Brussels, 20/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 20 July, the Commission adopted its revised proposal for a regulation providing for a clear, simplified framework adapted to the needs of European communities for organising and financing their rail and road passenger transport services. The updating of the regulation in force, which dates back to 1969, is necessary in the context of gradual liberalisation of the national public transport markets, where service providers are exclusively national, regional or local. The Commission's revised copy strikes a balance between the resolve to make competition move forward in a clear legal framework, and respond to legal security needs in order to attract investment and give impetus to the sector, and safeguard services of general interest (SGI). In the aim of bringing the dossier out of stalemate in Council, the Commission has ensured that account is taken of the debates on the White Paper on services of general interest, the relevant case law of the Court of Justice (Altmark, case C-280/00), and the amendments made by the European Parliament in 2002 (Meijer Report, EUROPE 8092).
The Commission's text leaves a considerable margin of manoeuvre to European local authorities (subsidiarity), while providing a safe framework to prevent a rush of legal proceedings. It provides for local authorities to have a free choice in organising their public transport in order to meet the specific needs of the inhabitants of their specific areas, and gives them power to define public service obligations. In line with the wishes of the European Parliament, they have two possibilities: - using a call for tenders or providing “internal” services, under the control of or by direct attribution to an internal operator. In every case, the authorities must announce their intention to grant contracts one year in advance, and they must publish an annual list of these contracts, selected operators and compensations granted. The text also specifies that the amount of compensation cannot exceed the costs truly entailed when fulfilling the obligations, and that this should give rise to “reasonable profits”. Only compensation paid in line with this regulation is compatible with the common market and will not be considered as State aid under Article 87. If the authorities respect these rules of transparency and proportionality, they will be exempted from having to notify the Commission, which enables them to circumvent a part of the administrative constraints. Furthermore, the duration of the contracts is limited to 8 years at most for bus services and to 15 years for rail services, in order to be able to assess the quality of public transport.
If authorities decide to use an external operator, they should specify in advance, in an objective and transparent manner, the service missions entrusted to that operator in a public service contract as well as the nature of the compensations that are granted to that operator for carrying out the missions (financing or exclusive rights).
Local communities also have the possibility of providing these services themselves, or entrusting them to an internal operator, on condition, however, that they keep control on these services in a way that is comparable to that which they would exert on their own services, and that the operator in question restricts his activity geographically to the territory of the local authority. Recognising this possibility, the Commission did not wish to make the tendering procedure compulsory but its proposal comprises a reciprocity clause that incites along these lines: a local authority having opted for the “internal” method should have opened its market by at least 50% within 4 years for buses and 5 years for rail transport, in order to be able to conquer the markets in another area. “We cannot have the advantage of being in a situation of monopoly at home and being a candidate on other markets”, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said, considering moreover that an operator in a monopolistic situation “does not have a good visiting card” on the other markets. The French Commissioner had to intervene among the trade unions of the Ile-de-France transport companies, who were concerned at seeing the RATP (the main Parisian transport company) forced to give up its domestic monopoly to be able to manage concessions elsewhere in the EU. Examination of the revised proposal had been delayed in order to avoid embittering the referendum campaign in France. Compared to the 2002 proposal, the scope of the regulation was extended, as only three cases are exempted from the competition obligation: small contracts (for less than one million euros annually on average, or 300,000 km per year), emergency situations (risk of services being interrupted), and regional or long distance rail transport. “We are moving forward”, Commissioner Barrot said, hoping that by the time the regulation - which provides for an 8-year transition period for bus transport and 10 years for rail - is totally in force, 60% of the public passenger transport markets will be subject to tendering procedure, all the more if the Parliament soon adopts the third rail package. “We shall then be able to add international rail passenger transport”, he concluded.