Brussels, 10/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission decided to send reasoned opinions to ten Member States that have not notified it of measures taken to transpose the rail infrastructure package intended to open the international rail freight services market. The countries concerned are Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. If Member States do not comply with their obligations, the Commission may refer them to the Court of Justice of the European Communities.
The rail infrastructure package (which mainly makes it an obligation for Member States to guarantee international freight rail services have right of access to the trans-European rail freight network) should have been transposed into national law before 15 March 2003. At the present time, only France, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Denmark have notified the Commission of transposition. Five of the ten other Member States that were brought into question by the Commission have, however, already opened up their rail freight market to competition: Sweden, the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy and Germany.