REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU
Date: 2019-05-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: air transport, common transport policy, delegated legislation, inland waterway transport, land transport, maritime transport, powers of the institutions (EU), sustainable mobility, trans-European network, transport network

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.5.2019  COM(2019) 211 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of  11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU    
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission 
pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of  11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-
European transport network and repealing Decision No 661/2010/EU 

1.  

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  Union 
guidelines  for  the  development  of  the  trans-European  transport  network  and  repealing 
Decision No 661/2010/EU 1 sets out a long-term strategy for the development of a complete 
trans-European transport network (TEN-T), consisting of infrastructure for railways, maritime 
and air transport, roads, inland waterways and rail-road terminals. The regulation covers the 
identification  of  the  elements  of  the  TEN-T,  their  technical  standards  as  well  as  the 
requirements for interoperability of infrastructures and defines priorities for the development 
of the TEN-T.  

Article  49(4)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt 
delegated  acts  concerning  the  adaptation  of  Annexes  I  and  II  to  take  account  of  possible 
changes  resulting  from  the  quantitative  thresholds  applicable  to  certain  components  of  the 
TEN-T. These requirements are laid down in Articles 14, 20, 24 and 27 of this Regulation. 

Article  49(6)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013  empowers  the  Commission  to  adopt 
delegated acts concerning the adaptation of Annex III in order to include or adapt indicative 
maps of neighbouring countries. 

2.  

LEGAL BASIS 

This report is required under Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013. 

3. 

EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

3.1.  Adaptations of the list and the maps based on statistical data 

Annex  I  to  Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013  contains  maps  of  the  comprehensive  and  core 
networks which define the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 and identify projects of 
common  interest.  Annex  II  to  this  Regulation  establishes  the  list  of  nodes  of  the  core  and 
comprehensive network.  

Under  Article  49(4)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013,  the  Commission  is  empowered  to 
adopt delegated acts which will adapt the maps and lists annexed to the Regulation as regards 
the quantitative thresholds which are necessary to be met by sea and inland ports, airports and 
rail-road terminals to be part of the TEN-T. These adaptations are based on the latest available 
statistics  published  by  Eurostat  or,  if  not  available,  by  the  national  statistical  offices.  The 
Commission may also adjust the maps for road, railway and inland waterway infrastructure in 
a strictly limited way so as to reflect progress in completing the network. 

1 OJ L 348, 20.12.2013, p. 1 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
The Commission launched the updating process at the TEN-T Committee meeting held on 30 
September  2015  and  consulted  experts  of  Member  States'  competent  authorities,  in  the 
presence of experts of the European Parliament, in a meeting on 9 December 2015 and on 16 
March 2016.  

Based on this consultation process and analysis of the available data, the Commission adopted 
on 7 December 2016 the Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2017/8492. 

The adaptations laid down in the delegated regulation do not include exclusions according to 
point  (b)  of  Article  49(4)  since  this  assessment  will  only  be  relevant  six  years  after  the 
adoption of the Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013. 

3.2.  Adaptations of the indicative maps of the neighbouring countries 

Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 contains indicative maps of certain neighbouring 
countries. 

Article  49(6)  of  the  Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013  provides  for  the  possibility  to  adopt 
delegated  acts  to  adapt  those  maps  or  to  include  maps  of  further  neighbouring  countries, 
based on high-level agreements on transport infrastructure networks between the Union and 
the neighbouring countries concerned. 

The Commission used this delegation in the following instances: 
a)  The  Commission  adopted  on  17  January  2014  the  Delegated  Regulation  No  473/20143. 
This  regulation  concerns  the  lines  of  the  railway  and  road  network,  as  well  as  the  ports, 
airports  and  rail-road  terminals  on  the  comprehensive  network  in  the  following  third 
countries: Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. 
b)  The  Commission  adopted  on  4  February  2016  the  Delegated  Regulation  No  2016/7584. 
This  regulation  concerns  the  identification  of  the  core  network  connections  on  the 
comprehensive network maps of the railway and road networks, as well as ports and airports 
in the following third countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the Republic of 
North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. 
c) The Commission adopted on 9 November 2018 the Delegated Regulation No 2019/2545 . 
This regulation concerns the revision of the indicative extension of the comprehensive TEN-T 
maps,  as  well  as  the  identification  of  the  core  network  connections  on  the  comprehensive 

2  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2017/849  of  7  December  2016  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 
1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the maps in Annex I and the list in Annex II 
to that Regulation, OJ L 128I , 19.5.2017, p. 1 
3 Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No  473/2014  of  17  January  2014  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 
1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards supplementing Annex III thereto with new 
indicative maps, OJ L 136, 9.5.2014, p. 10 
4  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2016/758  of  4  February  2016  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 
1315/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  as  regards  adapting  Annex  III  thereto,  OJ  L  126, 
14.5.2016, p. 3 
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ 
Opinion  on  the  Kosovo  declaration  of  independence.5 Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/254  of  9 
November 2018 on the adaptation of Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council on Union guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network. 
5 Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/254  of  9  November  2018  on  the  adaptation  of  Annex  III  to 
Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  Union  guidelines  for  the 
development of the trans-European transport network. 

2 

 
 
                                                 
network  maps  in  the  following  third  countries:  Armenia,  Azerbaijan,  Belarus,  Republic  of 
Moldova and Ukraine6. 

Prior  to  the  adoption  of  all  the  delegated  acts  referred  to  above,  the  Commission  consulted 
experts from the Member States and the representatives of the European Parliament. 

4.  

CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE 

The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this Report. 

In the future, the Commission plans to use its delegated powers for the further adaptations of 
the Annexes I, II and III to Regulation (EU) 1315/2013. 

6 The Commission adopted on 2 February 2017 a delegated regulation to adapt the indicative maps of the TEN-T 
core network in Turkey and the Eastern Partnership countries based on Article 49(6) of the TEN T Regulation. 
However, the Commission decided to withdraw this delegated regulation due to the concerns expressed by the 
Member States. Hence, the delegation was not executed at this instance. 

3