Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

▸11 unchanged paragraphs

on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services

(COM(2017)0647 – C80396/2017 – 2017/0288(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2017)0647),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 91(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C80396/2017),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the reasoned opinion submitted, within the framework of Protocol No 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, by the Irish Houses of the Oireachtas, asserting that the draft legislative act does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 19 April 2018,

– after consulting the Committee of the Regions,

– having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

Changed– having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A80000/2018),(A8-0032/2019),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 1

AddedRecital 1: (1) The application of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council17 has revealed that some operators in national markets are facing unjustified obstacles to the development of inter-urban coach services of benefit to passengers. Moreover, road passenger transport services have not kept pace with the evolving needs of citizens in terms of availability and quality and sustainable transport modes continue to have a low modal share. As a consequence, certain groups of citizens are placed at a disadvantage in terms of availability of passenger transport services, and there are more road accidents, emissions, congestion and increased infrastructure costs due to greater use of cars.

AddedRecital 2: (2) To ensure a coherent framework for the inter-urban carriage of passengers by regular coach and bus services throughout the Union, Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 should apply to all inter-urban carriage by regular services. The scope of that Regulation should therefore be extended, but should not be applied to urban or suburban centres or conurbations and should be without prejudice to the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007.

AddedRecital 3: (3) Each Member State should designate an independent and impartial regulatory body, with the task of issuing binding opinions, to ensure the proper functioning of the road passenger transport market. That body may also be responsible for other regulated sectors such as rail, energy or telecommunications.

AddedRecital 4: (4) Commercial regular service operations should not compromise the economic equilibrium of existing or granted public service contracts in accordance with Regulation 1370/2007. For this reason, the regulatory body should be able to carry out an objective economic analysis and should have the authority, where appropriate, to propose measures necessary to ensure that this is the case. Commercial regular service operations should not compete with transport providers who have been granted exclusive rights to provide certain public passenger transport services in return for the discharge of public service obligations within the framework of a public service contract.

AddedRecital 5: (5) The operation of regular services in the form of cabotage operations should beconditional on the possession of a Community licence and the use of a smart tachograph in accordance with Chapter II of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council. In order to facilitate effective controls of those services by enforcement authorities, the rules regarding the issuing of Community licences should be clarified and the IMI module developed for the sending of posting declarations and electronic applications, enabling the inspectors carrying out the roadside checks to have direct real-time access to data and information contained in the European Register of Road Transport Undertakings (ERRU) and in the Internal Market Information System (IMI) and so as to ensure that social contributions are actually paid for posted bus drivers.

AddedRecital 6: (6) In order to ensure fair competition in the market, operators of regular services should be provided with access rights to terminals in the Union on fair, equitable, non-discriminatory and transparent terms. The operation of a terminal should be approved by a national authority, which should verify which requirements are necessary and which must be fulfilled. Appeals against decisions rejecting or limiting access should be lodged with the regulatory body. Member States might exclude terminals that are owned and used solely by the terminal operator for its own road passenger transport services.

AddedRecital 8: (8) Authorisation for both national and international regular services should be subject to an authorisation procedure. Authorisation should be granted, unless there are specific grounds for refusal attributable to the applicant, or the service would compromise the economic equilibrium of a public service contract. A distance threshold, determined by the Member States, which should in any event not exceed 100 kilometres journey distance, should be introduced to ensure that commercial regular service operations do not compromise the economic equilibrium of existing public service contracts.

AddedRecital 9: (9) Non-resident carriers should be able to operate national regular services under the same conditions as resident carriers, as long as they have complied with road transport or other relevant provisions of national, Union and international law.

AddedRecital 10: (10) Administrative formalities should be reduced where possible without abandoning the controls and penalties that guarantee the correct application and effective enforcement of Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009.

Recital 11: deleted

Change 2

AddedRecital 14: (14) In order to take into account market developments and technical progress the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission to amend Annexes I and II to Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009, and to supplement that Regulation with rules concerning the format of certificates for own-account transport operations, the format of applications for authorisations and authorisations themselves, the procedure and criteria to be followed to determine if a proposed service would compromise the equilibrium of a public service contract, and the reporting obligations of Member States. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in line with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making18 . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council should receive all documents at the same time as the Member States’ experts, and the European Parliament and the Council experts should systematically have access to the Commission’s expert group meetings dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009

Change 3

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c, Article 2 – point 9: 9. ‘terminal’ means an authorised facility with a minimum area of 600m2, which provides a parking place that is used by coaches and buses for the setting down or picking up of passengers;

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1, Article 1 – paragraph 4: 4. This Regulation shall apply to national interurban road passenger services for hire or reward operated by a non-resident carrier as provided for in Chapter V, and shall be without prejudice to the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007.

Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009

Change 4

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 2 – point b a (new): (b a) Without prejudice to the powers of the national competition authorities, the regulatory body shall have the power to monitor the competitive situation in the domestic market for regular passenger transport services by road, with a view to preventing discrimination or the abuse of a dominant position in the market, including through sub-contracting;

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c, Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9: 9. ‘terminal’ means an authorised facility which provides a parking place that is used by coaches and buses for the alighting or boarding of passengers;

Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009

Change 5

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 3 – point b: (b) collect and provide information on access to terminals with an aim of ensuring that access to the terminals for service operators is granted under fair, equitable, non-discriminatory and transparent conditions; and

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c, Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 10: 10. ‘terminal operator’ means any entity in a Member State responsible for the management of a terminal, which meets professional competence and financial capacity requirements.

Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009

Change 6

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 2: Information requested shall be supplied within a reasonable period set by the regulatory body and no later than one month. In justified cases, the regulatory body may extend the time limit for submission of information by a maximum of two weeks. The regulatory body shall be able to enforce requests for information by means of penalties which are effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c, Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 11: 11. ‘viable alternative’ means another terminal which is economically acceptable to the carrier and provides comparable infrastructure and connectivity to the terminal originally applied for, allows passengers access to other forms of public transport, and allows the carrier to operate the passenger service concerned in a similar manner to the terminal originally applied for.

Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009

Change 7

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c, Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 11 a (new): 11a. ‘public service contract’ means one or more legally binding acts confirming the agreement between a competent authority and a public service operator to entrust to that public service operator the management and operation of public passenger transport services subject to public service obligations; depending on the law of the Member State, the contract may also consist of a decision adopted by the competent authority taking the form of an individual legislative or regulatory act, or containing conditions under which the competent authority itself provides the services or entrusts the provision of such services to an internal operator;

AddedThe public service contract should be defined pursuant to Regulation (EC) 1370/2007.

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c, Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 11 b (new): 11b. ‘alternative route’ means a route between the same starting point and destination taken by an existing regular service that can be used instead.

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: The competent authorities in each Member State shall designate a national public regulatory body for the road passenger transport sector. That body shall be an impartial authority which is, in organisational, functional, hierarchical and decision making terms, legally distinct, transparent and independent from any other public or private entity. It shall be independent from any competent authority involved in the award of a public service contract.

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 2: The regulatory body may be an existing body which is responsible for other regulated services.

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 2: 2. The regulatory body for the road passenger transport sector shall have the necessary organisational capacity in terms of human, financial and other resources to fulfil its duties, which shall be proportionate to the importance of that sector in the Member State concerned.

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 2 a (new): 2 a. Without prejudice to the powers of the national competition authorities, the regulatory body shall have the power to monitor the competitive situation in the domestic market for regular passenger transport services by road, with a view to preventing discrimination or the abuse of a dominant position in the market, including through sub-contracting. Its opinions shall be binding.

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 3 – point b: (b) collect and provide information on access to terminals with an aim of ensuring that access to the terminals for service operators is granted under fair, equitable, non-discriminatory and transparent conditions;

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 3 – point c: (c) decide on appeals against decisions of terminal operators; and

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 3 – point c a (new): (c a) create a publicly accessible electronic register, listing all authorised national and international regular services.

AddedRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 3, Article 3a – paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1: The regulatory body may, in exercising its tasks, request relevant information from other competent authorities, terminal operators, applicants for authorisation and any third party involved within the territory of the Member State concerned.