Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council at first reading on the adoption of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws
Date: 2010-03-24
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: amendment, carriage of passengers, consumer protection, inland waterway transport, maritime transport, transport law

EN 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 24.3.2010 
COM(2010)120 final 

2008/0246 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council at first reading on the adoption of the Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council concerning the rights of passengers when 
travelling by sea and inland waterway and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 on 
cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer 
protection laws 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
 
2008/0246 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council at first reading on the adoption of the Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council concerning the rights of passengers when 
travelling by sea and inland waterway and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 on 
cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer 
protection laws  

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2008)816 final – 2008/0246/COD): 

5 December 2008 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

16 July 2009 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

23 April 2009 

Date of adoption of the Council position at first reading : 

11 March 2010 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The proposal, adopted by the Commission on 4 December 2008, aims at establishing rights of 
passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterways in order to improve the attractiveness 
of and confidence  in passenger transport by  ship. By introducing new rules, it will enhance 
the protection of passengers in general, and the disabled and persons with reduced mobility, in 
particular. It will also set quality standards comparable to those already established in the air 
and rail sectors. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COUNCIL POSITION 

The Commission considers its proposal to have been substantially modified by the Council in 
some of its parts.  

Firstly, the Council position aims to exclude ships carrying up to 36 passengers, up to 3 crew 
members,  or  offering  journeys  up  to  500  meters  in  length  from  the  scope  of  the  proposal. 
Moreover, an additional temporary exemption -two years after application- was introduced for 
ships of less than 300 gross tons for domestic transport, with the condition that national law 
provides adequate protection of passenger rights. Only cruises exceeding two overnight stays 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
 
 
on board would be covered. All these elements would represent a significant limitation of the 
scope of application. 

Secondly,  some  of  the  conditions  for  assistance  imposed  by  the  Council  position  have  the 
effect  of  somewhat  reducing  the  rights  of  persons  with  reduced  mobility  (PRMs)  and  to 
impose  some  specific  requirements  on  them.  Moreover,  the  Council  compromise,  when 
referring to the obligation of providing accommodation at no charge to stranded passengers in 
case  of  cancellations  and  delayed  departures,  introduces  a  new  distinction  between  weather 
conditions  endangering  the  safe  operation  of  the  ship  (which  are  liable  to  exclude  the 
obligation  of  providing  such  assistance)  and  extraordinary  circumstances  (which,  on  the 
contrary, do not exclude the obligation to provide full assistance). Other forms of assistance 
(i.e. snacks, meals and refreshments) would remain unconditionally compulsory for carriers in 
all  circumstances  -even  in  case  of  the  abovementioned  weather  conditions  or  extraordinary 
circumstances- unless the passenger is made aware of the situation when buying the ticket. At 
the same time the Council position includes a new maximum amount of €120 per passenger if 
accommodation is to be provided in case of delay or cancellation of a trip.  

Finally,  the  Commission  takes  note  of  the  decision  of  the  Council  for  the  Regulation  to  be 
applicable after three years from entry into force. 

4. 

4.1. 

DETAILED COMMENTS OF THE COMMISSION ON THE AMENDMENTS 
ADOPTED BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  

Amendments  of  the  European  Parliament  accepted  by  the  Commission  and 
included completely or partly in the Council position  

–  the introduction of a provision for the safety of PRMs when travelling in relation 
to  Article  8  which  concerns  derogations  and  special  conditions  (amendment  29 
second part); 

–  amendment 30 which refers to the conditions to impose accompanying persons of 

PRMs; 

–  amendments  4,  32,  33,  46,  52,  63,  64  aiming  at  streamlining  the  wording  of  the 

proposal and reinforcing information rights for passengers; 

–  amendment  36  deleting  the  obligation  for  carriers  to  have  separate  accounts  for 

activities relating to assistance provided to PRMs;  

–  the  introduction  of  a  clarification  regarding  assistance  to  persons  with  reduced 

mobility (amendment 53 first part); 

–  the amendment 57 on the article regarding compensation. 

4.2. 

Amendments of the European Parliament accepted by the Commission but not 
included in the Council position  

–  clarification of recitals (amendments 2, 5, 6); 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
–  the  introduction  of  a  new  recital  which  clarifies  the  relationship  between  this 
proposed  Regulation  and  other  international,  Community  or  national  law 
regarding PRMs (amendment 3); 

–  the  suggestion  that  the  Commission  should  propose  rules  for  passenger  rights  at 
points  of  transfer  of  passengers  between  land  and  water-based  transport 
(amendment 7); 

–  a  new  Recital  suggesting  a  horizontal  legislative  approach  on  all  modes  of 

transport for the future (amendment 8); 

–  a linguistic clarification of the Article on the scope of application (amendment 9); 

–  the  introduction  of  an  exclusion  from  the  scope  of  application  of  urban  and 
suburban  transport  if  the  aims  of  the  regulation  are  ensured  and  a  comparable 
level of passenger rights is guaranteed (amendment 10); 

–  clarification of the definition of transport contract (amendment 14), the inclusion 
of 'retailer' in the definition of tour operator (amendment 16), and new definitions 
for 'accessible formats', 'passenger' and 'ticket price' (amendments 18, 19, 22); 

–  improved  accessibility  information  and  assistance  to  PRMs  (amendments  31,  34 

and 35); 

–  the clarification of the conditions on which assistance to PRMs is to be provided, 
and reinforcement of information rights (amendment 38 first and third parts, 39, 
and 41 first part ); 

–  specification  of  the  conditions  on  which  assistance  is  provided  for  PRMs  when 

travelling on cruises (amendment 42); 

–  clarification  on  the  timing  of  transmission  of  information  to  a  third  party 

(amendment 45); 

–  compensation in respect of wheelchairs and mobility equipment (amendments 49 

and 50); 

–  the  reinforcement  of  the  information  obligations  of  the  carrier  in  case  of 

interrupted travel (amendment 51); 

–  the  reimbursement  of  the  ticket  price  if  a  delay  or  cancellation  occurs 

(amendments 54 and 56); 

–  the compensation for cruise passengers (amendment 58); 

–  the 

introduction 

of 

the 

notion 

of 

force 

majeure  

(amendment 60); 

–  the deduction of compensation in cases when additional compensation is granted 

under any other applicable legislation (amendment 61); 

EN 

4 

   EN 

 
–  the  designation  and  competences  of 
(amendments 62, 65, 66, 67 and 68); 

the  National  Enforcement  Bodies 

–  the content of the enforcement report (amendment 69);  

–  the types of penalties (amendment 70); 

–  the reinforcement of PRM rights (amendments 71 and 72). 

4. 3. 

Amendments  of  the  European  Parliament  rejected  by  the  Commission  but 
included in the Council position 

–  the deletion of ro-ro passenger ship definition (amendment 17); 

–  the  addition  of  new  elements  to  be  taken  into  account  when  refusing  PRMs  to 

travel (amendment 27); 

–  the limitation of the possibility for a PRM to use any other assistance animal but a 

dog (amendments 43, 73, 74 and 75); 

–  the limitation of the subcontracting parties that might transmit a PRM notification 

in case of the need of assistance (amendment 44); 

–  the  limitation  of  the  cost  of  the  assistance  to  passengers  (amendment  53  second 

part). 

4.4. 

Amendments of the European Parliament rejected by the Commission and not 
included in the Council position  

–  amendments 1, 11, 25, 26, 28 and 29 first part affecting the PRMs right to travel; 

–  the  modification  of  the  definition  of  ticket  vendor  (amendment  15)  and  the 
introduction  of  new  definitions  on  arrival,  departure  and  force  majeure 
(amendments 20, 21 and 23); 

–  new  responsibilities  for  managing  bodies  of  ports  when  providing  assistance  to 

PRMs (amendment 37); 

–  restriction  of  the  conditions  on  which  assistance  is  provided  (amendment  38 

second part, 41); 

–  limitation of the number of personnel to be trained for giving assistance to PRMs 

(amendment 48); 

–  the conditions of payment of reimbursement in case of delay or cancellation and 

the inclusion of a new derogation to the compensation (amendment 55, 59). 

5. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission is deeply concerned about the very substantial modifications introduced by 
the Council as compared to the initial proposal of the Commission and to some amendments 
of  the  European  Parliament,  to  the  extent  that  they  considerably  reduce  the  scope  of 

EN 

5 

   EN 

 
application of the draft Regulation and hence the level of protection of EU passengers. The 
Commission  takes  note  of  the  position  adopted  by  the  Council  by  unanimity  and  considers 
that the level of ambitions should be constructively raised again in the framework of further 
inter-institutional debate in view of the final adoption of the Regulation. 

EN 

6 

   EN