The European Commission has published a set of guidelines for Member States with the aim to prevent discriminatory treatment by road charging systems put in place in some states against foreign. These guidelines are intended to unify the criteria used by member states where such plans are already being used and those where they are in the way to be implemented.

In addition to road charging systems covered by the Eurovignette directive for heavy goods vehicles adopted in September 2011, some member states also apply these type of charging systems to private vehicles. However, although in the case of heavy vehicles the directive sets out clear criteria about the application of such charges, there are no such rules for light vehicle drivers.

This lack of clarity has caused numerous complaints to be filed against countries where road charging systems are already in place. Currently Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Romania have time-based vignette charging schemes for private cars, Belgium is working on its introduction and the Netherlands and Denmark are now debating about it.

The Commission's guidelines on road charging plans for light vehicles show the preference for distance-based systems rather than time-based ones. In the case of opting for a time-based system the Commission points out the need to give the opportunity to purchase vignettes for short periods, having at least weekly, monthly and yearly vignettes available. Besides, an acceptable average daily ratio must be respected not overly penalizing non-resident users.

The Commission also calls for the system to be sufficiently accessible for foreign drivers, providing clear information about the options available to purchase a vignette and about the paying stations. Moreover, the Commission states that controls should bot only concentrate on border areas.