18/10/2023 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 18 October, the European Commission decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to correctly transpose and apply Directive 2012/34/EU establishing a single European railway area. According to the Commission, Spain’s rail regulatory framework infringes several provisions of the directive concerning: - the management independence of the infrastructure manager, in particular the determination of charges for the use of the infrastructure; - the management of railway undertakings according to commercial principles; - the correct drafting of contractual agreements. In particular, the Commission is of the opinion that the independence of the boards of the infrastructure managers and the incumbent railway undertaking was not clearly guaranteed. In December 2022, Spain notified the Commission that it had transposed additional measures, but the Commission’s analysis concluded that not all its points had been addressed. (AD)