[ParlTrack]

Draft legislative resolution
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out~~Rejects the European Commission proposal;

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 1

(1) Over the past decade, the growth of passenger traffic by rail has been insufficient to increase its modal share in comparison to cars and aviation. The 6 % modal share of passenger transport for rail in the European Union has remained fairly stable. Rail passenger services have not kept pace with evolving needs in terms of offer or qualityinland transport, on average, in the EU 15 group, while the same average has not been gained in the Member States who joined the Union in 2004, 2007 and 2013. Changes in rail's modal share are not correlated with the governance structures in place in the different Member States.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 3

(3) Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area establishes a single European railway area with common rules on the governance of railway undertakings and infrastructure managers, on infrastructure financing and charging, on conditions of access to railway infrastructure and services and on regulatory oversight of the rail market. With all these elements in place, it is now possible to complete the opening of the Union railway market and reform the governance of infrastructure managers with the objective of ensuring equal access to the infrastructure.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 4

(4) Directive 2012/34/EU requires the Commission to propose, if appropriate, legislative measures in relation of the opening of the market for domestic passenger transport services by rail and to develop appropriate conditions to ensure non-discriminatory access to infrastructure, building on the existing separation requirements between infrastructure management and transport operations.deleted

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 6

(6) Member States should also ensure that all functions necessary to the sustainable operations, maintenance, and development of the rail infrastructure will be managed in a consistent manner by the infrastructure manager itself or by the concerned independent body as set in national rules.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 7

(7) Cross-border issues should be addressed efficiently between infrastructure managers or independent bodies of the different Member States ~~through the establishment of a European network of~~by means of enhanced cooperation among infrastructure managers.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 8

(8) In order to ensure equal access to the infrastructure, any conflicts of interest resulting from integrated structures encompassing infrastructure management and transport activities should be removed. Removing incentives to discriminate against competitors is the only way to guarantee equal access to the railway infrastructure. It is a requirement for the successful opening of the market for domestic passenger transport services by rail. This should also remove the potential for cross-subsidisation, which exists in such integrated structures, and which also leads to market distortions.deleted

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 9

(9) The existing requirements for the independence of infrastructure managers from railway transport undertakings, as laid down in Directive 2012/34/EU, ~~only~~ cover the essential functions of the infrastructure manager, which are the decision-making on train path allocation, and the decision- making on infrastructure charging. It is however necessary that all the functions are exercised in an independent way, since other functions may equally be used to discriminate against competitors. This is in particular true for decisions on investments or on maintenance which may be made to favour the parts of the network which are mainly used by the transport operators of the integrated undertaking. Decisions on the planning of maintenance works may influence the availability of train paths for the competitors.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 10

(10) The existing requirements of Directive 2012/34/EU only include legal, organisational and decision-making independence. This does not entirely exclude the possibility of maintaining an integrated undertaking, as long as these three categories of independence are ensured. Concerning the decision-making independence it must be ensured that the appropriate safeguards exclude control of an integrated undertaking over the decision-making of an infrastructure manager. However, even the full application of such safeguards does not completely remove all the possibilities for discriminatory behaviour towards competitors which exist in the presence of a vertically integrated undertaking. In particular, the potential for cross- subsidisation still exists in integrated structures, or at least it is very difficult for regulatory bodies to control and enforce safeguards which are established to prevent such cross-subsidisation. An institutional separation of infrastructure management and transport operation is the most effective measure to solve these problems.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 11

(11) Member States should therefore be required to ensure that the same legal or natural person or persons are not entitled to exercise control over an infrastructure manager and, at the same time, exercise control or any right over a railway undertaking. Conversely, control over a railway undertaking should preclude the possibility of exercising control or any right over an infrastructure manager.deleted

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 12

(12) Where Member States still maintain an infrastructure manager which is part of a vertically integrated undertaking, they should at least introduce strict safeguards to guarantee effective independence of the entire infrastructure manager in relation to the integrated undertaking. These safeguards should not only concern the corporate organisation of the infrastructure manager in relation to the integrated undertaking, but also the management structure of the infrastructure manager, and, as far as possible within an integrated structure, prevent financial transfers between the infrastructure manager and the other legal entities of the integrated undertaking. These safeguards do not only correspond to what is necessary to fulfil the existing requirements of decision-making independence of the essential functions under Directive 2012/34/EU, in terms of management independence of the infrastructure manager, but go beyond those requirements by adding clauses to exclude that incomes of the infrastructure manager may be used to fund the other entities within the vertically integrated undertaking. This should apply independently of the application of fiscal legislation of Member States and without prejudice to EU state aid rules.deleted

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 13

(13) Despite the implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing independence vertically integrated undertakings could abuse of their structure to provide undue competitive advantages for railway operators belonging to such undertakings, For this reason, without prejudice to Art 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Commission should verify, upon request of a Member State or on its own initiative, that these safeguards are effectively implemented and that any remaining distortions of competition are removed. In case the Commission is not in a position to confirm that this has been achieved, all Member States should have the possibility to limit or revoke access rights of the integrated operators concerned.deleted

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 14

(14) Granting Union railway undertakings the right of access to railway infrastructure in all Member States for the purpose of operating domestic passenger services may have implications for the organisation and financing of rail passenger services provided under a public service contract. Member States should have the option of limiting such right of access where it would compromise the economic equilibrium ofand the social cohesion and right to mobility as required and adopted in those public service contracts ~~and w~~. The re ~~approval has been given by the relevant regulatory body~~levant regulatory body should consider these concerns when giving its approval to such limitations.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 18

(18) When assessing whether the economic equilibrium of the public service contract would be compromised, regulatory bodies should consider the economic and social impact of the intended service on existing public service contracts taking into account its impact on the profitability of any services included in such public service contracts and the consequences for the enhancing cohesion policy in the concerned area and the net cost to the competent public authority that awarded the contracts. To make this assessment, factors such as passenger demand, ticket pricing, ticketing arrangements, location and number of stops and the timing and frequency of the proposed new service should be examined.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 19 a (new)

(19a) The Commission should assess the impact of this Directive on the development of the labour market for railway staff.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Recital 19 b (new)

(19b) To avoid misleading social dumping a railway undertaking can only provide rail transport services, if it complies with the respect of representative collective agreements or national laws granting the same standards within the Member State in which it intends to act. Equal pay in the same place should therefore be paid. The competent regulatory body shall monitor compliance with this requirement.

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – point 1 – point a

Directive 2012/34/EU
Article 3 – point 2

(a) Point 2 is replaced by the following: ‘(2) “infrastructure manager” means any body or firm ensuring the development, operation and maintenance of railway infrastructure on a network; development includes network planning, financial and investment planning as well as building and upgrades of the infrastructure; operation of the infrastructure includes all elements of the process of train path allocation, including both the definition and the assessment of availability and the allocation of individual paths, traffic management and infrastructure charging, including determination and collection of the charges; maintenance includes infrastructure renewals and the other asset management activities’deleted

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – point 1 – point b

~~(b) Point 5 is~~ deleted;

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – point 1 – point c

Directive 2012/34/EU
Article 3 – point 31 – indent 3a (new)

- an undertaking consisting of distinct divisions, including an infrastructure manager and one or several divisions providing transport services that do not necessarily have distinct legal personalities;

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – point 2

~~2. In Article 6, paragraph 2 is~~ deleted;

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN

Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – point 3

~~3. [...]~~deleted

2013/09/26
Committee: TRAN

Sabine WILS, Jacky HÉNIN