Considerations on COM(2017)647 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2017)647 - Amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2017)647  |
| date | November 8, 2017 |
(2) To ensure a coherent framework for the inter-urban carriage of passengers by regular coach and bus services throughout the Union, Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 should apply to all inter-urban carriage by regular services. The scope of that Regulation should therefore be extended.
(3) An independent and impartial regulatory body should be designated in each Member State to ensure the proper functioning of the road passenger transport market. That body may also be responsible for other regulated sectors such as rail, energy or telecommunications.
(4) Commercial regular service operations should not compromise the economic equilibrium of existing public service contracts. For this reason, the regulatory body should be able to carry out an objective economic analysis to ensure that this is the case.
(5) Regular services in the form of cabotage operations should be conditional on the possession of a Community licence. In order to facilitate effective controls of those services by enforcement authorities, the rules regarding the issuing of Community licences should be clarified.
(6) In order to ensure fair competition in the market, operators of regular services should be provided with access rights to terminals in the Union on fair, equitable, non-discriminatory and transparent terms. Appeals against decisions rejecting or limiting access should be lodged with the regulatory body.
(7) While maintaining authorisation for regular services, certain rules regarding the authorisation procedure should be adapted.
(8) Authorisation for both national and international regular services should be subject to an authorisation procedure. Authorisation should be granted, unless there are specific grounds for refusal attributable to the applicant, or the service would compromise the economic equilibrium of a public service contract. A distance threshold should be introduced to ensure that commercial regular service operations do not compromise the economic equilibrium of existing public service contracts. In the case of routes already served by more than one public service contract, it should be possible to increase that threshold.
(9) Non-resident carriers should be able to operate national regular services under the same conditions as resident carriers.
(10) Administrative formalities should be reduced as much as possible without abandoning the controls and penalties that guarantee the correct application and effective enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009. The journey form constitutes an unnecessary administrative burden and should therefore be abolished.
(11) Local excursions are an authorised cabotage operation and are covered by the general rules on cabotage. The article on local excursions should therefore be deleted.
(12) In view of the importance of effective enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009, the rules on inspections at the roadside and in undertakings should be amended to include cabotage operations.
(13) Insofar as this Regulation harmonises the rules in national markets for regular coach and bus services and access to terminals, its objectives, namely the promotion of inter-urban mobility and the increase of the modal share of sustainable passenger transport modes, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States. Therefore, the Union may adopt measures, in line with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives pursued.
(14) In order to take into account market developments and technical progress the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission to amend Annexes I and II to Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009, and to supplement that Regulation with rules concerning the format of certificates for own-account transport operations, the format of applications for authorisations and authorisations themselves, the procedure and criteria to be followed to determine if a proposed service would compromise the economic equilibrium of a public service contract, and the reporting obligations of Member States. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in line with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making 18 . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council should receive all documents at the same time as the Member States’ experts, and the European Parliament and the Council experts should systematically have access to the Commission’s expert group meetings dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(15) Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 should therefore be amended accordingly.