Akkoord over ecopuntensysteem voor vrachtverkeer door Oostenrijk (en)

A deal was reached on Tuesday night between the European Parliament and Council on the ecopoint system - the transit system for lorries travelling through Austria.

The deal was vehemently contested by Austrian MEPs in the delegation, as well as by the Austrian government representatives, who argued that it would lead to unrestricted transit for lorries through Austria and would severely damage the Alpine environment.

The main points of the deal are a ban on the most polluting lorries, unrestricted transit for cleaner lorries, the application of the agreement to the entire territory of Austria and the number of transit points that should be allocated to the accession countries.

The ecopoints system works by allocating a total number of points per year to each country wanting its lorries to travel through Austria.

Each time a lorry travels through Austria it uses up a certain number of points, based on its emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) - the more pollution a lorry generates, the more points it accrues.

Under last night's agreement, the most polluting lorries (those using more than 8 points) will be banned in 2005. A quota system for older and polluting vehicles using 6, 7 or 8 points will also be introduced.