The purpose of the report is to give an overview of the taxes and charges levied on heavy goods vehicles in Europe and to evaluate how the differences are affecting the competitiveness of Finnish road haulage companies. In the comparison between countries three vehicle types are used: a) lorry (2 axles), total weight 10 tonnes, b) lorry (3 axles), total weight 25 tonnes, c) articulated vehicle (2+3 axles), total weight 40 tonnes. The material for the study was collected between May-September 2004 from various European ministries and other expert organizations. The countries where information was available are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Finland. In addition, information from various publications is used in the report. The report describes the levels of taxes and charges in various countries in 2004, and the results are compared to some prior studies on the same area. According to the results it seems that there is a tendency towards a more efficient use of the User Pays principle and marginal cost pricing in Europe. When comparing the total tax burden of Finnish road haulage companies it can be seen that it is on average European level or slightly above it. However, it has to be pointed out that in the new Member States located near Finland (the Baltic countries and Poland) both annual vehicle taxes and the total tax burden are lower than in Finland. For that reason competition is going to become tighter in the Finnish market, which will make flagging out of vehicles and companies attractive in order to reach the benefit of lower cost level in these countries. The development of flagging out can be observed e.g. from the number of heavy goods vehicle registrations in Finland and the Baltic countries.