Article 1 
This Regulation lays down temporary rules on the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure as set out in Chapter IV of Directive 2012/34/EU. It applies to the use of railway infrastructure for domestic and international rail services covered by that Directive, during the period from 1 March 2020 until 30 June 2022 (‘the reference period’).
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The railway sector is of strategic importance to the European Union. It makes a vital contribution to the EU's overall economy and employment, by directly employing over 900 000 people, around 500 000 of them by railway undertakings and roughly 400 000 by infrastructure managers (by the end of 2018) 1 . Rail transport is critical to the EU strategy for a more sustainable transport sector, economic and social cohesion and connecting Europeans within and between Member States. Rail is an important contributor to the EU transport mix, providing clean mobility and a high level of efficiency. Therefore, rail transport is crucial for achieving the objectives of the green deal due to its value as the most sustainable and environmentally friendly transport mode. In 2018, the European rail transport ed around 1.6 billion tonnes of freight and 7.1 billion passengers. By the same year , EU passenger traffic volumes had reached 400 billion passenger kilometres out of around 5 trillion passenger kilometres of land transport overall. Rail passenger traffic is mostly domestic, with only 7 % crossing borders in 201 8 2 . In 201 8 3 , EU freight traffic volumes reached 435 billion tonne kilometres out of 2. 3 trillion of land transport overall. Around half of total rail freight is cross-border. This lends rail freight a strong European dimension . Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a major impact on rail transport in the Union. Rail passenger and freight transport have declined due to limitations on mobility and the consequent reduction in the demand for transport. During the first period of the pandemic in spring 2020, rail operators stopped most international passenger trains. Passenger numbers in domestic rail transport decreased during the first wave of the pandemic by up to 90% compared to the previous year. A few operators, in particular new entrants, had to stop operations, whilst rail freight operators reported a severe decrease in transported volumes as many industries slowed down or even ceased their production due to the impact of the pandemic. Throughout the summer of 2020, demand and transport volumes remained at low levels in both passenger and freight transport. A second wave of the pandemic in the autumn of 2020 obliged many countries to take further restrictive measures with regard to citizens’ mobility. The outbreak of a third wave of the pandemic hindered the quick recovery of rail traffic, in particular for rail passenger services. In October and November 2020, Member States imposed new limitations on mobility, only partially and gradually lifting them during 2021. Passenger numbers have not come back yet to pre-pandemic levels and the time to recover to pre-pandemic levels may be longer than expected in particular for commercial passenger traffic. Therefore, the impact of the pandemic on the transport sector continues to be significant. The emergence of the new extremely contagious COVID-19 variant Omicron in the autumn of 2021, with still unknown characteristics compared to the previous variants, is raising concerns about a fourth wave of the pandemic and stricter containment measures. On 7 October 2020, The European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 establishing measures for a sustainable rail market in view of the COVID-19 outbreak 4 . The aim of the Regulation was to enable rail stakeholders to cope better with the financial consequ ences of the COVID-19 pandemic and to respond to their urgent liquidity need, through the reduction, waiver or deferral of charges for the minimum access package and for access to infrastructure connecting service facilities. These relief measures applied to charges due throughout the reference period set out in Article 1 of the Regulation, which is from 1 March 2020 until 31 December 2020 (“reference period”). The scope of application was limited within that timeframe to ensure that the measures applied only as long as necessary. Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 empowered the Commission, based on data provided by infrastructure managers showing persistent reductions in rail traffic demonstrably linked to the COVID-19 outbreak, to extend the reference period by up to six months by way of delegated acts. The reference period could be extended until 14 April 2022. The Commission exercised that delegation of power twice 5 and extended the reference period to 31 December 2021. The power to adopt delegated acts to extend the reference period was conferred on the Commission for a period of one year from 13 October 2020 and it has now expired. On the basis of the data provided to the Commission by Union rail infrastructure managers covering the period until September 2021, the pandemic hit harder the passenger service segment and, in particular the commercial passenger service segment, with a significant reduction of its offer across all Member States, which has still not come back to 2019 levels. The number of public service obligation (‘PSO’) passenger trains circulating on the network between January and September 2021 is comparable to that referring to the same period in 2019, while in 2020 it was 7.8% lower compared to 2019. However, the number of passenger commercial trains between January and September 2021 was still 21.5% lower than in the same period in 2019, showing there was no recovery compared to the same period in 2020, when it was 23.3% lower compared to 2019. The number of freight trains circulating on the network was still 2.5% lower than in the corresponding period in 2019. Similar trends can be observed when traffic is expressed in train-km. Between January and September 2021 passenger PSO services expressed in train-km were 5.2% lower compared to the same period in 2019. Passenger commercial services expressed in train-km remained 25.6% lower in 2021 compared to the same period in 2019, in line with the (low) level reached already in 2020. Train-km run by freight trains circulating on the network showed some sign of recovery, but stayed 2.6% lower between January and September 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. It follows that the reduction in the level of rail traffic resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still persisting. It is therefore necessary to amend Regulation (EU) 2020/1429, so as to further prolong the reference period. Because the pandemic is not over yet and a certain level of unpredictability of future developments persists, it is also necessary to delegate on the Commission the power to further extend, each time by a maximum of six months, the above period, in continuity with the existing legal framework. It is accordingly proposed to extend the reference period until 30 June 2022, and to empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts to further extend such period until 31 December 2023. It is also proposed that the delegation of power should end on the same date, that is, 31 December 2023. All other provisions of the current Regulation should remain unchanged. Due to the unforeseeable evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak and in particular the sudden emergence of new variants of concern, it was impossible to adopt relevant measures in time. Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 requires the Commission to base the decision on a possible extension of the reference period on data that infrastructure managers were to supply once half of the prolongation of the reference period had elapsed. The Commission was not in a position to adopt a further prolongation of the reference period before the expiration of the delegated powers, as the necessary data was not yet available at that point. In order to avoid gaps in the application of the measures after 31 December 2021 (the end of the current reference period) this Regulation should also cover the period before its entry into force. Given the nature of the measures provided for by this Regulation, retroactive application does not result in a violation of the legitimate expectations of the persons concerned. 
Revised version (Article 1 ):
This Regulation lays down temporary rules on the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure as set out in Chapter IV of Directive 2012/34/EU. It applies to the use of railway infrastructure for domestic and international rail services covered by that Directive, during the period from 1 March 2020 until 31 December 2022 (‘the reference period’).
Article 2 Reduction, waiver or deferral of charges for the minimum access package and of reservation charges
1. Notwithstanding Article 27 and Article 31(3) of Directive 2012/34/EU, and subject to compliance with State aid rules, Member States may authorise infrastructure managers to reduce, waive or defer the payment of charges for the minimum access package, and for access to infrastructure connecting service facilities, where appropriate according to the market segments identified in their network statements, in a transparent, objective and non-discriminatory way, where such payment has or will become due during the reference period. 2. Notwithstanding Article 27 of Directive 2012/34/EU and subject to compliance with State aid rules, Member States may authorise infrastructure managers to reassess the ability of the market segments to bear mark-ups within the meaning of Article 32(1) of Directive 2012/34/EU, for the purpose of a possible reduction of the amounts due in respect of the reference period. 3. Notwithstanding Article 27 and the third sentence of Article 36 of Directive 2012/34/EU, and subject to compliance with State aid rules, Member States may authorise infrastructure managers not to levy reservation charges on any applicant, including railway undertakings, for capacity allocated but not used during the reference period. When doing so, Member States and infrastructure managers shall act in a transparent, objective and non-discriminatory way. 4. Notwithstanding Article 8(4) of Directive 2012/34/EU, and subject to compliance with State aid rules, Member States shall compensate infrastructure managers for the specific financial loss suffered as a result of the application of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article by 31 December of the year following the year in which the loss was incurred. That compensation is without prejudice to the Member States’ obligation under Article 8(4) of Directive 2012/34/EU to ensure that, over a reasonable period, which shall not exceed a period of five years, the profit and loss account of an infrastructure manager shall remain balanced. 5. Member States shall inform the Commission of the measures taken under this Article no later than three months from the date of entry into force of this Regulation, and shall inform the Commission of subsequent measures or changes thereof. The Commission shall make this information publicly available.
Article 3 Adjustments of the conditions for the use of rail infrastructure
Infrastructure managers shall amend, as appropriate and without delay, the network statement referred to in Article 27 of Directive 2012/34/EU so as to display the conditions applied by them, in view of the measures taken by the Member State concerned in accordance with Article 2 of this Regulation.
Article 4 Regulatory body
Article 56 of Directive 2012/34/EU shall apply to the reduction, waiver or deferral of charges for the minimum access package and of reservation charges referred to in Article 2 of this Regulation and to the adjustments of the conditions for the use of railway infrastructure referred to in Article 3 of this Regulation in respect of the criteria set out in Articles 2 and 3 of this Regulation that are applicable to infrastructure managers.
Article 5 Extension of the reference period
1. By 1 November 2020, infrastructure managers shall provide the Commission with data on the usage of their networks categorised by market segments, in accordance with Article 32(1) of Directive 2012/34/EU, for the periods from 1 March 2019 until 30 September 2019 and from 1 March 2020 until 30 September 2020. Where the reference period is extended, the infrastructure managers shall provide the Commission with a new set of data when half of the prolongation of the reference period has elapsed, in order to allow the Commission to assess the development of the situation during the prolongation of the reference period. 2. Where the Commission finds, on the basis of the data referred to in paragraph 1, that the reduction in the level of rail traffic as compared to the level in the corresponding period in the previous years is persisting and is likely to persist, and also finds, on the basis of the best available scientific data, that this situation is the result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 6 to amend the reference period specified in Article 1 accordingly. Any such amendment may only extend the reference period by up to six months, and the reference period may not be extended beyond 31 December 2023. 3. Where, in the case of a prolonged impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the rail transport sector in the Union, imperative grounds of urgency so require, the procedure provided for in Article 7 shall apply to delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Article.
Article 6 Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. 2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 5(2) shall be conferred on the Commission until 31 December 2023. 3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 5(2) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. 4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. 5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. 6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 5(2) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Article 7 Urgency procedure
1. Delegated acts adopted under this Article shall enter into force without delay and shall apply as long as no objection is expressed in accordance with paragraph 2. The notification of a delegated act to the European Parliament and to the Council shall state the reasons for the use of the urgency procedure. 2. Either the European Parliament or the Council may object to a delegated act in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 6(6). In such a case, the Commission shall repeal the act immediately following the notification of the decision to object by the European Parliament or by the Council.
Article 8 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Reasons for and objectives of the proposal The railway sector is of strategic importance to the European Union. It makes a vital contribution to the EU's overall economy and employment, by directly employing over 900 000 people, around 500 000 of them by railway undertakings and roughly 400 000 by infrastructure managers (by the end of 2018) 1 . Rail transport is critical to the EU strategy for a more sustainable transport sector, economic and social cohesion and connecting Europeans within and between Member States. Rail is an important contributor to the EU transport mix, providing clean mobility and a high level of efficiency. Therefore, rail transport is crucial for achieving the objectives of the green deal due to its value as the most sustainable and environmentally friendly transport mode. In 2018, the European rail transport ed around 1.6 billion tonnes of freight and 7.1 billion passengers. By the same year , EU passenger traffic volumes had reached 400 billion passenger kilometres out of around 5 trillion passenger kilometres of land transport overall. Rail passenger traffic is mostly domestic, with only 7 % crossing borders in 201 8 2 . In 201 8 3 , EU freight traffic volumes reached 435 billion tonne kilometres out of 2. 3 trillion of land transport overall. Around half of total rail freight is cross-border. This lends rail freight a strong European dimension . Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a major impact on rail transport in the Union. Rail passenger and freight transport have declined due to limitations on mobility and the consequent reduction in the demand for transport. During the first period of the pandemic in spring 2020, rail operators stopped most international passenger trains. Passenger numbers in domestic rail transport decreased during the first wave of the pandemic by up to 90% compared to the previous year. A few operators, in particular new entrants, had to stop operations, whilst rail freight operators reported a severe decrease in transported volumes as many industries slowed down or even ceased their production due to the impact of the pandemic. Throughout the summer of 2020, demand and transport volumes remained at low levels in both passenger and freight transport. A second wave of the pandemic in the autumn of 2020 obliged many countries to take further restrictive measures with regard to citizens’ mobility. The outbreak of a third wave of the pandemic hindered the quick recovery of rail traffic, in particular for rail passenger services. In October and November 2020, Member States imposed new limitations on mobility, only partially and gradually lifting them during 2021. Passenger numbers have not come back yet to pre-pandemic levels and the time to recover to pre-pandemic levels may be longer than expected in particular for commercial passenger traffic. Therefore, the impact of the pandemic on the transport sector continues to be significant. The emergence of the new extremely contagious COVID-19 variant Omicron in the autumn of 2021, with still unknown characteristics compared to the previous variants, is raising concerns about a fourth wave of the pandemic and stricter containment measures. On 7 October 2020, The European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 establishing measures for a sustainable rail market in view of the COVID-19 outbreak 4 . The aim of the Regulation was to enable rail stakeholders to cope better with the financial consequ ences of the COVID-19 pandemic and to respond to their urgent liquidity need, through the reduction, waiver or deferral of charges for the minimum access package and for access to infrastructure connecting service facilities. These relief measures applied to charges due throughout the reference period set out in Article 1 of the Regulation, which is from 1 March 2020 until 31 December 2020 (“reference period”). The scope of application was limited within that timeframe to ensure that the measures applied only as long as necessary. Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 empowered the Commission, based on data provided by infrastructure managers showing persistent reductions in rail traffic demonstrably linked to the COVID-19 outbreak, to extend the reference period by up to six months by way of delegated acts. The reference period could be extended until 14 April 2022. The Commission exercised that delegation of power twice 5 and extended the reference period to 31 December 2021. The power to adopt delegated acts to extend the reference period was conferred on the Commission for a period of one year from 13 October 2020 and it has now expired. On the basis of the data provided to the Commission by Union rail infrastructure managers covering the period until September 2021, the pandemic hit harder the passenger service segment and, in particular the commercial passenger service segment, with a significant reduction of its offer across all Member States, which has still not come back to 2019 levels. The number of public service obligation (‘PSO’) passenger trains circulating on the network between January and September 2021 is comparable to that referring to the same period in 2019, while in 2020 it was 7.8% lower compared to 2019. However, the number of passenger commercial trains between January and September 2021 was still 21.5% lower than in the same period in 2019, showing there was no recovery compared to the same period in 2020, when it was 23.3% lower compared to 2019. The number of freight trains circulating on the network was still 2.5% lower than in the corresponding period in 2019. Similar trends can be observed when traffic is expressed in train-km. Between January and September 2021 passenger PSO services expressed in train-km were 5.2% lower compared to the same period in 2019. Passenger commercial services expressed in train-km remained 25.6% lower in 2021 compared to the same period in 2019, in line with the (low) level reached already in 2020. Train-km run by freight trains circulating on the network showed some sign of recovery, but stayed 2.6% lower between January and September 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. It follows that the reduction in the level of rail traffic resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still persisting. It is therefore necessary to amend Regulation (EU) 2020/1429, so as to further prolong the reference period. Because the pandemic is not over yet and a certain level of unpredictability of future developments persists, it is also necessary to delegate on the Commission the power to further extend, each time by a maximum of six months, the above period, in continuity with the existing legal framework. It is accordingly proposed to extend the reference period until 30 June 2022, and to empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts to further extend such period until 31 December 2023. It is also proposed that the delegation of power should end on the same date, that is, 31 December 2023. All other provisions of the current Regulation should remain unchanged. Due to the unforeseeable evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak and in particular the sudden emergence of new variants of concern, it was impossible to adopt relevant measures in time. Regulation (EU) 2020/1429 requires the Commission to base the decision on a possible extension of the reference period on data that infrastructure managers were to supply once half of the prolongation of the reference period had elapsed. The Commission was not in a position to adopt a further prolongation of the reference period before the expiration of the delegated powers, as the necessary data was not yet available at that point. In order to avoid gaps in the application of the measures after 31 December 2021 (the end of the current reference period) this Regulation should also cover the period before its entry into force. Given the nature of the measures provided for by this Regulation, retroactive application does not result in a violation of the legitimate expectations of the persons concerned. 
Revised version (Article 8 Entry into force):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .