Legal provisions of COM(1998)480-2 - Amendment of Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings

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dossier COM(1998)480-2 - Amendment of Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings.
document COM(1998)480 EN
date February 26, 2001


Contents

Article 1

Directive 95/18/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1) Article 1 shall be replaced by the following:

"Article 1

1. This Directive concerns the criteria applicable to the issue, renewal or amendment of licences by a Member State intended for railway undertakings which are or will be established in the Community.

2. Member States may exclude from the scope of this Directive:

a) undertakings which only operate rail passenger services on local and regional stand-alone railway infrastructure;

b) railway undertakings which only operate urban or suburban rail passenger services;

c) railway undertakings whose activity is limited to the provision of regional rail freight services that are not covered by the scope of Directive 91/440/EEC;

d) undertakings which only carry out freight operations on privately owned railway infrastructure that exists solely for use by the infrastructure owner for its own freight operations.

3. Undertakings the business of which is limited to providing shuttle services for road vehicles through the Channel Tunnel are excluded from the scope of this Directive."

2) Article 2(a) shall be replaced by the following:

"a) railway undertaking shall mean any public or private undertaking the principal business of which is to provide services for the transport of goods and/or passengers by rail with a requirement that the undertaking must ensure traction; this also includes undertakings which provide traction only";

3. Article 3 shall be replaced by the following:

Article 3

Each Member State shall designate the body responsible for issuing licences and for carrying out the obligations imposed by this Directive. The task of issuing licences shall be carried out by a body which does not provide rail transport services itself and is independent of bodies or undertakings that do so."

4) The following paragraph shall be added to Article 4:

"5. A licence shall be valid throughout the territory of the Community."

5) Article 6, fourth indent shall be replaced by the following:

"- has/have not been convicted of serious or repeated failure to fulfil social- or labour-law obligations, including obligations under occupational safety and health legislation, and customs-law obligations in case of a company seeking to operate cross-border goods transport subject to customs procedures";

6) Article 11(8) shall be replaced by the following:

"8. When a licensing authority issues, suspends, revokes or amends a licence, the Member State concerned shall immediately inform the Commission accordingly. The Commission shall inform the other Member States forthwith".

7) Articles 12 and 13 shall be replaced by the following:

"Article 12

1. In addition to the requirements of this Directive, a railway undertaking shall also comply with national law and regulatory provisions which are compatible with Community law and are applied in a non-discriminatory manner, in particular:

a) specific technical and operational requirements for rail services;

b) safety requirements applying to staff, rolling stock and the internal organisation of the undertaking;

c) provisions on health, safety, social conditions and the rights of workers and consumers;

d) requirements applying to all undertakings in the relevant railway sector designed to offer benefits or protection to consumers.

2. A railway undertaking may at any time refer to the Commission the question of the compatibility of the requirements of national law with Community law and also the question of whether such requirements are applied in a non-discriminatory manner. If the Commission considers that the provisions of this Directive have not been fulfilled, it shall deliver an opinion on the correct interpretation of the Directive without prejudice to Article 226 of the Treaty.

Article 13

Railway undertakings shall respect the agreements applicable to international rail transport in force in the Member States in which they operate. They also shall observe the relevant customs and tax provisions."

Article 2

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 15 March 2003. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such a reference shall be laid down by the Member States.

Article 3

This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 4

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.