Council of State: filling stations along the highway may offer a few charging stations
Filling stations along the highway may offer a few charging stations, provided that the charging stations remain an ‘additional facility’ of the filling station. Filling stations are therefore not allowed to offer more charging points than filling points, according to a ruling by the Council of State.
The ruling of the Council of State revolved around a case between Fastned and The Fast Charging Network on the one hand and the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management on the other. In recent years, the minister has given permission to several filling stations along motorways to offer charging stations as an additional facility. Fastned and The Fast Charging Network were against this, as these two companies also offer charging stations close to several filling stations. That is why they appealed against the minister’s granted permits.
One of the appeals revolved around the question of when there is a ‘supplementary provision’. The filling stations have a license whereby the sale of fuels is the basic facility. In addition, the filling stations may offer additional facilities, such as a shop, car wash or snack machine. However, several filling stations have also requested a charging station as an ‘additional facility’, for which the ministry has given permission.
However, Fastned and The Fast Charging Network found that it was unclear when charging stations as a facility are ‘additional’ and when they are no longer ‘additional’. Here the Council of State largely agrees. Ultimately, however, according to the court, you can say that charging stations are ‘additional’ if they are subordinate to the gas station.
In concrete terms, this means that a filling station may not receive a permit to install charging stations as an additional facility if the number of charging stations exceeds the number of filling points. In the ruling, the judge cites the example of the Den Ruygen Hoek-Oost rest area. Shell has a permit to install six charging stations here. The gas station itself has nineteen filling stations. According to the judge, this makes it ‘clear that the charging function of the energy charging point is subordinate to the main function of the petrol station as a motor fuel sales point’.
However, Shell has also received a permit to install four charging stations at the Peulwijk-Oost service area, while there are ‘only’ six fuel stations. Here it ‘clamps’ according to the judge. ‘All the more so now that Fastned has also submitted an application for two charging stations as an additional facility for the service area’. This would make six charging stations appear as ‘additional facilities’, while there are only six refueling points. Shell will therefore not receive a permit from the Council of State to install charging stations here.
Fastned and The Fast Charging Network had more grounds for appeal, many of which had already been put forward in a similar case. For example, the two companies claim that it is dangerous and unclear if drivers at a service area have to choose between two providers of charging points. For example, motorists would drive wrong-way to get to the other provider.
The two charging station companies also believe that they are treated unequally, for example because petrol stations are granted an indefinite permit for the charging stations. This while the charging station companies receive a permit for fifteen years. The Council of State disagrees on these points. The court therefore still allows petrol stations to offer charging stations, as long as it remains an additional activity.