Brussels, 18/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 18 April, the European Court of Justice ruled against France (case C-625/10) for having failed to respect the deadlines on its obligations contained in European law on the railways.
This ruling follows action taken for failure to fulfil an obligation submitted on 29 December 2010 by the European Commission, which criticised France for: having failed to put in place by the appropriate deadline stipulated in a reasoned opinion (9 December 2009) the uncoupling of the undertakings ensuring railway services (SNCF) from infrastructure operators (RFF) in the field of essential operations, such as the allocation of railway track (Directive 91/440/EEC). It was alleged that the SNCF was still effectively in charge of allocating track, through its railway traffic management board, the Direction des circulations ferroviaires (DCF), which at the time was not independent; - and, secondly, failed to make provision for an appropriate system for improving railway network performance (directive 2001/14/EC).
On the first point, the Court considers that, by the date set out in the Commission's reasoned opinion, France had still failed to respect the independence criteria with regard to the allocation of railway track. At the time, the DCF, which was in charge of carrying the technical studies needed to inform track requests (and subsequently participated in the definition and assessment of track availability), although it was being supervised by the RFF, does not have an distinct legal personality from that of the SNCF, although the directive demanded that such a body be independent on legal, organisation and decision-making levels. On the second point, the Court deems that French regulation is failing to include a system for improving network performance in compliance with Directive 2001/14. This regulation only includes limited provisions and not a coherent and transparent whole, “which can be described as an effective system for improving performance”. (FG/transl.fl)