Activities of Elisabeth SCHROEDTER related to 2013/0028(COD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 concerning the opening of the market for domestic passenger transport services by rail
Amendments (27)
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) The Union market for international passenger transport services by rail has been opened to competition since 2010. In addition, some Member States have opened their domestic passenger services to competition, by introducing open access rights or tendering for public service contracts or both, while respecting the Protocol No26 of the TFEU.
Amendment 37 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) When competent authorities organise their public passenger transport services they need to ensure that public service obligations and the geographical scope of public service contracts are appropriate, necessary and proportionate to achieve the objectives of the public passenger transport policy in their territory, and that the social objectives of the TEU, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Protocol No26 of the TFEU as well as the UN- Convention on the rights of people with disabilities are respected. This policy should be set out in multimodal public transport plans leaving scope for market based transport solutions based on the needs of users, including families, elderly and disabled people. The process of defining such multimodal public transport plans and public service obligations should integrate an economic, social and ecological dimension and be made transparent to relevant stakeholders including potential market entrants.
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) To ensure sound financing to meet the objectives of public transport plans, competent authorities need to design public service obligations to attain public transport objectives in a high-quality and cost-effective manner taking account of the compensation for the net financial effect of those obligations and they need to ensure long- term financial sustainability of public transport provided under public service contracts.
Amendment 40 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5 a (new)
Recital 5 a (new)
(5 a) It needs to be ensured that cost- effectiveness is not reached at the expense of the quality of the service provided or on the expenses of the working conditions of the employees; in order to ensure this, social criteria need to be included in the tendering process.
Amendment 41 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) It is particularly important that competent authorities comply with these criteria for public service obligations and the scope of public service contracts if the market for public passenger transport by rail is to run smoothly and shall meet the needs of its customers, while at the same time respecting the rights of employees in the sector, because open access transport operations need to be well coordinated with those under public service contract. For this reason, the independent rail regulatory body should ensure that this process is correctly applied and transparent.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9
Recital 9
(9) Certain upper limits for the direct award of public service contracts need to be adapted for rail transport to the specificocial and territorial requirements of services of general interest and the economic conditions under which tender procedures take place in this sector.
Amendment 46 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) The establishment of an Internal Market for passenger transport services by rail requires common rules on competitive tendering for public service contracts in this sector which respect also the social objectives and the services of general interest obligations set out in the TEU and the TFEU, to be applied in a harmonised manner in all Member States.
Amendment 47 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) In view of creating framework conditions for enabling all members of society to fully reap the benefits of effective opening of the marketfrom a high-quality offer for domestic passenger transport services by rail that are in line with the social objectives set out in the TEU and the objectives regarding services of general interest as set out in the Protocol No26 of the TFEU, it is important that Member States ensure an adequate guarantee a high-level of social protection and good working conditions for the staff of public service operators, respecting collective agreements in the sector.
Amendment 55 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) Consistent with the internal logic of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007, it should be made clear that the transitional period until 2 December 2019 refers only to the obligation to organise competitive tendering procedures for public service contracts. The transitional period will allow Member States to ensure that tendering processes respect the social objectives, as well as social and territorial cohesion as set out in the TEU and the Protocol No 26 of the TFEU.
Amendment 57 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Preparing railway undertakings for mandatoryoptional competitive tendering for public service contracts and ensuring adequate level of social protection and good working conditions for the staff of public service operators in the concerned Member State requires some extra time to allow effective and sustainable internal restructuring of companies to which such contracts were directly awarded in the past. Transitional measures are thereforin any case necessary for contracts directly awarded between the date of entry into force of this Regulation and 3 December 2019.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) Once opening of the market for domestic passenger transport services by rail is achieved, as competent authorities may need to take measures to ensure a highn adequate level of competition by limiting the number of contracts that it awards to one railway undertaking, adequate provisions should be provided for.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16 a (new)
Recital 16 a (new)
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point b
basic requirements to be fulfilled by public transport offer such as accessivailability, accessibility, affordability, territorial connectivity, security, modal and intermodal interconnections at main connecting hubs, offer characteristics such as times of operation, frequency of services and minimum degree of capacity utilisation;
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point c
quality standards related to items such as equipment features of stops and of rolling stock, punctuality and reliability, cleanliness, customer service including services for children, families and elderly people, support and information, complaint handling and redress, monitoring of service quality and all necessary services to ensure the accessibility in line with the UN-Convention for people with disabilities;
Amendment 66 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point d
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point e
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – point e
operational requirements such as transport of bicycles, prams, wheel chairs, luggage as well as traffic management, contingency plan in case of disturbances.
Amendment 73 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 2a – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
The competent authorities shall adopt the public transport plans after consultation of relevant stakeholders and publish them. For the purpose of this Regulation, relevant stakeholders to be taken into consideration are at least transport operators, infrastructure managers if appropriate, and representative passenger and employee organisations and organisations representing people with disabilities and elderly people.
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 4 – point a
Article 2a – paragraph 4 – point a
achieve the objectives of the public transport plan in the most cost-effective mannerefficient manner at high-quality, including the accessibility in social und territorial terms;
Amendment 79 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 4 – point b
Article 2a – paragraph 4 – point b
financially sustain the provision of public passenger transport in accordance to the requirements laid down in the public transport plan in the long term and in an integrated approach.
Amendment 81 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 2
Article 1 – point 2
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 2a – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2
Article 2a – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2
The competent authority shall in an appropriate manner consult relevant stakeholders such as a minimum, transport operators, infrastructure managers if appropriate and representative passenger and employee organisations and organisations representing people with disabilities and elderly people on these specifications and take their positions into consideration.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 3 – point b
Article 1 – point 3 – point b
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point b
In the case of public service contracts not awarded according to Article 5(3), these parameters shall be determined in such a way that no compensation payment may exceed the amount required to cover the net financial effect on costs incurred and revenues generated in discharging the public service obligations, taking account of revenue relating thereto kept by the public service operator and a reasonable profit and the amount necessary for investments needed to improve the availability, accessibility and the quality of the passenger services;
Amendment 90 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 3 – point c
Article 1 – point 3 – point c
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 4 – paragraph 6
Article 4 – paragraph 6
Where competent authorities, in accordance with national law, shall require public service operators to comply with certain quality and social standards or establish social and qualitative criteria, thes, social and environmental standards. According to national law, social, environmental and qualitative standards and criteria shall be included in the tender documents and in the public service contracts.
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 4 – point ba (new)
Article 1 – point 4 – point ba (new)
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 5 – paragraph 6a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 6a (new)
(ba) on the basis of a detailed technical report drawn up no later than 24 months before the end of the current contract, sent to the independent national regulatory authority, and covering the following criteria: - network complexity requiring a global multimodal approach owing to the density of the railway system in the geographic area concerned and the frequency of services or owing to the railway system having technical specifications which differ considerably from traditional standards; - an economic dimension which enables the viability of a public service contract to be justified by balancing profitable areas against non-profitable ones and/or productivity gains and operator performance improving in line with the competent authority's expectations; - greater customer satisfaction with the current public service contract as set out in the annual report referred to in Article 7(1) of this Regulation. The independent national regulatory authority shall rule on the validity of the competent authority's request on receipt of this report. The opinion of the independent national regulatory authority shall be binding and immediately applicable.
Amendment 100 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 4 – point b
Article 1 – point 4 – point b
Competent authorities may decide that, in order to increase competition between railway undertakings, contracts for public passenger transport by rail covering parts of the same network or package of routes shall be awarded to different railway undertakings. To this end the competent authorities may decide before launching the tender procedure to limit the number of contracts to be awarded to the same railway undertaking. However, this may not have the effect of making the services less accessible to passengers, of creating or aggravating any barriers or of reducing the scope of the services.
Amendment 101 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 5 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – point 5 – paragraph 1
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 5a – paragraph 1
Article 5a – paragraph 1
Amendment 103 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 5 – paragraph 4
Article 1 – point 5 – paragraph 4
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 5a – paragraph 4
Article 5a – paragraph 4
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – point 7 – point a
Article 1 – point 7 – point a
Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Each competent authority shall make public once a year an aggregated report on the public service obligations for which it is responsible, the starting date and duration of the public service contracts, the selected public service operators and the compensation payments and exclusive rights granted to the said public service operators by way of reimbursement. The report shall assess performance in terms of compliance and specify all transport service indicators, including punctuality, reliability, cleanness, user satisfaction as measured by public opinion polls, and the minimum capacity utilisation rate. The report shall distinguish between bus transport and rail transport, allow the performance, quality and financing of the public transport network to be monitored and assessed and, if appropriate, provide information on the nature and extent of any exclusive rights granted. Member States shall facilitate central access to these reports, for instance through a common web portal.