CELEX: 51987PC0079
Language: en
Date: 1987-04-09
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ON COMMON RULES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE OF PASSENGERS BY COACH AND BUS

6. 5. 87                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 120/9
                                                                  II
                                                          (Preparatory Acts)
                                                     COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Regulation on common rules for the international carriage of passengers
                                                          by coach and bus
                                                          COM(87) 79 final
                                  (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 15 April 1987)
                                                           (87/C 120/08)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                              Whereas administrative formalities should be made,
                                                                      where possible, less burdensome without abandoning the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                 necessary checks and sanctions;
Economic Community, and in particular Article 75
thereof,                                                              Whereas in order that international road passenger
                                                                      services may retain their high quality of service and
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                    retain the confidence of users, it is imperative that
                                                                      measures to ensure the respect of road safety
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                     requirements be taken;
liament,
                                                                      Whereas the Member States should adopt such laws,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                      regulations or administrative provisions as may be
Social Committee,                                                     necessary for the implementation of this Regulation,
"Whereas pursuant to Article 75 (1) (a) of the Treaty the
establishment of a common transport policy entails, inter             HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
alia, the adoption of common rules applicable to the
international carriage of passengers by road;
                                                                                               SECTION I
Whereas such common rules were laid down in Council                                            GENERAL
Regulations No 117/66/EEC ('), (EEC) No 516/72 (2)
and (EEC) N o 517/72 (3), and whereas the principles set                                        Article 1
out therein remain valid;
                                                                                                 Scope
Whereas the freedom to provide services is a                          The provisions of this Regulation shall apply to the inter-
fundamental principle of the common transport policy                  national carriage of passengers by road, using vehicles
and includes the requirement that the international                   which are registered in a Member State and which, by
transport markets should be open to transport under-                  virtue of their construction and equipment, are intended
takings from all Member States without discrimination                 to carry more than nine persons, including the driver:
 on the grounds of nationality or place of establishment;
                                                                      — from the territory of a Member State to the territory
Whereas occasional services already enjoy a flexible                       of the same or another Member State including
 regime and should continue to do so:                                      transit through one or more Member States, or
Whereas it is considered that regular services and shuttle             — in the case of a journey between a Member State and
 services should remain subject to authorization but with                  a third country, to that part of the jpurney which is
 a certain easing, especially in respect of the procedures                 within the Community.
 for granting authorizations;
 Whereas it is necessary to ensure that the rules of                                            Article 2
 competition are respected;                                                                    Definitions
                                                                       1.    Regular services are services which provide for the
 0) OJ No 147, 9. 8. 1966, p. 2688/66.                                 carriage of passengers at specified intervals along
 (2) OJ No L 67, 20. 3. 1972, p. 13.                                   specified routes, passengers being taken up and set down
 (») OJ No L 67, 20. 3. 1972, p. 19.                                   at predetermined stopping points.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 120/10                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                    6.5.87
Services, by whomsoever organized, which provide for                           — when it is operated with some degree of
the carriage of specified categories of passengers to the                          frequency,
exclusion of other passengers, in so far as such services
are operated under the conditions specified in the first                       — where the route has to be altered in the course
subparagraph, shall be deemed to be regular services.                              of a journey or the journey has to be
Such services, in particular those providing for the                               interrupted.
carriage of workers to and from their place of work or
of schoolchildren to and from school, are hereinafter                     (c) For occasional closed-door tours, passengers may
called 'special regular services'. The fact that a service                     be taken up in several places in the Member State
may be varied according to the needs of those concerned                        where the journey begins, and set down in the
shall not affect its classification as a regular service.                      same places on the return journey.
2. (a) Shuttle services are services whereby, by means of                 (d) Within the framework of an international
       repeated outward and return journeys, previously                        occasional service, a transport undertaking may
       formed groups of passengers are carried from a                          carry out national occasional services in a
       single place of departure to a single place of                          Member State other than that in which it is
       destination and subsequently carried back                               established. On such national services, passengers
       together to the place of departure. Place of                            may be carried who do not belong to the same
       departure and place of destination mean                                 group but who have been brought into the
       respectively the place where the journey begins                         Member State concerned by the same transport
       and the place where the journey ends, together                          undertaking.
       with, in each case, the surrounding locality.
       Notwithstanding the above definition:                                                     Article 3
       — passengers may under certain circumstances                   1.     Any transport undertaking shall be permitted to
            make the return journey with another group,               operate coach and bus services for the carriage of pass-
                                                                      engers between Member States without discrimination as
       — passengers may be taken up or set down                       to nationality or place of establishment if it:
            during the journey,
                                                                      — is established in a Member State in conformity with
       — the first outward journey and the last return
                                                                           the legislation thereof,
            journey may be made unladen.
                                                                      — is authorized in that Member State to undertake the
   (b) Shuttle services       with    accommodation       mean
                                                                           international carriage of passengers by means of
       services where:
                                                                           regular services or occasional services or shuttle
         (i) in addition to transport, accommodation for                   services by coach and bus,
             each group, with or without meals, at the
             place of destination and, where necessary,               — satisfies the conditions laid down by Council
             during the journey is included;                               Directive 74/562/EEC (*) relating to the admission
                                                                           to the occupation of carrier of passengers by road in
        (ii) the total time spent by each group on the                     the field of international carriage and by the
             journey and at the place of destination is not                measures taken to implement that Directive by the
             less than three days;                                         Member State in which the undertaking is
                                                                           established,
       (iii) an inclusive charge is paid for the journey
             and accommodation.                                       — meets national and international legal requirements
                                                                           on road safety as far as the standards for drivers and
3. (a) Occasional services are services falling neither                    vehicles are concerned.
       within the definition of a regular service nor
       within the definition of a shuttle service. They               2.     In order to enjoy freedom to provide transport
       include in particular:                                         services within the Community, a carrier must:
       — closed-door tours, that is to say services
                                                                      — in the case of a natural person, be a national of one
            whereby the same vehicle is used to carry the
                                                                           of the Member States,
            same group of passengers throughout the
            journey and to bring them back to the place of
                                                                      — in the case of a legal person,
            departure,
       — services which make the outward journey                          — be       under    the    continuous    and    effective
            carrying passengers and the return journey                         management of persons a majority of whom are
            unladen, or vice versa.                                            nationals of Member States,
   (b) A service shall not cease to be an occasional
       service:                                                       (') OJ No L 308, 19. 11. 1974, p. 23.
 ---pagebreak--- 6. 5. 87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 120/11
    — be constituted in such a way that the persons                 — where the return journey is made with a group of
         participating directly or indirectly in the majority           passengers other than that which made the outward
         of the financial results of the transport under-               journey,
         taking or having the majority of the voting shares
         or voting rights are nationals of a Member State.          — where passengers are taken up at various places
                                                                         during the outward journey and set down at various
3.     After consulting the Commission, a Member State                  places during the return journey within the territory
may grant exemptions from the provisions of paragraph                   of the State from which the service departs,
2 above in so far as this does not disturb the inter-               — where passengers are set down at various places
national road passenger markets.                                         during the outward journey and taken up at various
                                                                        places during the return journey within the territory
                                                                         of the State in which the destination of the service is
                          SECTION II                                     located.
                   OCCASIONAL SERVICES
                                                                    2.     Paragraph 1 shall apply in the case of shuttle
                           Article 4                                services without accommodation where:
                     Access to the market                           — the total number of passengers within the meaning of
                                                                         the first indent of paragraphe 1 does not exceed
Occasional services and all unladen journeys in relation                 30 % of the number of passengers making the
thereto shall not require authorization.                                 outward journey,
                                                                    — the number of additional places within the meaning
                           Article 5                                     of the second and third indents of paragraph 1 is
                      Control document                                   limited to a maximum of six on the outward journey
                                                                         and six on the return journey.
1.     A transport undertaking operating occasional
services shall fill out a control document before each
journey.                                                                                      Article 8
                                                                                           Authorization
2.     The control document shall contain the following
information:                                                        1.     Authorizations for shuttle services shall be issued in
(a) the type of service;                                            the name of the transport undertaking; they may not be
                                                                    transferred by the latter to third parties.
(b) the schedule of driving and rest periods for drivers;
(c) the main itinerary without local stops or excursions.           2.     The period of validity of an authorization may not
                                                                    exceed two years.
3.     The control document shall be supplied by the
competent authorities of the Member State where the                 3.     Authorizations shall specify the following:
transport undertaking is established. It shall be presented
on request to any authorized inspecting officers.                   (a) the route of the service, giving in particular the place
                                                                          of departure and the place of destination;
4.     The Commission shall, after consulting the Member
States, prescribe the model for the control document and            (b) the service timetable;
the way in which the control document is to be used.
                                                                    (c) the schedule of driving and rest periods for drivers;
                         SECTION III
                                                                     (d) the period of validity of the authorization.
                     SHUTTLE SERVICES
                            Article 6                                4.    Authorizations may be made subject to certain
                                                                     reasonable administrative charges.
                      Acces to the market
 Shuttle services shall be subject to authorization in               5.     Authorizations shall be in a form to be prescribed
 accordance with Articles 8 to 14.                                   by the Commission after consultation with the Member
                                                                     States.
                            Article 7                                                          Article 9
                          Special cases                                               Scope of the authorization
 1.    Authorizations as required by Article 6 shall also           Transport undertakings shall be entitled to operate auth-
 enable transport undertakings to operate shuttle services          orized shuttle services in the territories of all Member
with accommodation in the following special cases:                  States over which the routes of the shuttle services pass.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 120/12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                     6.5.87
                          Article 10                                                           Article 13
        Submission of applications for authorizations                                  Arbitration procedure
1.    Applications for authorization of shuttle services             1.   If the competent authorities of the Member State of
shall be submitted to the competent authorities of the              destination do not agree with the decision mentioned in
Member State in whose territory the place of departure              Article 12, the authorizing authority shall refer the
of the shuttle service is situated, hereinafter referred to         matter to the Commission within three months from the
as 'the authorizing authority'.                                     date of the application for authorization.
2.    Persons applying for authorization of a shuttle               2.    The Commission, after consulting the Member
service shall provide the authorizing authority with all            States concerned, shall within 30 days take a decision
the relevant information.                                           which shall take effect 30 days after notification to the
                                                                    Member States concerned.
3.    Applications shall be in a form to be prescribed by
the Commission after consultation with the Member                                             Article 14
States.                                                                                Issue of authorizations
                                                                    1.    Once the procedures laid down in Articles 12 and
                         Article 11                                 13 have been completed, the authorizing authority shall
                                                                    grant the transport undertaking an authorization for
                Examination of applications                         shuttle services or shall formally refuse the application.
1.    For shuttle services with accommodation, the auth-
orizing authority shall issue the authorization in                  2.    The authorizing authority shall forward a copy of
accordance with Article 12.                                         any authorization issued to the competent authorities
                                                                    referred to in Article 12.
2.    For shuttle services without accommodation, the
authorizing authority shall issue the authorization in              3.    Decisions refusing an application taken in
accordance with Article 12 unless it can be shown that              conformity with this Regulation must state the reasons
such services would compete unfairly with existing                  on which they are based. Member States shall ensure
services in the areas concerned.                                    that transport undertakings in their capacity as such are
                                                                    given the opportunity to make                representations
                                                                    concerning their interests, by appropriate means, in
3.    The authorizing authority may refuse applications             respect of such decisions.
as referred to at paragraphs 1 and 2 if in the past the
applicant has^ not complied with conditions and
requirements relating to authorizations for international                                   SECTION IV
road passenger services or has committed serious
breaches of legislation in regard to road or vehicle safety                            REGULAR SERVICES
and driving and rest periods.
                                                                                              Article 15
                                                                           Access to the market, obligation to carry and
4.    The authorizing authority may refuse applications                                     authorization
as referred to at paragraphs 1 and 2 above only on the
basis of reasons compatible with this Regulation.                   1.    Regular services and special regular services shall be
                                                                    subject to authorization issued in accordance with
                                                                    Articles 18 to 22.
                         Article 12
                  Authorization procedure                           2.    Transport undertakings shall be obliged to carry
                                                                    passengers on regular services where:
Before the authorizing authority issues an authorization
it shall consult the competent authorities of the Member            — the passengers fulfil the transport conditions fixed by
State in whose territory the destination is situated and                the undertaking or by the competent authorities,
communicate the planned decision to the competent
authorities of the Member States whose territories are to
be crossed in transit by the shuttle service.                       — it is possible to carry passengers using regular means
                                                                        of transport, and
Subject to Article 13, the authorizing authority shall take         — the carriage of passengers is not prevented by
a decision on the application within three months of the                circumstances beyond the transport undertaking's
date of the application.                                                control.
 ---pagebreak--- 6.5.87                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 120/13
3.      Article 8 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the auth-         the authorization, the conditions subject to which a
orization of regular services, including special regular            regular service is operated. Variations which would sub-
services, subject to the following differences:                     stantially alter the conditions of an authorization may be
                                                                    made only where they are essential in order to ensure the
— the period of validity of an authorization shall not              provision of adequate transport services.
      exceed seven years,
— the authorization         shall   in addition   specify  the                                Article 20
      following:                                                                       Authorization procedure
      (a) the stopping points;                                       1.    The authorizing authority shall issue the author-
                                                                    ization in agreement with the competent authorities of
      (b) the fares and conditions of carriage.
                                                                    all Member States in whose territories passengers are
                                                                    taken up or set down. To this end it shall forward a copy
4.      The holder of the authorization shall not, without          of the application together with copies of all documen-
the agreement of the authorizing authority, vary the                tation and its own opinion.
conditions laid down in the authorization or withdraw a
service except in accordance with Article 22 before the
                                                                    2.     The competent authorities of the Member States
period of validity of the authorization has expired.
                                                                    whose agreement is requested shall notify their opinion
                                                                    to the authorizing authority within 60 days. If on expiry
                            Article 16                              of that period no reply has been received, they shall be
                                                                    deemed to have given their assent.
         Requirement to indicate conditions of carriage
The transport undertaking shall display the route of the             3.    Subject to Article 21, the authorizing shall take a
service, the bus stops, the timetable, the fares and the             decision on the application within four months of the
conditions of carriage — in so far as these are not laid             date of application.
down by law — in such a way as to ensure that such
information is readily available to all users.                       4.    Following the agreement of the competent auth-
                                                                     orities referred to in paragraph 1 or after the completion
                                                                     of the arbitration procedure laid down in Article 21, the
                            Article 17
                                                                     authorizing authority shall communicate the decision to
                   Scope of the authorization                        the competent authorities of the Member States whose
                                                                     territory is to be crossed in transit by the regular service.
Transport undertakings shall be entitled to operate auth-            Those Member States may waive this requirement by
 orized regular services and special regular services in the         way of agreement or unilateral declaration.
territoiries of all Member States over which the routes
 such services pass.                                                                           Article 21
                                                                                        Arbitration procedure
                            Article 18
         Submission and examination of applications for               1.    Where the authorizing authority and the competent
                          authorization                              authorities of Member States in whose territories pass-
                                                                     engers are taken up or set down cannot reach a decision
 1.     Article 10 and Article 11 (2) and (3) shall apply            under the Article 20 procedure, the Member State of the
 mutatis mutandis to all applications relating to the auth-          authorizing authority shall refer the matter to the
 orization of regular and of special regular services, the           Commission, within four months of the date of the
 alteration of the conditions of such services of the                 application for authorization.
 renewal of authorization.
                                                                      2.    The Commission, after consulting the Member
 2.      In the case of an application to renew an author-            States concerned, shall within 30 days take a decision
 ization, the authorities must also check whether the                 which shall take effect 30 days after notification to the
 service was carried out in accordance with the conditions            Member States concerned.
 subject to which the authorization was issued.
                                                                      3.    Any decision of the Commission under paragraph 2
                            Article 19                                shall continue to apply until such time as agreement is
                                                                      reached between the Member States concerned.
                    Variation of authorization
 Without prejudice to Council Regulation (EEC) No                                              Article 22
  1191/69 (1), the Member States concerned shall be                                    Lapse of an authorization
 entitled to vary by agreement, after hearing the holder of
                                                                      1.    An authorization for a regular service shall lapse
  (') OJ No L 156, 28. 6. 1969, p. 1.                                 three months after the authorizing authority has received
 ---pagebreak--- No C 120/14                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                    6.5.87
from its holder notice of his intention to withdraw the           (c) have access to all the undertaking's premises, sites
service. Such notice must contain a proper statement of                and vehicles;
reasons. The holder of the authorization shall notify
users of the service concerned of his intention to                (d) require any information in respect of the books and
withdraw the service in an appropriate manner.                         documentation.
2.     Notwithstanding paragraph 1, where demand for a                                     Article 25
special regular service has ceased to exist, the author-
ization for a special regular service shall lapse on the          1.    Member States shall provide the other Member
date given by the holder in a communication to the auth-          States concerned with all available information on:
orizing authority conveying his intention to withdraw the
service. The communication must contain a proper                  — breaches of the provisions of this Regulation and any
statement of reasons.                                                 other Community rules in the field of international
                                                                      passenger services using coaches and buses, in so far
                                                                      as these breaches are committed in their own
3.    The authorizing authority shall inform the                      territory by a transport undertaking from another
competent authorities of the other Member States                       Member State,
concerned that the authorization has lapsed.
                                                                  — the penalties imposed in respect of the above,
                        SECTION V                                 — the penalties imposed on their own transport under-
                                                                      takings for such breaches committed in the territory
        CONTROL PROCEDURES AND PENALTIES
                                                                      of another Member State.
                         Article 23
                                                                  2.    The authorizing authorities shall withdraw any
1.    Transport undertakings operating a shuttle service          authorization issued on the basis of this Regulation if the
or a regular service or a special regular service shall           holder no longer meets its requirements and especially
supply to the passengers, for their possession throughout         where requested to do so by the Member State where the
the journey, an individual or collective travel document          transport undertaking is established. The authorizing
indicating:                                                       authority shall immediately inform the competent auth-
                                                                  orities of the Member State concerned.
— the route served,
                                                                  3.    The competent authorities of the Member States
— the period of validity of the document,                         shall prohibit a transport undertaking form operating
                                                                  international passenger services under this Regulation if
— the transport charge, in the case of shuttle services           the undertaking repeatedly commits serious breaches of
    with accommodation, the inclusive charge must cover           the relevant regulations, particularly the requirements
    transport and accommodation.                                  with regard to road and vehicle safety as well as driving
                                                                  and rest periods.
2.    The travel documents referred to in paragraph 1
shall be presented at the request of any authorized
inspecting officer.                                                                      SECTION VI
                                                                          TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
                         Article 24
                                                                                           Article 26
1.    The authorization for a shuttle service, for a
regular service and for a special regular service, required       Services, which after the entry into force of this Regu-
under this Regulation shall be carried on the vehicle and         lation require to be authorized, and which are already
be presented at the request of any authorized inspecting          authorized to operate at such time, may continue to be
officer.                                                          operated until their current authorizations expire.
2.     Transport undertakings operating coaches and                                        Article 27
buses for international passenger transport shall permit
inspections which are aimed at ensuring that operations            1.    Member States may make bilateral or multilateral
are carried out correctly, particularly as regards driving        arrangements to simplify the procedures provided for in
and rest periods. Inspecting officers employed for this           this Regulation for the authorization of shuttle services,
purpose shall be authorized and empowered to:                     for regular services and for special regular services.
(a) check the books and other documentation relevant              2.     Member States shall inform the Commission of any
     to the operation of the undertaking;                         arrangements made in accordance with paragraph 1.
(b) make copies of, or take extracts from, the books and          3.     The provisions of this Regulation shall not apply
     documentation on the premises;                               where at the date when this Regulation enters into force,
 ---pagebreak--- 6. 5. 87                                Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 120/15
arrangements in force under bilateral or multilateral                                        Article 30
agreements between the Member States provide for liber-
alization, subject to the condition that such arrangements         Member States shall, in due course, after consulting the
are applied without discrimination as to the nationality           Commission, adopt the measures rendered necessary by
or the place of establishement of the transport under-             this Regulation and notify such measures to the
taking in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 and          Commission.
comply with the competition rules of the Treaty.                   Member States shall in particular ensure the organization
                                                                   of, procedure for and means of carrying out, checks on
                                                                   compliance and the penalties applicable in case of
                          Article 28                               breach. They shall ensure that all such measures are
                                                                   carried out without discrimination as to nationality or
This Regulation shall not affect the conditions that
                                                                   place of establishment.
transport undertakings must satisfy under Directive
74/562/EEC.                                                                                  Article 31
                                                                   The Commission shall, with the aim of completing the
                          Article 29                               internal market, make proposals to the Council revising
                                                                   this Regulation before 1990.
The Community has the competence to negotiate and to
conclude agreements with third countries' regional and                                       Article 32
international organizations:
                                                                   Regulations No 117/66/EEC, (EEC) No 516/72 and
— to ensure that the principles of this Regulation are             (EEC) No 517/72 are hereby repealed.
     applied to the carriage of passengers between                                           Article 33
     Member States in transit through third countries,
                                                                   This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1988.
— to adopt common rules for the carriage of passengers             This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
     between the Community and third countries.                    directly applicable in all Member States.