Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1998:34
Date: 1998-01-29
Language of the case: English
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy;Transport
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 
Transport — Road transport — Social legislation — Exemptions — Carriage of passengers on 
regular services — Concept — Present case 
(Council Regulations Nos 3820/85, Arts. 1(7) and 4(3) and 684/92, Arts. 2(1) and 21(2)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-47/97 
It follows from Article 1(7) of Regulation 
N o 3820/85, on the harmonisation of certain 
social legislation relating to road transport, 
in conjunction with Articles 21(2) and 2(1) 
of Regulation N o 684/92 on common rules 
for the international carriage of passengers 
by coach and bus, that a service is 'regular', 
for the purposes of the exempting provision 
in Article 4(3) of Regulation N o 3820/85, 
where passengers are conveyed at specified 
intervals along specified routes and, in the 
case of special regular services, where those 
passengers belong to specified categories. 
In that connection, the conditions as to pro­
vision of the service at specified intervals 
along a specified route require the frequency 
of the service to be specified with precision 
and to be characterised by a degree of regu­
larity, and also that there must be a defined 
route along which passengers may be taken 
up and set down at predetermined stopping 
points. 'Specified categories of passengers' 
must be understood as referring to passen­
gers sharing the same status, such as work­
ers, school pupils, students and soldiers. 
A passenger transport service, supplied on a 
number of occasions pursuant to a block res­
ervation made by a tour operator and pro­
viding for a single journey from an airport to 
a hotel with a stop, on occasions, at a tourist 
attraction, where the precise route to be 
taken is not predetermined, does not there­
fore constitute a regular service, as defined 
above. 
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