Procedure completed
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | DELE | SWOBODA Hannes (PSE) | |
Opinion | ECON | WIBE Sören (PSE) | |
Lead | TRAN | SWOBODA Hannes (PSE) |
Legal Basis EC Treaty (after Amsterdam) EC 071
Activites
- 2001/03/15 Final act published in Official Journal
-
2001/02/26
Final act signed
-
2001/02/26
End of procedure in Parliament
-
2001/02/01
Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading
-
T5-0048/2001
summary
The European Parliament adopted the report by Mr Hannes Swoboda (PES, A). (Please refer to the previous text).�
-
T5-0048/2001
summary
- 2001/01/18 Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading
- #2324
-
2000/12/20
Council Meeting
-
2000/12/08
Joint text approved by Conciliation Committee co-chairs
- 3662/2000
-
2000/11/22
Final decision by Conciliation Committee
-
2000/10/11
Formal meeting of Conciliation Committee
-
2000/08/25
Parliament's amendments rejected by Council
-
2000/07/05
Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
-
T5-0297/2000
summary
By approving the report drafted by Mr Hannes SWOBODA (PES, Aust), the European Parliament adopted, under the codecison procedure, second reading, the legislative resolution on the Council's common position for adopting a European Parliament and Council Directive on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructures. This report was subject to a number of amendments which relate in particular to: - trading in access rights: this shall be prohibited and shall lead to exclusion from the further allocation of access rights; - charges for the use of railway infrastructure: the long term shall be for the costs of the business and maintenance of existing facilities to be covered by the infrastructure users. In the process the principle of fair, non-discriminatory competition between Member States, between the various transport modes and between transport undertakings shall be upheld and charging of environmental costs shall, however, only be allowed if such charges are made at a comparable level in the case of competing modes of transport. With regard to the infrastructure managers, they shall keep an up-to-date register of the undertakings or public entities to whom capacity has been allocated and the extent of the use made of the allocated capacity. As far the Member States are concerned, they may take the necessary measures to ensure that priority is given to public transport services in allocating rail capacity. In this case, they may provide infrastructure managers with compensation for financial losses arising from the fact that a certain capacity must be allocated in the interests of public transport services. The framework agreements shall in principle be for a period of five year and any period longer than ten years shall be possible only in special and exceptional cases, where there is a large-scale, long-term investment.�
-
T5-0297/2000
summary
- 2000/06/21 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
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2000/04/13
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
- #2252
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2000/03/28
Council Meeting
-
05388/1/2000
summary
The Council endorses the proposal's main objectives of developing international rail transport and safeguarding the principles of transparency and non-discrimination. Nevertheless, the text was extensively reworked in the course of the discussions. Like the European Parliament, the Council considered that some flexibility is needed in infrastructure charging and the allocation of capacity given the characteristics of Member States' rail systems, which differ widely in technical, economic and institutional terms. The following are the most important amendments made by the Council: - calculation of charges: where the market can bear such increases and the Member State in question wishes for fuller recovery of the total costs of the infrastructure, Member States are allowed to levy mark-ups on the cost directly incurred by operating the train services; - capacity allocation: only railway undertakings may apply for train paths, although Member States may allow other applicants to apply for capacity in their territories; - the proposal's rules on charging and capacity allocation have been simplified; - temporary derogations from applying some articles of the Directive have been introduced for the benefit of certain Member States on the basis of the particular circumstances of their railway systems. With regard to infrastructure charging, the Council's amendments relate to: - the acceptance of the proposal's overall charging principle, i.e. the cost directly incurred as a result of the operating the train service, but it considerably amended the exceptions to that principle, mainly by simplifying them; - the most important exception allows Member States wishing to recover infrastrucure costs and whose market can bear such increases to levy mark-ups on the basis of efficient, transparent and non-discriminatory principles; - the additional charges reflecting the scarcity and the environmental effects of operating train services; - scrapping the exceptional nature of the charges, more detailed information on specific projects and on the implementation of charges and a reference to the possibility of concluding arrangements in certain cases; - other aspects of the exceptions allowed in the proposal to the charging principles, including: a description of the options that may be used to levy mark-ups and the definition of the right of access to infrastructure on the basis of the amount of authorised charges; the general clause on non-discrimination and transparency in charging ; the elimination of the special rules for passenger transport; - discounts: in order to avoid discounts leading to indirect discrimination against the railway undertakings other than the main operator, these have been limited to the actual saving of "the administrative cost" to the infrastructure manager; it also allows specific discounts to encourage certain traffic flows or the use of under-utilised lines; - the modification of a number of aspects of the services provided to railway undertakings. There is a reference totrack access to service facilities, so as to ensure the availability of such services; however, a clause has been inserted to cover the situation where there are no viable alternatives. In addition, the Common Position omits three "mandatory" services on the grounds that Article 29 lays down the measures to be taken in the event of disturbance or accident, safety standards are dealt with in Article 7. It is worth noting that the Council followed the amended proposal and adopted the following European Parliament amendments either in whole or in part. These relate to the gradual opening up of the market; fair competitive conditions between rail and road and to take into account of their external effects; the definition of "infrastructure manager" and of "network"; the obligation to put in place a charging framework; situations where the services to railway undertakings are provided by suppliers other than the infrastructure managers; the amount of the charge to exceeded the cost directly incurred by operating the train service and on exceptions to charging principles.�
-
05388/1/2000
summary
- #2234
-
1999/12/09
Council Meeting
-
1999/11/25
Modified legislative proposal published
-
COM(1999)0616
summary
The Commission's amended proposal accepts the following European Parliament amendments: - amendment 3 because the proposed recital argues for a staged opening of the market which is in line with the Treaty obligations and Commission proposal 95(337); - amendment 4 because the proposed recital urges progress on technical harmonisation which the Commission recognises is important; - amendment 6 because the proposed recital emphasises the importance of fair intermodal competition which is needed to ensure efficient optimal transport choices; - amendment 7 because this results in a better definition; - amendment 8 because this makes the definition more precise; - amendment 9 because this would oblige Member States to establish a charging framework; - amendment 11 because it takes into account of the fact that services may be provided by several managers or service providers; - amendment 16 because it streamlines the text while retaining the principle proposed; - amendment 19 is accepted in principle because it permits parties other than railway undertakings to be Applicants subject to national legislation. The effect has been implemented in Article 19 and a change of the definition in Article 2. In addition, references throughout the text to "authorised applicant" have been changed to "applicant"; - amendment 28 because the exchange of views between government services which it requires will be beneficial. Moreover, the Commission accepts the principles contained within amendment 14 namely: simplification of the rules for passenger traffic, and the possibility to increase freight charges where it has been demonstrated that this does not damage intermodal competitiveness. Articles 8 and 9 have been reformulated in this spirit. On the other hand, the Commission could not accept 15 of the other amendments proposed by the European Parliament. A number of these were considered to be superfluous, no longer of relevance given the evolution of the text, or lacking clarity.�
- DG ['Energy and Transport'],
-
COM(1999)0616
summary
-
1999/10/27
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
-
T5-0061/1999
summary
The European Parliament confirmed as first reading in the context of the codecision procedure the text voted on 10.03.1999 on this proposal for a Directive.�
-
T5-0061/1999
summary
- #2204
- 1999/10/06 Council Meeting
- 1999/07/28 Committee report tabled for plenary confirming Parliament's position
-
1999/07/28
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
- #2191
- 1999/06/17 Council Meeting
- #2169
- 1999/03/29 Council Meeting
-
1999/03/10
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
-
T4-0167/1999
summary
At first reading under cooperation procedure, the European Parliament approved the proposal for a Council directive relating to the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification subject to a large number of amendments, notably in the following areas: - recommending a cautious opening up of the market in order to achieve an efficient sector, especially across borders; - indicating that the gradual opening-up of rail transport markets must be accompanied by technical harmonisation measures; - ensuring competition in cross-border freight transport which does not damage social rights and which maintains the same safety standards, namely by means of greater competition or cooperation between authorised railway undertakings; - insisting on fair competitive conditions between rail and road, taking appropriate account of the different external effects; - extending the definition of "infrastructure manager" to include any body responsible for operating the control and safety systems; - making the establishment of a charging framework by Member States a requirement rather than an option; - allowing Member States to confer responsibility for establishing specific charging rules and collecting infrastructure charges to the regulatory body set up under the directive, subject to the creation of a separate, independent appeal body to deal with complaints; - in the event of the minimum access package of services and other required access services to which they will be entitled not being offered by the same infrastructure manager, allowing railway undertakings to conclude contracts with all the infrastructure managers or service providers; - requiring the provider of the "main infrastructure" to help provide these services; - allowing a modest rate of return on the charge for these services, which is reasonable in proportion to the total amount; - providing that a charge may be made for external costs only if competing modes of transport are required to pay similar charges; - allowing a charging arrangement which legally exceeds the provisions made by the directive (ie. to cover the costs of investment proven to improve efficiency and/or cost effectiveness) to incorporate agreements on the sharing of the risk associated with new investments; - providing that a higher level of charging according to the above-mentioned exception may only be on a non-discriminatory basis and only apply to passenger transport; - providing that such extra charges may only be raised for freight transport if it can be borne in terms of intermodal competitiveness; - deleting the provision that a fixed charge may be levied on the railway undertaking making greatest use of an element of infrastructure and a system of fixed and variable charges levied on other railway undertakings; - deleting the provision that charges may be increased and modulated through negotiation in relation to the elasticity of demand for different services or types of service; - deleting the provision that the infrastructure manager may publish tariffs, distinguishing between different clearly definedtraffic types, which reflect the willingness to pay more than the costs that they impose; - deleting provisions relating to discounts; - simplifying the requirements in respect of charges for capacity, requiring only that they be "appropriate" and provide incentives for efficient use of capacity; - allowing Member States to adopt the requisite measures to ensure priority in allocating railway infrastructure for railway services provided in the public interest (and to pay compensation to the infrastructure manager for financial losses arising therefrom) and services provided wholly or partially on infrastructure specifically built or adapted for special high-speed or freight transport lines; - allowing Member States, in allocating infrastructure capacity, to accord special rights to railway undertakings which allow them to provide an appropriate public service, to make efficient use of infrastructure capacity or to make possible the financing of new infrastructure; - allowing Member States, in their areas of jurisdiction, to provide that natural or legal persons other than railway undertakings be authorised applicants; - for cross-border freight traffic, allowing railway undertakings licensed under directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings to be regarded as authorised applicants throughout Community territory; - extending the maximum length (in principle) of framework agreements from 5 to 7 years; - deleting certain provisions relating to the duties of the infrastructure manager (timetabling, addressing concerns, resolving conflicts, accomodating requests for capacity through coordination, evaluation of the need for and availability of information on spare capacity, allocation of capacity....); - deleting certain provisions regarding capacity analysis and requiring simply that, when infrastructure capacity has been declared to be constrained, the infrastructure manager complete a capacity analysis within 3 months; - deleting provisions for a capacity enhancement plan; - requiring the national regulatory bodies, supported by the Commission, to conduct an active exchange of views and experience for the purposes of coordinating their decision-making principles across Europe.�
-
T4-0167/1999
summary
- 1999/02/17 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
- #2142
- 1998/11/30 Council Meeting
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1998/10/23
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
-
1998/09/29
Legislative proposal published
-
COM(1998)0480
summary
OBJECTIVE: the main objectives of the proposal for a Directive are as follows: - to make use of the railways infrastructure more efficient and to reduce costs; - to give full effect to existing rights of access by clarifying the rules on tariffs and path allocation; - to facilitate the supply and use of international high quality paths by harmonising the capacity allocation procedures and the charging principles; - to ensure that the charging procedures and the allocation of capacities do not form barriers to entry onto the market. SUBSTANCE: this proposal forms part of a package of measures intended to ensure fair and non- discriminatory treatment of railway undertakings and efficient use of infrastructure. So far as the allocation of capacity is concerned, the proposed directive defines carefully the rights of railway undertakings and of the infrastructure manager. It also establishes a well-defined process for the preparation of timetables. Under this, different operators would be able to bid for capacity, which would be awarded according to clear rules and criteria known in advance. The process would be designed to resolve conflicts between requests for capacity and to overcome problems of scarcity, in ways that respect the rights of all the applicants. The proposal for a directive also provides that the allocation is performed by a body not providing transport services itself and that there is a right of appeal. With regard to the charging of infrastructure fees, the proposal is to base, in principle, charges on marginal cost, that is the cost which is directly incurred as the result of the operation of a train. However the directive would allow charges to be increased and modulated to attain other objectives: a higher rate of external cost recovery and the resolution of problems of scarcity. The directive would also require performance schemes to be included in charging systems with incentives for good performance and penalties for bad; this would greatly promote efficiency. In addition, the proposed directive would help ensure fair treatment, by obliging the publication of charging schemes in advance and the provision of information on how the fees are calculated. The directive creates safeguards to protect railway undertakings against the abuse of monopoly by an infrastructure manager and to prevent fixed charges and discounts working against smaller railway undertakings.�
- DG ['Energy and Transport'],
-
COM(1998)0480
summary
Documents
- Legislative proposal published: COM(1998)0480
- Debate in Council: 2142
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0059/1999
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0167/1999
- Debate in Council: 2169
- Debate in Council: 2191
- Committee report tabled for plenary confirming Parliament's position: A5-0021/1999
- Debate in Council: 2204
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0061/1999
- Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1999)0616
- Council position published: 05388/1/2000
- Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A5-0171/2000
- Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T5-0297/2000
- Joint text approved by Conciliation Committee co-chairs: 3662/2000
- Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading: A5-0014/2001
- Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading: T5-0048/2001
- : Directive 2001/14
- : OJ L 075 15.03.2001, p. 0029
History
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