Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings (98/C 321/06) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(1998) 480 final - 98/0266(SYN)

(Submitted by the Commission on 29 September 1998)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 75 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Treaty in cooperation with the European Parliament,

(1) Whereas Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the development of the Community's railways (1) provides for certain access rights in international rail transport for railway undertakings and international groupings of railway undertakings;

(2) Whereas, to ensure dependable and adequate services, a common licensing scheme is necessary to ensure that all railway undertakings meet at any time certain requirements in relation to good repute, financial fitness and professional competence in order to protect customers and third parties and offer services observing a high standard of safety;

(3) Whereas, in order to ensure that access rights to railway infrastructure are applied throughout the Community on a uniform and non-discriminatory basis, Council Directive 95/18/EC (2) introduced a licence for railway undertakings providing the services referred to in Article 10 of Directive 91/440/EEC, this licence being obligatory for the operation of such services and valid throughout the Community;

(4) Whereas, since some Member States have extended access rights going beyond Directive 91/440/EEC it seems necessary to ensure fair, transparent and non-discriminatory treatment of all railway undertakings that may operate in this market by extending the licensing principles laid down by the Directive to all companies active in the sector;

(5) Whereas, in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as set out in Article 3b of the Treaty, the objectives of this Directive, namely to set out broad principles for the licensing of railway undertakings and the mutual recognition of such licences throughout the Community, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States on account of the manifestly international dimension of issuing such licences and can therefore, by reason of its transnational implications, be better achieved by the Community; whereas this Directive confines itself to the minimum required in order to achieve those objectives and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose;

(6) Whereas it should be specified that transport activities in the form of shuttle services for road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel and passenger services solely operated on a local stand-alone network or by using trams or light rail, are excluded from the scope of Directive 95/18/EC, as are railway undertakings solely carrying out their own freight operations on a network used exclusively for that purpose;

(7) Whereas Community conditions for access to or transit via railway infrastructure will be regulated by other provisions of Community law;

(8) Whereas Directive 95/18/EC should be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Directive 95/18/EC is amended as follows:

1. Article 1 is replaced by the following:

'Article 1

1. This Directive concerns the criteria applicable to the issue, renewal or amendment of licences by a Member State intended for railway undertakings which are or will be established in the Community.

2. Railway undertakings which operate passenger services on local stand-alone networks or urban or suburban passenger services using, for example, trams or light rail are excluded from the scope of this Directive. Railway undertakings carrying out their own freight operations on a network used exclusively for that purpose are excluded from the scope of this Directive.

3. Railway undertakings and international groupings the activity of which is limited to the provision of shuttle services transporting road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel shall be excluded from the scope of this Directive.

4. A licence shall be valid throughout the territory of the Community.`

2. Article 2 is amended as follows:

(a) point (a) is replaced by the following:

'(a) "railway undertaking" means any public or private undertaking the business of which is to provide rail services for the transport of goods and/or passengers with a requirement that the undertaking must ensure traction;`

(b) point (d) is deleted;

3. Article 3 is replaced by the following:

'Article 3

Each Member State shall designate the body responsible for issuing licences and for carrying out the obligations imposed by this Directive. The task of issuing licences shall be carried out by a body which does not provide rail transport services itself and is independent of bodies or undertakings that do so.`

Article 2

Member States shall adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive no later than one year following the date of its entry into force. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member State shall determine how such reference is to be made.

Article 3

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 4

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ L 237, 24.8.1991, p. 25.

(2) OJ L 143, 27.6.1995, p. 70.