REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Exemptions granted by Member States under Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004
Date: 2019-04-12
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, bus, derogation from EU law, disabled person, inland transport, passenger rights, public transport, transport company, transport user

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 12.4.2019  COM(2019) 179 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Exemptions granted by Member States under Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004    
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Exemptions granted by Member States under Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 concerning 
the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 
2006/2004 

1. INTRODUCTION  

1.1. Background  

Regulation  (EU)  No  181/20111  (‘the  Regulation’)  lays  down  a  series  of  rights  for 
passengers who travel by bus and coach in the European Union. It became applicable on 
1 March 2013.  

The  Commission  is  submitting  this  report  under  Articles  2(6)  and  18(2)  of  the 
Regulation,  which  requires  it  to  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on 
exemptions granted pursuant to Articles 2(4), 2(5) and 18(1). 

1.2 Scope of the Regulation 

The  Regulation  applies,  in  general,  to  ‘regular  services’  (services  provided  at  specified 
intervals  along  specified  routes,  where  passengers  are  picked  up  and  set  down  at 
predetermined  stopping  points)  for  non-specified  categories  of  passengers,  where  the 
boarding  or  alighting  point  of  the  passengers  is  situated  in  the  territory  of  a  Member 
State.2 

 1.3 Content of the Regulation 

Passengers  travelling  on  any  type  of  regular  service,  irrespective  of  the  scheduled 
distance of the service, benefit from the following core rights: 

 1) non-discriminatory transport conditions (notably non-discriminatory tariffs); 

2)  access  to  transport  for  people  with  disabilities  or  reduced  mobility  at  no  additional 
cost (carriers can only refuse to transport passengers with disabilities if carrying them is 
physically  impossible  given  the  design  of  the  vehicle,  the  bus  stop  or  the  terminal 
infrastructure, or if doing so would breach health and safety requirements);   

3) minimum rules on the travel information provided to all passengers before and during 
their journey including information on their rights;  

1 Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 concerning 
the  rights  of  passengers  in  bus  and  coach  transport  and  amending  Regulation  (EC)  No  2006/2004  (OJ  L  55, 
28.2.2011, p. 1).   
2 In addition, a limited number of provisions (the most important being on the compensation and assistance that 
carriers are required to provide in case of death, injury, loss or damage caused by road accidents) also apply to 
‘occasional services’, where the group of passengers is constituted on the initiative of the customer or the carrier. 

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4)  a  complaint  handling  mechanism  that  carriers  must  make  available  to  all  passengers; 
and  

5)  independent  national  enforcement  bodies  in  each  Member  State,  which  have  the 
mandate to enforce the Regulation and, where appropriate, to impose penalties 3.  

Passengers  also  benefit  from  the  following  additional  rights  when  travelling  on  regular 
services where the scheduled distance of the service is 250 km or more:  

6) provision of tickets (electronic or paper) or any other documents giving entitlement to 
transport;  

7) compensation and assistance in the case of death, injury or loss or damage to luggage 
caused by an accident;  

8) information if the service is cancelled or delayed on departure;   

9) right to reimbursement of the full ticket price or rerouting in the case of a cancellation 
or a long delay at departure;  

10)  adequate  assistance  in  the  case  of  a  cancellation  or  a  long  delay  (only  applicable 
when the scheduled duration of the journey is more than 3 hours);   

11)  compensation  amounting  to  50  %  of  the  ticket  price  if  the  carrier  fails  to  offer  the 
passenger the choice between reimbursement of the ticket price and rerouting when there 
has been a cancellation or long delay; and  

12)  specific  assistance  at  no  additional  cost  for  people  with  disabilities  or  reduced 
mobility both at bus terminals and on board.  

2. Exemptions from the scope of the Regulation 4 

2.1  Exemption  of  domestic  regular  services  from  the  scope  of  the  Regulation  in 
accordance with Article 2(4) of the Regulation  

Member States could, on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis, exempt those purely 
domestic  regular  services  where  the  scheduled  distance  is  equal  or  above  250  km  from 
the  application  of  the  non-core  rights  until  28  February  2017.  This  exemption  could  be 
renewed once, for a period of up to four years (ending on 28 February 2021 at the latest). 

In  2013,  when  the  Regulation  become  applicable,  a  total  of  13  Member  States  (Croatia, 
the  Czech  Republic5,  Estonia,  France,  Greece,  Hungary6,  Latvia,  The  Netherlands, 

3 In addition, as the Regulation is listed in the Annex of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 on cooperation between 
national  authorities  responsible  for  the  enforcement  of  consumer  protection  laws,  the  national  authorities 
participating in the EU Consumer Protection Cooperation can cooperate with each other to investigate violations 
of  EU  bus  and  coach  passenger  rights  and  use  cooperative  enforcement  measures  to  deter  operators  from  the 
violation of those rights. 
4  The  Commission  publishes  an  updated  list  on  the  exemptions  granted  by  Member  States  on  the  basis  of 
information provided by Member States at: 
https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/themes/passengers/road/doc/exemptions-from-bus-coach-
passengers-rights-and-obligations.pdf 

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Portugal,  Romania,  Slovakia,  Slovenia  and  the  United  Kingdom)  applied  exemptions  of 
this type.  

In  2017,  a  total  of  8  Member  States  (Croatia,  Estonia,  Hungary,  Latvia,  Portugal, 
Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom) decided to renew this exemption 7. 

2.2 Exemption of regular services with a significant part of the service (including at 
least one scheduled stop) is operated outside the European Union in accordance with 
Article 2(5) of the Regulation  

Member States could also grant exemptions from the application of the entire Regulation 
to  regular  services  where  a  significant  part  of  the  service  (including  at  least  one 
scheduled  stop)  is  operated  outside  the  EU.  These  exemptions,  which  must  also  be 
awarded on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis, expired on 28 February 2017, but 
they could be renewed once for a period of up to four years (ending on 28 February 2021 
at the latest). 

In  2013,  a  total    of    14    Member    States    (Austria,    Croatia,    Estonia,  France,    Finland,  
Germany,  Greece,  Hungary,  Italy,  Latvia,  The  Netherlands,  Slovakia,  Slovenia  and  the 
United Kingdom) granted exemptions of this type. 

In 2017, a total of 9 Member States (Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, 
Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom) decided to renew this exemption 8. 

2.3  Exemption  of  regular  services  from  some  or  all  of  the  provisions  related  to  the 
rights  of  passengers  with  disability  or  reduced  mobility  in  accordance  with  Article 
18(1) of the Regulation  

Member States can exempt their domestic services from the application of all  or some of 
the provisions of Chapter III of the Regulation on the rights of passengers with disability 
or  reduced  mobility,  provided  that  they  ensure  that  the  level  of  protection  of  disabled 
persons and persons with reduced mobility under their national rules is at least the same 
as under the Regulation. Member States shall inform the Commission of such exemptions 
granted.  The  Commission  shall  take  appropriate  action  if  such  an  exemption  is  deemed 
not  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  requirement  that  the  level  of  protection  of  disabled 
persons  and  persons  with  reduced  mobility  under  the  national  rules  shall  be  at  least  the 
same as under the Regulation. 

None  of  the  Member  States  granted  exemptions  on  the  basis  of  Article  18(1)  of  the 
Regulation. 

5 The Czech Republic only granted exemptions from Articles 8, 19 and 21 of the Regulation. 
6 The exemption granted by Hungary do not cover Articles 7 and 16(1) of the Regulation. 
7 On 20 December 2018 when the manuscript of the report was finalised the same Member States applied the 
exemption. 
8 On 20 December 2018 when the manuscript of the report was finalised the same Member States applied the 
exemption. 

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3.  Consultation  with  stakeholders  and  national  enforcement  bodies  about  the 
exemptions 

Before  submitting  its  Report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the 
application  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  181/20119  the  Commission  consulted  in  2016 
stakeholders  on  the  application  of  the  Regulation.  During  this  consultation,  passengers’ 
organisations10  criticised  Member  States  for  granting  too  many  exemptions.  In  their 
opinion,  the  extensive  use  of  exemptions  deprives  passengers  of  the  full  enjoyment  of 
their  rights  and  of  legal  certainty  (particularly  as  it  is  difficult  for  passengers  to  know 
which Member States apply which exemptions). 

Consequently,  in  the  same  Report  the  Commission  encouraged  Member  States,  which 
granted exemptions from the Regulation, to review before 28 March 2017 whether, in the 
light of their experiences, it is necessary to continue these exemptions.  

In September 2017, the Commission made a survey with the national enforcement bodies 
requesting them to explain why their Member State decided to apply or not t o apply these 
exemptions.11 

The Member States  explained their decisions to grant exemptions as  follows: the Czech 
Republic,  Hungary  and  The  Netherlands  exempted  purely  domestic  regular  services  to 
give more time for national operators to prepare for the application of the Regulation and 
make  the  necessary  investments  (e.g.  accessibility  of  fleet  and  infrastructure).  Estonia 
and  Latvia  exempted  such  services  because  fully  applying  the  Regulation  to  domestic 
services  would  be  a  significant  burden  for  the  operators,  which  would  terminate 
operating  certain  services.  Croatia  granted  this  exemption  at  the  request  of  national 
carriers.  The  UK  granted  this  exemption  in  line  with  the  general  government  policy  to 
make use of all exemptions from EU legislation, which would reduce costs to businesses. 

Germany,  Estonia,  Latvia,  and  The  Netherlands  explained  that  they  exempted  regular 
services  with  a  significant  part  of  the  service  operated  outside  the  European  Union  to 
renegotiate  their  bilateral  road  passenger  transport  agreements  with  third  countries  and 
introduce similar passenger rights articles in such agreements. 

4. Conclusion 

Several Member States granted extensive exemptions during the first four years from the 
application  of  the  Regulation  in  order  to  allow  bus  and  coach  carrier  to  prepare  for  its 
application.  In  2017,  when  they  had  to  reconsider  whether  they  should  continue  the  use 
of these exemptions, some of these Member States considered that bus and coach carriers 
are  prepared  to  fully  apply  the  Regulation  and  there  is  no  further  need  to  apply  these 
exemptions.  Nevertheless,  there  are  still  10  Member  States  using  two  or  one  of  these 
exemptions. 

9 COM(2016) 619 final 
10 The European Disability Forum (EDF) and the European Passengers’ Federation (EPF) 
11 http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupMeeting&meetingId=2166 

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