1983D0418 — EN — 01.01.1995 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COUNCIL DECISION
of 25 July 1983
on the commercial independence of the railways in the management of their international
passenger and luggage traffic
(83/418/EEC)
(OJ L 237, 26.8.1983, p. 32)
Amended by:
OfficialJournal
No page date
►M1 CouncilRegul ation (EEC) No 3572/90 of 4 December 1990 L 353 12 17.12.1990
Amended by:
►A1 Act of Accession of Spain and PortugalL 302 23 15.11.1985
►A2 Act of Accession of Austria, Sweden and Finland C 241 21 29.8.1994
(adapted by CouncilDecision 95/1/EC, Euratom, ECSC) L 1 1 1.1.1995
1983D0418 — EN — 01.01.1995 — 001.001 — 2
▼B
COUNCIL DECISION
of 25 July 1983
on the commercial independence of the railways in the management
of their international passenger and luggage traffic
(83/418/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 75 thereof,
Having regard to the proposalfrom the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and SocialCommittee (3),
Whereas in its resolution of 15 December 1981 the Council set out the
broad lines of railway policy within the framework of the commontransport policy and in particular expressed its interest in improvedcooperation between railway undertakings where international traffic isconcerned;
Whereas measures need to be taken at Community level to allow the
railways to develop their role in international passenger traffic;
Whereas the attainment of this objective presupposes that Member
States endeavour to remove all obstacles to sufficient managerial inde-pendence of railway undertakings so as to enable them to focus theirjoint efforts on improving internationalpassenger services with a viewto optimizing their financialresul ts;
Whereas such cooperation in the commercialmanagement of this
traffic, taking into account joint interest, entails in particular a flexible,dynamic and attractive pricing policy reflecting this specific structure ofthe internationalmarkets in question,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
1. Member States shall take the necessary steps to ensure that this
Decision is applied to the following railway undertakings:
▼M1
— Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges (SNCB)/Nationale
Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen (NMBS),
— Danske Statsbaner (DSB),— Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB),— Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR),—Οργανισµός Σιδηροδρόµων Ελλάδος (ΟΣΕ),
— Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE),
(1) OJ No C 23, 28. 1. 1983, p. 12.
(2) OJ No C 161, 20. 6. 1983, p. 172.
(3) OJ No C 211, 8. 8. 1983, p. 7.
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▼M1
— Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF),
— Iarnród Éireann,— Ente Ferrovie dello Stato (FS),— Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL),— Naamloze Vennootschap Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS),
▼
A2
— Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB),
▼M1
— Caminhos-de-Ferro Portugueses, EP (CP),
▼A2
— Valtionrautatiet/Statsjärnvägarna (VR),— Statens järnvägar (SJ),
▼
M1
— British Rail(BR),— Northern Ireland Railways (NIR).
▼
B
2. As regards the Société nationale des chemins de fer luxembour-
geois (CFL), Belgium and France shall, in conjunction with Luxem-bourg, make any amendments to the basic texts which may provenecessary to enable this Decision to be applied.
Article 2
In accordance with this Decision, the railway undertakings shall enjoy
commercialindependence in the management of internationalpassengerand luggage traffic.
This independence shall be used in particular for intensifying their
cooperation in order to pursue common objectives and shall not preju-dice their obligations as a public service.
Article 3
The railway undertakings are free:
— to establish common tariff scales offering rates for the whole
journey, whereby the rates set out in those tariffs may be indepen-dent of those obtained by adding the rates of the nationaltariffs,
— to offer all-in package services, on their own or in cooperation with
other transport undertakings or the tourist industry,
— to create revenue pools within the framework of communities of
interest,
— to delegate powers among themselves to make joint offers to
customers.
Article 4
1. Within the framework of the Community rules applicable and in
particular of Article 9 (1) of Decision 75/327/EEC (
1), railway undertak-
ings shall, in accordance with their commercial interests and takingaccount of costs and the market situation, fix the rates and conditionsfor the internationalcarriage of passengers and l uggage betweenMember States.
2. In order to promote the attainment of the objectives set out in
Decision 75/327/EEC, railway undertakings shall apply rates in inter-nationalpassenger and l uggage traffic between Member States intendedat least to:
— ensure that the assignable costs specific to the traffic concerned by
this Decision are covered, and
(1) OJ No L 152, 12. 6. 1975, p. 3.
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▼B
— make a positive contribution to covering joint costs.
3. The measures adopted under this Decision shall aim at optimizing
revenue and improving the financialsituation of the rail ways.
Article 5
Council a joint report on the advisability of establishing, for inter-
nationalpassenger traffic, a joint organization to impl ement commercialmeasures.
Article 6
1. Before 1 July 1984, and after consultation with the Commission,
Member States shall adopt the provisions necessary for the implementa-tion of this Decision.
2. At the request of the Member State or if the Commission
considers it advisable, the latter shall consult the Member Statesconcerned on the draft provisions referred to in paragraph 1.
Article 7
Five years after the entry into force of this Decision the Commission
shall report to the Council on the results of its implementation.
The Councilshal lreview the situation in the l ight of this report and, on
a proposalfrom the Commission, shal ltake the appropriate decision bya qualified majority.
Article 8
This Decision is addressed to the Member States and the railway
undertakings referred to in Article 1.