PURPOSE: to establish common rules for the production of rail transport statistics at Union level.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council on rail transport statistics.

CONTENT: this Regulation recasts Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on rail transport statistics. Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 has been recast for reasons of legal clarity, as it has been substantially amended several times.

Statistics on rail transport are needed to contribute to the monitoring and development of the common transport policy. The objective of the Regulation is to create common statistical standards for the production of harmonised data to be implemented in each Member State under the authority of the bodies and institutions in charge of producing official statistics.

The Regulation covers all railways in the Union . It provides that each Member State shall provide statistics relating to transport by rail on its national territory.

If a railway undertaking operates in more than one Member State , the national authorities concerned shall require that undertaking to provide separate data for each country in which it operates, in order to allow the compilation of national statistics.

Member States may exclude from the scope of this Regulation:

railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations, including harbours; railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services, such as preserved historical steam railways.

In order to assist Member States in maintaining the quality of statistics in the domain of rail transport, Eurostat shall develop and publish methodological recommendations. These recommendations shall take account of the best practices of national authorities, of railway undertakings and of professional organisations for the railway industry.

The Commission may adopt delegated acts to amend the Regulation in order to take account of new developments in the Member States, while maintaining harmonised data collection on rail transport throughout the Union, and in order to preserve the high quality of data transmitted by the Member States.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 22.5.2018.

The European Parliament adopted by 648 votes to 11, with 31 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on rail transport statistics (recast).

The European Parliament adopted its position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure without making any amendments to the Commission proposal and taking account of the recommendations of the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

The objective of this Regulation is to establish common rules for the production of rail transport statistics at Union level .

Statistics on the transport of goods and passengers by rail are necessary:

to enable the Commission: (i) to monitor and develop the common transport policy, the transport component of regional policy and the policies relating to trans-European networks; (ii) to ensure prepare and monitor Union actions in the field of transport safety; to fulfil the monitoring tasks provided for in Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a single European railway area.

The scope of this Regulation shall cover all railways in the Union . Each Member State shall report statistics which relate to rail transport on its national territory. Where a railway undertaking operates in more than one Member State, the national authorities concerned shall require the undertaking to provide data separately for each country in which it operates so as to enable national statistics to be compiled.

Member States may exclude from the scope of this Regulation:

railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations, including harbours; railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services, such as preserved historical steam railways.

The annual statistics to be collected on the transport of goods and passengers are specified in the annexes of the proposed Regulation.

The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the report by Karima DELLI (Greens/EFA, FR) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on rail transport statistics (recast).

The committee recommended that European Parliament adopt its position at first reading, taking over the Commission proposal and taking account of the recommendations of the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

According to the Consultative Working Party of the legal services of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the Commission proposal does not include any substantive amendments other than those identified as such in the proposal, and that the proposal contains a straightforward codification of the existing texts, without any change in their substance.

The Commission proposal concerns a technical adaptation in the context of a recast procedure.

As stated in the explanatory memorandum accompanying the report, Parliament sought to extend the scope of the regulation. It had stressed the importance of having comprehensive and accurate statistics on freight and passenger transport, as well as data concerning cross-border connections or railway infrastructure equipment fitted with an ERTMS system. The aim being to obtain a clear picture of the evolution of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), and in particular the rail network. Parliament was unable to secure the incorporation of any such provisions in the legislative text.

The rapporteur, however, recalled the Commission's commitment to respond to Parliament's request in the negotiations on the revision of the Regulation. In particular, the Commission undertook to:

provide an analysis of sections of track which had been dismantled or those on which passenger or freight operations had ceased, taking due account of the infrastructure and of socio-economic and operational aspect; provide a more detailed analysis for projects belonging to the TEN-T network.

The European Rail Agency (ERA) agreed to:

facilitate access to data concerning the length of the section of track equipped with ERTMS; provide Eurostat with annual data regarding the number of vehicles equipped with ERTMS, on the basis of the European Register of Authorised Types of Vehicles (ERATV) and the Centralised Virtual Vehicle Register (ECVVR).

The rapporteur stressed the importance of providing policy makers, as well as European citizens, with relevant information on the impact of EU policies in the field of transport and of the relevant investments.

PURPOSE: to consolidate Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on rail transport statistics.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: this proposal concerns the recast of Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on rail transport statistics.

The codification is carried out in the interests of clarity, given that the Regulation has been substantially amended several times. The new regulation will replace the various acts incorporated therein, whilst fully preserving its substance.

CONTENT: the objective of this Regulation is to establish common rules for the production of rail transport statistics at Union level.

Statistics on the transport of goods and passengers by rail are necessary:

to enable the Commission to: (i) monitor and develop the common transport policy, as well as the transport elements of policies relating to the regions and to trans-European networks; (ii) monitor Union action in the field of transport safety; in order to fulfil the monitoring tasks provided for in Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.

Scope of the Regulation : this proposed Regulation shall cover all railways in the Union. Each Member State shall report statistics which relate to rail transport on its national territory. Where a railway undertaking operates in more than one Member State, the national authorities concerned shall require the undertaking to provide data separately for each country in which it operates so as to enable national statistics to be compiled.

Member States may exclude from the scope of this Regulation:

railway undertakings which operate entirely or mainly within industrial and similar installations, including harbours; railway undertakings which mainly provide local tourist services, such as preserved historical steam railways.

The annual statistics to be collected on the carriage of goods and passengers are set out in the Annexes to the Regulation.

The proposal states that Member States should take all necessary measures to ensure the quality of the data transmitted. The quality of the statistical data shall be evaluated by Eurostat.

By 31 December 2020 and every four years thereafter, the Commission shall report on the implementation of the Regulation and on future developments.

DELEGATED ACTS: the proposal contains provisions empowering the Commission to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.