Speech - Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli

CTP SEMINAR ON HARMONISED RULES AND CONTROLS FOR INTERNATIONAL BUS AND COACH TRANSPORT

CTP Seminar organised in the framework of the IRU Spring Cocktail, Brussels, 21 February 2006.

Enrico Grillo Pasquarelli
Director Land Transport, European Commission, DG TREN

Harmonised bus and coach rules and controls in the single market: where do we stand?

INTRODUCTION

I am glad to be here and to have an opportunity to meet representatives of the road passenger transport industry, because I am well aware that travelling by coach or bus has long been one of the most popular forms for citizens to exercise their right to move freely throughout Europe. Correspondingly, transporting passengers has been and continues to be a service that coach and bus operators may provide freely within the single market. In terms of passengers carried, your industry is second only to the private cars and consistently ahead of rail.

The Barroso Commission has identified three concepts as the leit-motiv of its political action – prosperity, solidarity, security. These concepts or guiding principles have a road transport dimension as well. Prosperity – all those involved in the industry contribute to the prosperity of our European economy as a whole; solidarity – bus transport, which is the most affordable means of getting from the periphery to the centre of the Union, has a role to play in strengthening social and economic cohesion; security – because of course we want to make sure that passengers are carried at the highest standards of safety an security.

Therefore, Community legislation on the market for international road passenger transport has aimed at promoting competition, establishing a level playing field, guaranteeing proper working conditions for drivers and ensuring road safety for passengers and for other road users. A great deal has already been achieved, and this legislation has been remarkably stable over several years now. May I take this as a sign of broad acceptance of the existing regulatory framework? If so, let me begin by reviewing “where we stand”.

WHERE WE STAND: THE CURRENT REGULATORY REGIME

First, directive 1996/26 establishes common, EU-wide rules for admission to the occupation of road passenger transport operator. So all EU operators who meet the rules of “good repute”, “appropriate financial standing” and “professional competence” are entitled to engage in the activity of road transport operator. These rules are rather generous, they impose no undue restriction on access to the occupation.

Following this right to enter the occupation, there is the question of allowing access to the market. Here again, EU-wide rules are in place to smooth the way to the single market and to keep the administrative burden on industry as low as possible. This is done by regulation 684/92, which was substantially simplified by 11/98. It establishes a single “community licence”,that replaces all the different national documents. With this licence, an operator can immediately prove that he has the right to provide an international passenger service anywhere in the Union.

The regulation also opens up the market: own account operations are permitted everywhere in the Union with a simple certification procedure. International occasional services are also permitted, following the completion of standardised “journey forms”.

Only with international regular services is the market not completely liberalised. Here, the regulation creates an authorisation regime whereby the consent is required of the governments of the Member States affected by the service. However it is the intention of the regulation that this authorisation should be nearly automatic: the grounds for refusing authorisation of a service are strictly limited to six; when no decision has been made within five months the case can be referred to the Commission; and the opportunity for appeals against refusals is ensured. (But the commission very rarely receives referrals for arbitration).
As a final point, the regulation creates inspection and penalty rules to prevent abuses of the law.

So from the regulatory perspective, there is nothing to stop operators from any Member State from offering regular or occasional international services according to the law.

For national services, the case is clearly different. Generally, to provide national services, an operator must be established in the Member State, and this will not change under the forthcoming “services” directive, which explicitly excludes transport from its scope of application. But even here, to improve the efficiency of the sector (e.g. to cut down on empty journeys), cabotage is permitted, under regulation 12/98. Cabotage means that operators may offer occasional services and special regular services in a Member State without registering their company – as if they were operating in their own Member State. Operators may also provide regular services in another Member State when it is part of an authorised international journey (e.g. Berlin-Cologne-Brussels).

More generally, the regulatory framework also includes important technical legislation on weights and dimensions, safety legislation on road worthiness of vehicles, seatbelts and speed-limiters, a directive on the professional qualification for drivers, as well as new driving licence rules which I hope Council and Parliament will be able to agree on in a not too distant future. But, most importantly, let me recall the working time directive and the legislation which has at last been recently agreed on driving hours, rest periods, controls and the introduction of the digital tachograph. Indeed it is our view that market opening legislation must go hand in hand with legislation ensuring at the same time a level playing field, acceptable social conditions for workers and safety for all.

So this is the state of play inside the Union.

But the Commission also facilitates the growth of the sector beyond the Union’s borders: the Interbus agreement is an accord between the Community and third countries (currently Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Moldova and Albania), creating a single, liberalised regime for occasional services, based on the Community’s regime – so harmonisation extends even beyond the EU’s borders, potentially to the entire ECMT area – the area where we are developing our new “neighbourhood” policy which is so important after the recent enlargement of the EU.

Under the Interbus agreement the rules on admission to the occupation are applied, a licence regime is applied, the same vehicle technical standards are applied and the social rules of the AETR , which are modelled on our own community legislation, are applied.

In addition, an authorisation regime is created for the non-liberalised services, vehicle and special taxes on transport operations are banned, and a standardised passenger waybill is created. Together with a solid inspection regime, these measures, which replace a multitude of bilateral agreements, greatly facilitate your task of providing services with non EU countries.

WHAT NEXT?

So that, in a nutshell, is the current regulatory regime, creating a harmonised approach for international passenger transport within the Union and even beyond. But this is the regime as we, the Commission see it, and just possibly not quite as you experience it on the ground.

It is for this reason that consultation with stakeholders such as you is crucial. And in fact, our door is always open.
The latest discussions began in 2004, when the Commission published a document reviewing the current regulatory regime and proposing options for change and further liberalisation. We received comments and feedback from Member States and stakeholders in the course of last year (not many, I must say), and found that the current regulatory regime functions well and no major revisions are needed. However I am aware there are areas where clarifications are needed. More generally, the Commission sees the need to simplify and improve EU legislation as a contribution to promoting competitiveness in the pursuit of the “Lisbon agenda” for growth and jobs

For this reason, as part of our 2006 work programme on the simplification of legislation, we will be revising all the regulations on road transport. For example, we will reflect on how control documents could be standardised and simplified, how “certified copies” could be more clearly defined, how the scope of the regulation, the application of the authorisations and the grounds for refusing authorisation could be clarified, how the proportionality of fines could be assessed…

These are some of our initial thoughts: we are just beginning this review process, and we will be publishing a consultation document in the coming months as a matter of course.

In parallel, as you know, we are developing our thoughts on new legislation on passengers’ rights. Industry has been consulted, and we are now formulating the details of our policy on the basis of the responses we have received. We believe there is a case for the EU to do something here, also considering that coach passengers are often amongst the economically less well off. There is the question of common liability regimes, compensation for delays, quality standards or standards for passengers with reduced mobility… for all these broad questions we are aware that solutions need to be mode-specific: you can rest assured that we will not simply replicate the rules that we have introduced for air or rail passengers. Our initial thoughts will be presented at a stakeholder meeting on 30 March, and any legislative proposals should be prepared in the course of the year.

There is also movement on the international aspect of the market: as well as encouraging more ECMT countries to join the Interbus agreement, it seems that there is also an interest in discussing a multilateral framework for international regular services: this emerged during the discussions at the joint ECMT/IRU seminar at last October’s BusWorld. Extending the multilateral framework to replace a multitude of bilateral agreements would be a major advance in harmonising the rules of the market – a classic Commission activity, in fact. So this too is an area we will be considering and consulting on. Let me mention in this context the EU-Russia transport dialogue which Commissioner Barrot and transport Minister Levitin have launched. It provides for a Road and Rail Working Group, the first meeting of which I co-chaired in Moscow only ten days ago. If you wish the “EU side” to raise any subjects of particular interest to you in this forum, such as Russia’s accession to the Interbus agreement, please let us know.

CONCLUSION

So there, very briefly, you have the state of EU rules for international bus and coach journeys, as seen from the regulator’s perspective. As always, the Commission pushes for the greatest level of harmonisation possible. Our ambition always being to achieve single market goals, to increase competition and to improve Europe’s competitiveness. We have tried to do this, and will continue to do this, in close cooperation with you, the stakeholders. I hope our willingness is clear, and that you feel free to submit your views to the Commission at any time. I now look forward to hearing the views from industry…

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