RCI architecture for European tolling endorsed by EC

Architecture the result of consensus among 26 European partners on the foundation of European road charging. 
 
The ERTICO - ITS Europe-coordinated, EC-supported RCI project has announced that the European Commission has endorsed the RCI architecture for European tolling.
 
The announcement, which came on 28 February 2007, supports the RCI architecture that is the result of consensus among 26 European partners - including toll operators, toll service providers, a truck manufacturer and other suppliers - on the foundation of European road charging. 

Advancing and accelerating standardisation

The RCI architecture builds upon the roles and responsibilities as defined by the European operator community (ASECAP) and Member States (Stockholm Group) in the CESARE III project. It extends this contractual and procedural model with the matching functional blocks and interfaces that have been derived from CEN/ISO work (such as 17575 and 15509). As such, RCI will not replace standardisation work, but it can help advancing and accelerating standardisation by increased validation and acceptance in Europe.
 
The RCI architecture and specifications will be implemented as prototypes that will be demonstrated in 6 existing toll infrastructures and it is therefore the result of the need to meet real-life market conditions of operators and service providers.
 
Together with the EC endorsement, it becomes the most mature and accepted architecture not only for existing, interoperable systems, but even more importantly for future European road charging systems that need to comply with Directive 2004/52. To optimise synergies between national and European developments, the demonstration and validation of RCI specifications in envisaged national road charging will be crucial.
 
For more information, please visit the Public Documents section of the RCI website or contact RCI Co-ordinator Oene Kerstjens