On Thursday, 25 April, the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union tabled a first draft compromise on the recasting of Regulation 1371/2007 regarding rail passengers’ rights and obligations.
This draft—a copy of which EUROPE received—will be discussed in the EU Council’s Working Party on Land Transport on 13 May. The draft compromise echoes the European Commission’s September 2017 proposal (see EUROPE 11872/6). A rather modest progress report had been endorsed by EU Transport Ministers last December (see EUROPE 12147/10) in a sensitive context of negotiations on the social and market aspects of the first ‘mobility’ package (see EUROPE 12152/10).
Several new features are suggested here compared to the original proposal. On the one hand, as regards the text’s scope, the Romanian Presidency recommends that the regulation should not apply to services mainly offered for their historical interest or their tourist value. Moreover, the exemptions currently implemented by Member States under the current regulation (1371/2007) for domestic services could be renewed twice for a period of 5 years each.
Concerning the possibility of passengers taking a bicycle on board trains, Bucharest recommends that railway companies prepare plans for this transport of bicycles (plans to be carried out before 2 years have passed following the text’s entry into force), notably taking into account demand or potential impact on passenger transport capacity. In addition, passengers should be allowed to take bicycles on board for a reasonable fee.
Additional provisions are envisaged concerning the conditions attached to the sale of through‑tickets for several trips. The Commission has proposed, under certain conditions, that railway companies should offer the possibility of buying tickets on board trains. This recommendation was not adopted except in the case of persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility.
Furthermore, if the arrival of a train can reasonably be expected to be delayed by more than 60 minutes or if the journey is cancelled, Bucharest wants to offer passengers several options, including reimbursement of the full cost of the ticket, in line with the spirit of the Commission’s proposal.
The reimbursement should then be made within 14 days of the passenger’s request.
Compensation for delay. If the reimbursement has not been made under the above-mentioned conditions, the compensation for delay envisaged here is the same as that proposed by the Commission, without the provisions that apply to night trains.
However, Bucharest does not recommend that repeated delays of less than 60 minutes should be allowed to be accumulated as part of a travel pass or season ticket in order to request compensation. Nonetheless, the proposal that a passenger could claim compensation for recurrent delays or cancellations has not been withdrawn.
Still concerning these compensations for delays, whereas the Commission suggested limiting the circumstances in which a company is exempt from its obligation to compensate when “severe weather conditions or major natural disasters” amount to a case of force majeure (unpredictable and irresistible), the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council is changing its approach here. In its opinion, a passenger should not be compensated if the delay is his fault due to circumstances not connected with the operation of the railway or the behaviour of a third party which the carrier could not avoid and the consequences of which he was unable to prevent. In the latter case, another company using the same infrastructure would not be considered a third party.
Moreover, in view of the Commission’s proposal, several specific modifications have been envisaged concerning the provisions relating to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility.
Finally, it has been argued here that the regulation not start to take effect until 24 months after its entry into force.
In the European Parliament, in the absence of the potential prospect of an interinstitutional agreement on this text before the termination of parliamentary office, MEPs adopted their position at the first reading last November (see EUROPE 12138/7). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)