22.3.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities L73/9 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 609/2000 of 21 March 2000 amending Regulation (EC) No 3298/94 laying down detailed measures concerning the system of rights of transit (ecopoints) for heavy-goods vehicles transiting through Austria (Text with EEA relevance) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 11(6) and Annex 4 to Protocol 9 thereto, Whereas: (1)  ECMT permits valid in Austria should allow free transit through Austria. (2)  Clear rules for the cancellation of ecocards are required. The used ecocards are needed for statistical purposes. (3)  The optimal use of electronic ecopoints is best achieved by distributing them several times during the year. (4) A vehicle setting down or picking up a complete load in Austria should be considered to have undertaken a bilat- eral journey and thus should not be required to pay ecopoints, irrespective of the route taken by the vehicle to enter and exist Austia. (5)  The implementation of an agreement to allow 40 tonne lorries to transit Switzerland will alleviate the number of lorries transiting Austria. Due to the geographical posi- tion of Italy and Greece, lorries going to/from those countries will still need to transit Austria. Greece and Italy should be given further priority over unused ecopoints returned to the Commission. (6) ~ Commission Regulation (EC) No 3298/94 (!), as amen- ded by Regulation (EC) No 1524/96 (?), should be amen- ded accordingly. (7)  The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the committee set up by Article 16 of Protocol 9, () O] L 341, 30.12.1994, p. 20. 0] L 190, 31.7.1996, p. 13. HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EC) No 3298/94 is amended as follows: 1. In Article 1, the following paragraph 1la is inserted: ‘la.  Transit journeys made in the circumstances listed in Annex C or under ECMT authorisations that are valid on Austrian territory shall be exempt from the ecopoints system.’ 2. Article 2(1) is replaced by the following: ‘1. Unless a vehicle is using an ecotag, the requisite number of ecopoints shall be affixed to the ecocard and cancelled. The ecocard shall be cancelled by any one of the following methods: (a) stamping the ecocard in an ecocard stamping machine; (b) having the ecocard stamped by the Austrian border control authorities upon entering Austria; (c) having the ecocard stamped and dated by the national authorities of the haulier before entering Austrian terri- tory; (d) having the ecocard stamped at an office where the initialisation of ecotags is performed. Austrian frontier stations that are equipped with an ecocard stamping machine are listed in Annex H. For statistical purposes page 1 of the completed ecocard shall either be collected by the Austrian authorities or subse- quently returned by the competent authorities within three months of the completion of the journey to the Austrian authorities. The statistics thus collected shall assist the Commission in making any proposal for the distribution the reserve of ecopoints.’ 3. In Article 5(5), the following point (d) is added: ‘(d) or the ecocard has not been cancelled in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 2(1).