Royal Decree 205/2025 of 18 March Establishing the Criteria for the Determination of Vehicle Charges/Exemptions/Reductions for the Use of Certain Infrastructures

The aforementioned Royal Decree 205/2025, approved on 18 March 2025 and coming into force on 19 March 2025, aims to adapt the current regulations on criteria for determining the tolls to be applied to goods vehicles with a maximum authorised mass of more than 3.5 tonnes on motorways under concession on the State Road Network, in accordance with the provisions of Directive (EU) 2022/362 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 February 2022 amending Directives 1999/62/EC, 1999/37/EC and (EU) 2019/520 as regards the charging of vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures.

Therefore, this Royal Decree has as its precedent Directive (EU) 2022/362 of the European Parliament, and its purpose is to transpose the content of Article 1 of the aforementioned European regulation, adapting the criteria for the determination of tolls under concession and tolls for motorways operated in accordance with the provisions of the seventh additional provision of Law 37/2015, of 29 September, on roads. This, repealing the previous Royal Decree 286/2014, of 25 April, establishing the criteria for determining the tolls to be applied to certain goods transport vehicles on motorways under concession on the State Road Network.

Directive (EU) 2022/362 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 February 2022 amending Directives 1999/62/EC, 1999/37/EC and (EU) 2019/520/EC as regards the charging of vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures, whose approval introduces amendments to Directive 1999/62/EC, with the objectives of aligning it with the challenges of climate change, noise and congestion, making progress in the application of the ‘polluter pays’ and ‘user pays’ principles, promoting environmentally sustainable but also socially equitable road transport.

One of the main changes proposed in this new RD is that the term ‘heavy goods vehicle’ is deleted and replaced by the term ‘vehicles in general’, meaning motor vehicles, with four or more wheels, or a combination of articulated vehicles, intended for the carriage of passengers or goods by road or used for that purpose.

In addition, it includes six key annexes which: (i) specifies the main principles for cost allocation and toll calculation; (ii) classifies vehicles according to emission limits; (iii) classifies vehicles according to pavement damage; (iv/v) set out, respectively, the requirements for the determination of external cost tolls and the reference values for the corresponding tariffs; (vi) sets out pollutant emission performance criteria for light-duty vehicles.

This is on the basis that no category of vehicles may be required to pay tolls and any other charges for the use of the same road section at the same time. Similarly, any tolls will avoid discriminatory treatment of international traffic and distortions of competition between operators.

In addition, among other aspects, it establishes that, from 25 March 2026, for the determination of these charges, heavy goods vehicles will be charged for the external costs of atmospheric pollution caused by traffic. It also mentions that an additional cost for noise pollution may be added to this charge, depending on the stretch of road on which the heavy goods vehicle is travelling.

In short, Royal Decree 205/2025 introduces a series of modifications and adapts the European regulations, with which it coexists, in order to meet the objectives pursued by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, which is to introduce fair mechanisms for allocating the costs of infrastructure use in order to eliminate distortions of competition between transport companies in the Member States, promoting the proper functioning of the internal market and increasing competitiveness.