REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Exemptions granted by Member States under Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 on rail passengers' rights and obligations
Date: 2015-03-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: carriage of passengers, consumer protection, derogation from EU law, equal treatment, provision of services, rail transport, regional transport, suburban transport, urban transport













EUR-Lex - 52015DC0117 - EN











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52015DC0117

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Exemptions granted by Member States under Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 on rail passengers' rights and obligations /* COM/2015/0117 final */









Application
of Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 on rail passengers' rights and obligations: 
Exemptions granted by Member States under Article 2 of the Regulation
Introduction
Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the
European Parliament and of the Council on rail passengers’ rights and
obligations of 23 October 2007[1]
(‘the Regulation’) entered into force on 3 December 2009. The aim of the
Regulation is to protect the rights of rail passengers in the EU, particularly
when travel is disrupted, and to improve the quality and effectiveness of rail
passenger services. 
Whilst, in principle, the Regulation
applies to all rail passenger services in the EU, the Regulation allows Member
States to grant exemptions to domestic long distance rail passenger services to
ease the phasing-in of the Regulation. In view of the specific character of
urban, suburban and regional rail passenger services, the Regulation also
allows Member States to exempt these services from the application of the
Regulation. 
Article 2 of the Regulation thus allows
Member States to exempt certain services from the full application of the
Regulation: 
1.     
Article 2(4): Domestic rail passenger services
for a maximum period of five years, renewable twice (with the exception of the
provisions listed in Article (2)3 of the Regulation);
2.     
Article 2(5): Urban, suburban and regional rail
passenger services (with the exception of the provisions listed in Article (2)3
of the Regulation);
3.     
Article 2(6): Rail passenger services or
journeys of which a significant part is operated outside the EU for a maximum
period of five years. This exemption may be renewed.   
Article 2(7) invites the Commission to
provide the European Parliament and the Council with a report on the exemptions
granted by Member States pursuant to paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 of Article 2. 
I. Status
quo of exemptions 
From the entry
into force of the Regulation on 3 December 2009 to the end of the first five
year period on 2 December 2014
With regard to
the overall state of application of the Regulation, it can be noted that four
Member States are currently applying it in full, whilst 22 Member States have
granted exemptions, to varying degrees. The report will look at the situation
as regards the different rail passenger services provided in the Member States
in detail. 

1.      Rail passenger services operated at national level (domestic, urban,
suburban and regional services)

With regard to
how exemptions were granted during the first five year period the following
distinctions between Member States can be made[2]:


1)      Full application of the Regulation without exemptions

Only four Member States have decided to apply
the Regulation in full without opting for any exemptions: Denmark, Italy,
the Netherlands and Slovenia. 

2)      Exemption of all services (domestic, urban, suburban and regional) 

Five Member States have decided to adopt full
exemptions so that only the mandatory provisions referred to in Article 2 (3)
of the Regulation[3]
apply: Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Latvia and Romania. 

3)      Partial exemption

·        
Exemptions granted according to the type of
service (domestic or urban, suburban and regional)
o  
Exemption of domestic but not urban, suburban
and regional services
Three Member
States have granted exemptions to their long distance domestic services but not
to their urban, suburban or regional services: Belgium, Czech Republic and
Lithuania.
o  
Exemption of urban, suburban and regional but
not domestic services
Five Member States
have not applied any exemptions for domestic (long distance) services, but only
for urban, suburban and regional services: Austria, Finland, Germany,
Luxembourg and Sweden.
·        
Exemptions granted according to the type of
requirement (i.e. per article)
o  
Exemptions granted for certain articles on
certain services
Belgium has exempted its long distance national services only from the
right to information during the journey under Annex II, Part II to the
Regulation. Spain has only exempted long distance domestic services from
Article 27 on complaints handling.
o  
Exemptions granted for a number of articles
on all national services
Nine Member States
have granted exemptions in relation to specific articles: Croatia[4],
Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia and the UK.

2.      Cross-border services with third countries

Ten Member
States have granted either full or partial exemptions under Article 2(6) to
rail passenger services or journeys of which a significant part is operated
outside the EU: Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. This means that all those
countries which have cross-border services with third countries have exempted
these services from the application of the Regulation on their territory. 

 Additional elements

Most Member
States which have exempted their long distance domestic services have granted
exemptions in relation to Articles 8, 10, 13, 15, 17 and 18. Most Member States
which have exempted urban, suburban and regional rail passenger services have
granted exemptions in relation to Articles 8, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 18. Member
States do not have to provide specific justification for the adoption of
exemptions, but this must take place on a transparent and non-discriminatory
basis. It seems clear that exemptions have been granted mainly for those
articles which can be considered as most financially onerous, i.e. those
related to advance payments in case of accidents (Article 13) and those related
to liability in case of delays, missed connections and cancellations and thus
to reimbursement, compensation and assistance (Articles 15, 16, 17 and 18). Also
Articles 8 (on information) and 10 (on information and reservation systems)
might be considered as burdensome or costly if new or renovated rolling stock
or computer systems are required to comply with the obligations under these
articles. 
The above outline
shows that the use of exemptions, notably for domestic services, has led to a
patchwork of different rights for rail passengers in the EU, owing to different
national legislation which applies in the absence of a single set of EU
passenger rights. Already in the conclusions to its report of 14 August 2013 to
the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the Regulation[5]
the Commission noted that ‘the extensive use of exemptions [is] a serious
obstacle to the fulfilment of the Regulation’s objective’, which is to improve
the quality and effectiveness or rail passenger services. Exemptions in Member
States prevent the creation of a level playing field for railway undertakings
across the EU. They also deprive rail passengers of legal certainty and of the
full enjoyment of their rights.
A summary table
showing the situation of exemptions as of November 2014 can be found at the end
of the Report[6].
II. OUTLOOK
AFTER 3 DECEMBER 2014
The Report is
also looking at the future situation as regards the application of the
Regulation and notably the potential renewal of exemptions by Member States.
According to the information received from Member States, the situation will
not change significantly after 3 December 2014, with potentially only five Member
States which will apply the Regulation in full and 21 which will continue to
grant exemptions to varying degrees. 
Member States
may renew exemptions under Article 2 (4) and (6) of the Regulation but are
required to inform the Commission about any prolongation after 3 December 2014.
The same applies to the nine Member States which have chosen a five-year period
of exemptions for urban, suburban and regional services under Article 2(5) with
the option of renewal[7].

In this context,
the Member States have been asked about their intentions for the reduction or
renewal of exemptions[8].

From the
information received, it appears that four Member States have the intention to
reduce the number of articles for which exemptions have been granted during the
next five-year period: Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia and Poland. In
the case of Belgium, this will lead to the full application of the
Regulation for all rail passenger services.
12 Member States
intend to maintain the status quo of their exemptions for another period of
five years: Austria, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Hungary,
Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The
UK advised that it would prolong the existing exemptions as a holding
measure and carry out consultations and a review in the course of 2015 prior to
deciding whether exemptions should be prolonged, or fully or partly removed. Denmark,
Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia already apply the Regulation in
full. 
Sweden which had not previously specified the exemptions it would apply to
urban, suburban or regional services, has now informed the Commission of its
plans to exempt these services from certain articles of the Regulation. 
Whilst some
Member States have not yet officially notified either the renewal or the removal
of exemptions under Article 2(7) of the Regulation, it can be estimated that
the situation regarding the application of the Regulation to domestic rail
passenger services will not change substantially after the first five-year
period. This means that passenger protection under the Regulation will, if at
all, improve only moderately for these services. A similar situation applies as
regards international services and journeys where a significant part is
operated outside the EU. 
In conclusion,
it can be said that Member States granted extensive exemptions during the first
five years of application of Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007, and only very modest
improvements can be expected in the near future. A level playing field for
railway undertakings and a high level of protection for passengers in the EU is
thus still far from a reality. 
[1]       OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 14.
[2]       Malta and Cyprus do not have any passenger rail services.
[3]       Under Article 2(3) Articles 9, 11, 12, 19, 20(1), and 26
apply to all rail passenger services throughout the EU.
[4]       The accession of Croatia to the EU took place on 1 July 2013.
Croatia has adopted exemptions from the date of its accession until the end of
the first 5 year period in relation to the entry into force of the Regulation,
i.e. until 2/12/2014.
[5]       COM(2013) 587 final, 14.8.2013.
[6]       The list of exemptions is based on information provided by
the Member States.
[7]       Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia,
Portugal and Spain.
[8]       Member States which have not replied to the informal survey
are not listed.