Brussels, 31/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 30 March, EU27 transport ministers looked at a progress report on the proposal for a regulation on maritime passengers' rights and the rights of those travelling by inland navigation, presented by the European Commission last December. Although most of the delegations supported the aim of the proposal, which is to enhance passengers' rights and ensure that passengers with reduced mobility or disabilities are not discriminated against, they also felt it was necessary to take the specific features of these two kinds of transport more into account. Most delegations preferred to rule very short tourist trips out of the scope of application of the regulation and to extend the legislation to trips between third country ports. The Council will continue its work with a view to reaching a political agreement during the next Transport Council in June.
Presented by the European Commission in December 2008, the draft regulation aims to ensure equal treatment of passengers, while completing similar provisions adopted in favour of air passengers and rail passengers (compensation if the journey is cancelled or delayed, right of assistance for persons with reduced mobility, access to information, etc). The debate was focused mainly on three questions prepared in advance by the Czech EU Council Presidency (types of services proposed to passengers, territorial application, kind of vessel) and a large majority of delegations (except Greece, Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria) subscribed on Monday to the Commission's proposal which suggests the regulation should be applied to all commercial passenger transport services by sea or inland navigation. Unlike the presidency, most member states (Belgium, Italy, Germany, Cyprus, Netherlands, Estonia and Greece) nonetheless preferred to make an exception for tourist and sightseeing services. France, Denmark and Slovakia suggested modulating application of the regulation depending on the duration of the trip. “There must be a difference between a half-hour cruise on the Rhine and a Baltic crossing”, the German secretary of state for transport said during the policy debate. Denmark, which felt the regulation was “based too much on the air and rail sector”, suggested limiting responsibility of transporters in the case of delay. “It is true that bad weather can delay navigation but limits should be fixed”, the Danish representative said, supporting his Polish counterpart who said maritime transporters should not be responsible for delays caused by meteorological conditions. On the subject of territorial application of the draft regulation, most delegations (except Greece) felt the provisions of the regulation, which provide among other things for persons with reduced mobility to have the right to assistance, should apply not only on trips between Community ports but also between ports in third countries. Most delegations, except France, Denmark and the Netherlands, also considered the regulation should not apply to vessels mainly carrying freight. The European Parliament is expected to tackle this question during the April session. (A.By./transl.jl)