COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway
Date: 2021-12-10
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: carriage of passengers, consumer protection, disabled person, equal treatment, indemnification, inland waterway transport, maritime safety, maritime transport, passenger rights

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 10.12.2021  SWD(2021) 414 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  of Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and inland waterway {SWD(2021) 413 final}  
 
 
Introduction 

Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 concerning the rights of passengers when travelling by sea and 
inland waterway (‘the Regulation’), which entered into application in 2012, in particular aimed 
to reduce the negative impact  of travel  disruption on users of  waterborne transport and  protect 
the rights of passengers on waterborne transport services (some 225 million passengers in 2019, 
of  which  99%  were  seaborne  passengers).  It  created  obligations  for  carriers,  port-managing 
bodies, travel agents, tour operators and Member States and was intended to help create a level 
playing field for waterborne operators in the EU and a European standard of passenger rights. In 
line  with  the  Commission’s  better  regulation  guidelines  and  the  recent  ‘Sustainable  and  Smart 
Mobility Strategy’, a full evaluation of the Regulation is now appropriate.  

Purpose and scope of the evaluation 

The purpose of the evaluation is to provide an insight into the Regulation’s performance in order 
to  assess  whether  it  has  achieved  its  objectives  and  to  determine  its  overall  intended  and 
unintended  impacts.  The  evaluation,  which  began  in  July  2019,  is  based  on  the  collection  and 
detailed analysis of published pan-European data covering the 2012-18 period, and information 
from industry and other affected groups. The evaluation scope covers the period until the start of 
the evaluation support study in February 2020.  The findings of the evaluation therefore cannot 
consider fully the impact of COVID-19, although clear tendencies and stakeholder opinions are 
reflected.  The  geographic  scope  includes  the  27  EU  Member  States,  the  United  Kingdom, 
Iceland, and Norway. 

Main findings 

Effectiveness – Analysis of the progress made towards achieving the objectives  

The  Regulation  created  a  unprecedented  legal  framework  for  the  protection  of  passengers 
travelling by sea and inland waterway across the EU. However, there are gaps that undermine its 
effectiveness,  as  several  provisions  of  the  Regulation  are  not  clearly  defined.  As  regards  the 
national  enforcement  bodies  (NEBs),  Member  States  have  taken  different  approaches  in  their 
national  law  to  meet  the  Regulation  requirements  and  as  a  result  the  NEBs  enforce  the 
Regulation  differently,  for  example  in  terms  of  conducting  monitoring  activities  and  imposing 
appropriate  sanctions.  In  general,  the  NEBs  receive  a  very  low  number  of  complaints  from 
passengers, although the number is increasing. In addition, passengers are still not fully aware of 
their  rights.  For  persons  with  disabilities  and  reduced  mobility  (PRM),  the  use  of  waterborne 
transport can be constrained  by the physical  inaccessibility of infrastructure and  a lack of staff 
PRM  awareness  training.  Further  problems  are  connected  to  whether  and  to  what  extent 
passengers  are  provided  with  information  during  travel  disruptions,  and  the  use  of  digital 
technologies, which are not accessible for all passengers. Finally, the Regulation’s effectiveness 
is undermined by the fact that it is does not contain rules specific to passengers travelling with 
their car. The findings of the analysis are affected by the relatively low availability of data on the 
implementation  of  the  Regulation  at  NEB  level,  for  instance  as  regards  the  precise  number  of 

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passengers  benefiting  from  the  Regulation,  and  the  type  and  number  of  complaints  from 
passengers to operators and how the complaints have been handled. 

Efficiency – Costs and benefits of the EU intervention  

Due  to  the  limited  availability  of  relevant  data,  assessment  of  the  costs  and  benefits  of  the 
Regulation proved difficult and had to be estimated. While passenger representatives’ views on 
the  proportionality  of  the  costs  and  benefits  were  mostly  positive  (the  Regulation  costing  an 
estimated  additional  EUR 0.05  per  passenger),  carriers’  views  differed  more.  The  individual 
costs and workloads of NEBs are relatively low, which may be linked to the very low number of 
complaints received (on average one complaint per million passengers) and to the fact that not all 
NEBs engage in proactive monitoring and enforcement activities.  Benefits could be higher and 
simpler  for  passengers  and  carriers  if  all  NEBs  acted  consistently  in  enforcing  the  legislation, 
e.g. performed similar monitoring activities or had similar sanction regimes. 

Relevance – The objectives of the intervention are still relevant today 

The original objectives of the Regulation remain highly relevant and broadly correspond to the 
current  needs of passengers. No specific changes were observed in  the EU waterborne market; 
however, the increased use of digital technology and the COVID-19-pandemic have resulted in a 
call for the provision of rapid and clear information to passengers.  Increasing digitalisation has 
generally improved achievement of the objectives, although it may have led to a deterioration in 
the  quality  of  service  for  passengers  who  cannot  use  digital  technology.  In  general,  the 
Regulation has improved the quality of service, but some areas for improvement remain. Overall, 
the evaluation has led to the conclusion that the issues identified at the time of the intervention 
was introduced would have persisted in the absence of the Regulation. 

Coherence – Internal and external coherence of the intervention    

In terms of internal coherence, no major issues were identified. The Regulation was found to be 
externally  coherent  with  other  EU  acts  on  safety  and  security  requirements,  the  liability  of 
carriers  in  the  event  of  accidents,  the  Package  Travel  Directive,  and  EU  competition  policy. 
However,  there  are  minor  inconsistencies  with  EU  consumer  policy  and  some  inconsistencies 
between passenger rights in different transport modes, e.g. the compensation systems. Turning to 
international  agreements,  the  Regulation  is  coherent  with  the  UN  Convention  on  the  Rights  of 
Persons with  Disabilities, the relevant  rules  of the  International  Maritime Organisation  and  the 
external transport policy of the EU. 

EU added value – Additional value resulting from EU interventions 

The Regulation resulted in added value by introducing a consistent level of rights for passengers 
throughout the EU. Previously, only some Member States and Norway had national legislation 
granting passengers a similar level of rights as the Regulation. As a result, passengers travelling 
by  waterborne  transport  have  greater  protection  and  higher  confidence.  The  Regulation 
encouraged greater awareness of the support needed for PRM when travelling by sea or inland 

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waterways. Therefore, withdrawing  the Regulation would be likely to  dilute the level  of rights 
offered. 

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