition to the driver;

"Commission" means the European Commission;

"Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400" means Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400 of 12 December 2017 implementing Regulation (EC) No 595/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the determination of the CO emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty 2 vehicles and amending Directive 2007/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulation

(EU) No 582/2011;

"concession contract" shall have the same meaning as assigned to the definition "concessions" in the Concession Contracts Regulations;

"concession toll" means a toll levied by a concessionaire under a concession contract;

"congestion" means a situation where traffic volumes approach or exceed road capacity;

"congestion charge" means a charge which is levied on USER CHARGES TO VEHICLES

vehicles for the purpose of recovering the congestion costs incurred in Malta and of reducing congestion;

"construction costs" means the costs related to construction, including, where appropriate, the financing costs, of new infrastructure or new infrastructure improvements, including significant structural repairs:

Provided that the proportion of the construction costs to be taken into account shall not exceed the proportion of the current design lifetime period of infrastructure components still to run on 10 June 2008 or on the date when the new tolling arrangements are introduced, where this is a later date:

Provided further that costs of infrastructure or infrastructure improvements may include any specific expenditure on infrastructure designed to reduce nuisance related to noise, to introduce innovative technologies or to improve road safety and actual payments made by the infrastructure operator corresponding to objective environmental elements such as protection against soil contamination;

"core trans-European transport network" means the transport infrastructure identified in accordance with Chapter III of Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013;

"cost of traffic-based air pollution" means the cost of the harm to human health and of the environmental damage caused by the release of particulate matter and of ozone precursors, such as NOx and volatile organic compounds, in the course of the operation of a vehicle;

"cost of traffic-based CO emissions" means the cost of 2 the damage caused by the release of CO in the course of the 2 operation of a vehicle;

"cost of traffic-based noise pollution" means the cost of the harm to human health and of the environmental damage caused by the noise emitted by the vehicles or created by their interaction with the road surface;

"CO emissions" means the specific CO emissions of a 2 2 heavy-duty vehicle provided in point 2.3 of the Customer Information File as defined in Part II of Annex IV to Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2400;

"Directive 1999/62/EC" means Directive 1999/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17th June, 1999 on the charging of vehicles for use of road infrastructures as amended by Directive 2006/38/EC of 17 May 2006, by Council Directive 2006/103/EC of 20 November 2006 and by Directive

(EU) 2022/362 of 24 February 2022;

"Directive 2014/45/EU" means Directive 2014/45/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and trailers and repealing Directive 2009/40/EC;

"emission reduction trajectory" means, for the reporting period of a year (Y) and vehicle sub-group (sg), namely ET Y,sg, the product of the annual CO emissions reduction factor (R-2 ET ) times the reference CO emissions (rCO ) of the sub-Y 2 2sg group (sg), namely ET = R-ET x rCO for years Y ≤ Y,sg Y 2sg 2030, R-ET and rCO are both determined in accordance Y 2sg with point 5.1 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1242; for years Y > 2030, R-ET is 0,70; rCO applies as adjusted by Y 2sg delegated acts adopted in accordance with Article 11(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 for the reporting periods commencing after the respective dates of application of those delegated acts;

"external-cost charge" means a charge levied for the purpose of recovering the costs related to one or more of the following:

(a) traffic-based air pollution;

(b) traffic-based noise pollution; or

(c) traffic-based CO emissions; 2

"financing costs" means interest on borrowings and return on any equity funding contributed by shareholders;

"heavy-duty vehicle" means a vehicle with a technically permissible maximum laden mass exceeding three point five (3.5) tonnes;

"heavy goods vehicle" means a heavy-duty vehicle intended for the carriage of goods;

"infrastructure" means all parts of the road network in Malta;

"infrastructure charge" means a charge levied for the purpose of recovering the construction, the maintenance, the operation and the development costs related to infrastructure incurred in Malta;

"light-duty vehicle" means a vehicle with a technically USER CHARGES TO VEHICLES

permissible maximum laden mass not exceeding three point five (3.5) tonnes;

"light commercial vehicle" means a light-duty vehicle intended for the carriage of goods;

"low-emission heavy-duty vehicle" means:

(a) a low emission heavy-duty vehicle as defined in Article 3, point 12 of Regulation (EU) 2019/ 1242; or

(b) a heavy-duty vehicle not covered by Article 2(1), points (a) to (d), of that Regulation, with CO emissions lower than fifty percent (50%) of the 2 reference CO emissions of its vehicle group, other than 2 a zero-emission vehicle;

"minibus" means a light-duty vehicle intended for the carriage of more than eight (8) passengers in addition to the driver;

"motor caravan" means a vehicle with living accommodation space which contains seats and a table, sleeping accommodation, whether separate or converted from the seating, cooking facilities and storage facilities:

Provided that the Authority may treat a motor caravan either as a coach or bus, or as a passenger car.

"motorway" means a road specially designed and built for motor traffic, which does not serve properties bordering on it, and which meets the following criteria:

(a) it is provided, except at special points or temporarily, with separate carriageways for the two (2) directions of traffic, separated from each other either by a dividing strip not intended for traffic or, exceptionally, by other means;

(b) it does not cross at grade with any road, railway or tramway track, bicycle path or footpath; and

(c) it is specifically designated as a motorway;

"passenger car" means a light-duty vehicle intended for the carriage of not more than eight (8) passengers in addition to the driver;

"reference CO emissions of a vehicle group" means: 2

(a) for vehicles covered by Regulation (EU) 2019/1242, the amount calculated in accordance with the formula in point 3 of Annex I to that Regulation;

(b) for vehicles not covered by Regulation

(EU) 2019/1242, the average value of all CO emissions 2 of vehicles in that vehicle group, reported in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/956 for the first reporting period, which shall start after the date on which the registration, sale or entry into service of vehicles in that vehicle group, that do not comply with the obligations referred to in Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2400, is prohibited in accordance with Article 24 of Regulation

(EU) 2017/2400;

"Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013" means Regulation

(EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU;

"Regulation (EU) 2018/858" means Regulation (EU) 2018/858 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, amending Regulations (EC) No 715/2007 and (EC) No 595/2009 and repealing Directive 2007/46/EC;

"Regulation (EU) 2018/956" means Regulation (EU) 2018/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 June 2018 on the monitoring and reporting of CO emissions 2 from and fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles;

"Regulation (EU) 2019/1242" means Regulation (EU) 2019/1242 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 setting CO emission performance standards for new 2 heavy-duty vehicles and amending Regulations (EC) No 595/ 2009 and (EU) No 2018/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 96/53/EC;

"reporting period of the year Y" means reporting period of the year Y as defined in Article 3, point 3 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242;

"significant structural repairs" means structural repairs excluding those repairs no longer of any current benefit to road users, in particular where the repair work has been replaced by further road resurfacing or other construction work; USER CHARGES TO VEHICLES

"substantially amended tolling or charging arrangement" means a tolling or charging arrangement, where the amendment of rates is expected to increase revenues in excess of ten percent (10%) in comparison to the previous accounting year, excluding the effect of increase in traffic and after correcting for inflation measured by changes in the EU-wide Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), and excluding energy and unprocessed food, as published by the Commission (Eurostat);

"TFEU" means the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

"toll" means a specified amount payable in respect of a vehicle based on the distance travelled on a given infrastructure and on the type of the vehicle, the payment of which confers the right for that vehicle to use the infrastructures, and consisting of one or more of the following charges:

(a) an infrastructure charge;

(b) a congestion charge; or

(c) an external-cost charge;

"trans-European road network" means the road transport infrastructure referred to in Chapter II, Section 3, of Regulation

(EU) No 1315/2013, as illustrated by maps in Annex I to the said Regulation;

"transport operator" means any undertaking transporting goods or passengers by road;

"type of heavy-duty vehicle" means a category into which a heavy-duty vehicle falls according to the number of its axles, its dimensions or mass, or other vehicle classification factors reflecting road damage, such as the road damage classification system listed in the Sixth Schedule, provided that the classification system used is based on vehicle characteristics which appear in the vehicle documentation used in all Member States or which are visually apparent;

"user charge" means a specified amount payment of which confers the right for a vehicle to use for a given period the infrastructures referred to in regulation 3(1) and (2);

"van" means a light-duty vehicle within the meaning of Part C, point 4.2, of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2018/858;

"vehicle" means a motor vehicle, with four (4) or more wheels, or an articulated vehicle combination intended or used for the carriage by road of passengers or goods;

"vehicle group" means a grouping of vehicles listed in Table 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/2400;

"vehicle of the "Euro 0", "Euro I", "Euro II", "Euro III", "Euro IV", "Euro V", "EEV", "Euro VI" emission class" means a heavy-duty vehicle that complies with the emission limits listed in the First Schedule;

"vehicle of historical interest" means a vehicle of historical interest as defined in Article 3, point 7, of Directive 2014/45/EU;

"vehicle sub-group" means vehicle sub-group as defined in Article 3, point 8, of Regulation (EU) 2019/1242;

"weighted average infrastructure charge" means the total revenue from an infrastructure charge over a given period divided by the number of heavy-duty vehicle kilometres travelled on the road sections subject to that charge during that period;

"zero-emission vehicle" means:

(a) a zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle as defined in Article 3, point 11, of Regulation (EU) 2019/ 1242; or

(b) any passenger car, minibus or light commercial vehicle without an internal combustion engine.