The Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport has created a framework for supporting a coordinated and coherent deployment and use of ITS in the European Union and sets out the necessary general provisions (Art 1, Par 1), especially across Member State borders. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) are defined in Article 4, (1) as “systems in which information and communication technologies are applied in the field of road transport, including infrastructure, vehicles and users, and in traffic management and mobility management, as well as for interfaces with other modes of transport”.
In accordance with Article 5 of the ITS Directive, Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that specifications adopted by the European Commission are applied to ITS applications and services when these are deployed. This is without prejudice to the right of each Member State to decide on the deployment of such applications and services on its territory.
Articles 2 and 3 as well as Annex I of the ITS Directive define four priority areas and six priority actions (a to f) for the development and use of specifications and standards. As depicted in the table below, the European Commission has adopted one delegated regulation each for priority actions a to e in accordance with Article 6 Par. 1 and Article 7 of the ITS Directive. These delegated regulations are in force for all Member States. The relevant priority actions for the ITS contact point are a), b) and c) which can be allocated to priority area I „Optimal use of road, traffic and travel data” as well as priority action e) that can be allocated to priority area III “ITS road safety and security applications”.
Each Member State shall designate a national body/competent authority to assess whether the requirements of the delegated regulations are fulfilled. For the delegated regulations (EU) No 885/2013 (Article 8), No 886/2013 (Article 9) and 2015/962 (Article 11) BMK designated the ITS Conciliation Board, located at AustriaTech, as a national body/competent authority. AustriaTech is carrying out this task as ITS contact point.