COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Ex-post evaluation of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services
Date: 2017-11-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: bus, carriage of passengers, freedom to provide services, international road transport, international transport, market access, road cabotage, services of general interest, transport licence

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 8.11.2017  SWD(2017) 360 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Ex-post evaluation of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services {COM(2017) 647 final}  - {SWD(2017) 361 final}  
 
 
The freedom to provide services is a basic Treaty principle, which in the area of the provision 
of coach and bus services is implemented by the common transport policy. Regulation (EC) 
No  1073/2009  (the  Regulation)  establishes  the  conditions  for  the  international  carriage  of 
passengers by coach and bus within the EU by carriers for hire or reward. The Regulation lays 
down  the  provisions  to  be  complied  with  by  undertakings  that  wish  to  operate  on  the 
international  road  passenger  transport  market  and  on  national  markets  other  than  their  own 
(cabotage). It includes provisions related to the documents to be issued to such undertakings 
by  the  Member  State  of  registration  (Community  licence)  as  well  as  the  authorisation 
procedure for regular services.  

The Regulation is to a large extent a recast of two pre-existing pieces of legislation on access 
to  the  road  transport  market.  It  introduced  a  simpler  and  faster  procedure  to  authorise 
international regular services, and it simplified the rules related to the Community licence. It 
was adopted as a part of the package of measures aimed at modernising the rules governing 
admission to the occupation of road transport operator and access to the road transport market. 
As a global objective, the Regulation aims at the completion of the internal market for coach 
and bus services and at increasing the efficiency and competitiveness to generate a shift in the 
use of private passenger cars to coach and bus services. 

This evaluation analyses whether the Regulation has been effective and efficient in attaining 
its objectives, whether it is still relevant to have an EU level instrument in this area, as well as 
if the Regulation is coherent with other EU policies. The evaluation covers the whole EU and 
the period from 2009 to 2015. It is supported by an external fact-finding study carried out for 
the  Commission  in  2015-20161,  regular  contacts  with  stakeholders,  as  well  as  policy 
documents of the Commission and other relevant literature.   

The main outcome of the evaluation suggests that the Regulation has contributed to establish 
a  more  coherent  framework  for  international  services.  The  changes  brought  about  by  the 
Regulation  have  contributed  to  the  progression  towards  the  establishment  of  a  true  internal 
market. Market opening has resulted in improvements in the level-of-service with growth in 
the  number  of  operators,  numbers  of  passengers  and  the  number  of  services  however  it  is 
difficult to determine the exact growth that can be attributed to the Regulation in isolation.  

Despite  its  achievements,  the  inter-urban  coach  and  bus  sector  has  failed  to  grow  at  a  rate 
comparable to that of other transport modes and its modal share has continued to decline over 
an  extended  period.  The  sector  has  failed  to  compete  effectively  with  other  modes,  in 
particular the private car, as a means of making longer distance journeys. 

The  analysis  of  relevance  shows  that  the  problems  of  discrimination  and  unnecessary 
administrative  burdens  remain  relevant  and  are  not  adequately  addressed  by  the  existing 
objectives. There is a mismatch in the relationship between the problem of sub-optimal mix of 
transport modes and the objective of promoting bus and coach as a sustainable alternative to 
individual car transport and they both appear not sufficiently defined. It is suggested that the 
main  problem  is  the  lack  of  attractive  mix  of  alternative  transport  modes  for  citizens.  This 
particularly  problematic  for  those  with  little  or  no  access  to  cars  or  other  transport  modes, 
those that live in disadvantaged regions and those with reduced mobility. 

1 https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/modes/road/studies/doc/2016-04-passenger-transport-
by-coach-in-europe.pdf  

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The objectives  were not  aimed at the problem of discrimination in access to terminals.  Yet, 
terminals serve a vital role acting as a hub in a network enabling passengers to change coach 
or acting as a multimodal hub enabling passengers to transfer to another collective mode of 
transport. The evaluation found evidence of discriminatory access to terminals which distorts 
service patterns and limits the possibility of operators to adapt services to passenger demand. 
The accessibility to terminals as well as the extent to which the terminals are linked to other 
modes of transport is particularly important for international regular services.  

There  are  a  wide  range  of  restrictions  on  access  to  national  markets  limiting  competition 
between  operators  and  against  other  modes.  Different  and  divergent  rules  on  access  to 
national  markets  have  evolved,  including  on  liberalised  markets.  This  patchwork  makes  the 
provision of national coach and bus services difficult. As most passengers are carried within 
national borders, the objective of promoting coach and bus services could not be achieved to 
the extent that would have been possible had the market in the EU been more integrated.  

The  patchwork  appears  to  prevent  operators  –  especially  SMEs  –  from  operating  in  other 
Member  States,  as  it  implies  a  high  administrative  burden.  This  may  also  explain  why 
operators have not developed international services to a greater extent between these Member 
States. Restrictions also apply in circumstances where markets have been liberalised, e.g. on 
services that are below a defined distance threshold, prohibition on entry to routes served by 
an operator meeting public service obligations under a contract and withholding permission to 
operate following an analysis of the impact of the proposed service. This discourages or even 
frustrates new entry and makes it difficult for carriers to plan new services. 

As  regards  efficiency,  the  benefits  achieved  from  the  modification  of  the  authorising 
procedure has improved market efficiency and, although it is estimated that it has not brought 
about all the benefits expected in the Impact Assessment (i.e. the operator would gain EUR 
25,000  in  additional  revenue),  it  assumed  to  have  reduced  costs  by  EUR  10,800  per 
application. The new procedure has also enabled the provision of a wider range of services. It 
is  expected  that,  and  confirmed  by  most  stakeholders,  the  standardisation  of  control 
documents  has  resulted  in  cost  savings  by  shortening  the  time  required  for  roadside 
inspections but  there is no comprehensive data available to quantify the savings.  However, 
the evaluation found that operators can still incur considerable administration costs as a result 
of the procedures for obtaining a Community licence, an authorisation or a control document. 
The  excessive  administrative  costs  of  entry  are  as  a  result  of  protracted  administrative 
procedures which vary significantly by Member State. 

In general, the adoption of the Regulation has led to positive effects compared to the situation 
prior to when it entered into force. The analysis indicates that it is more relevant, effective and 
efficient  than  national  legislation  on  access  to  the  international  market  for  bus  and  coach 
services  and  on  the  functioning  of  the  internal  market.  This  provides  support  to  the 
conclusions  that  an  EU  approach  in  the  form  of  a  Regulation  is  the  most  suitable  way  to 
ensure access to the market for bus and coach services. 

Having  an  uncompetitive  coach  and  bus  sector  is  not  fully  compatible  with  current  policy 
priorities  in  terms  of  deepening  the  single  market  and  the  low-emission  mobility.  It  goes 
against the needs of the European citizens, in terms of their increasing mobility needs, and the 
European  economy  in  terms  of  the  lack  of  efficiency  of  the  sector.  Enhancing  the 
competitiveness and accessibility of the coach and bus sector should therefore be considered. 

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