Brussels, 25/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - A conciliation agreement is taking shape on the draft regulation aimed at establishing the rights of bus and coach passengers (see EUROPE 9797). After a series of trilogue meetings, the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council decided to trigger the conciliation procedure. The first meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 30 November. The European Commission was determined to reach an agreement on this issue by the end of the year. It is a dossier which makes up the only missing element for ensuring that passengers benefit from similar rights throughout Europe irrespectively of the kind of transport used. The Commission also plans to launch, in 2011, consultation with a view to revising Regulation 261/2004 on the rights of air passengers. Review of this reference legislation on passengers' rights could be finalised during 2012.
An agreement on bus and coach passengers' rights - as advocated by the Council - may be reached by restricting the scope of the regulation on long distance transport services (urban and suburban services would therefore be automatically excluded from this). To offset this, member states would accept a list of fundamental rights that would be valid for all passengers (right to information, right to boarding, right to reimbursement of the price of the ticket in the event of considerable delay or cancellation). Details of the list of these fundamental rights as well as the definition of long distance travel have still to be discussed. Proposals on the table range from application of the regulation to any service covering more than 300 km or 250 km (compared to 50 km as initially suggested by the European Parliament and 500 km as suggested by Council). For the list of rights, it is, inter alia, a matter of specifying the details for application of eventual compensation for cancellation or prices paid by the passengers for services that are not provided (for example, accommodation which, in maritime transport, were limited to three days for an amount not exceeding €80 per night per person). Furthermore, Parliament and Council representatives signed on Wednesday 24 November, a similar regulation in the maritime transport area approved by Parliament in July this year (see EUROPE 10175). The regulation will be applicable from December 2012 and will ensure that passengers travelling by sea or inland navigation routes are entitled to information, to reimbursement of their ticket or to additional compensation in the event of delay or cancellation. In addition to this, Meglena Kuneva, the former European commissioner for consumer protection and currently the special envoy for the transport commissioner with regard to passengers' rights, announced on Thursday that the Commission would double its efforts to ensure that the legislation adopted is sufficiently implemented. With a first “stop” in Berlin, Meglena Kuneva will make a tour of the European capitals to assess the situation. (A.By./transl.jl)