LegalizeRegulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services, and amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 (recast) (Text with EEA relevance)
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Scope
This Regulation shall apply to the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus within the territory of the Community by carriers for hire or reward or by own-account carriers established in a Member State in accordance with its law, using vehicles which are registered in that Member State and are suitable and intended, by virtue of their construction and equipment, to carry more than nine persons, including the driver, and to the movement of such vehicles when empty in connection with such carriage.
A change of vehicle or an interruption of carriage to enable part of a journey to be made by another means of transport shall not affect the application of this Regulation.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
‘international carriage’ means:
(a) a journey undertaken by a vehicle the point of departure and the point of arrival of which are in two different Member States, with or without transit through one or more Member States or third countries; (b) a journey undertaken by a vehicle of which the point of departure and the point of arrival are in the same Member State, while the picking up or setting down of passengers is in another Member State or in a third country; (c) a journey undertaken by a vehicle from a Member State to a third country or vice versa, with or without transit through one or more Member States or third countries; or (d) a journey undertaken by a vehicle between third countries, with transit through the territory of one or more Member States;
‘regular services’ means services which provide for the carriage of passengers at specified intervals along specified routes, passengers being picked up and set down at predetermined stopping points;
‘special regular services’ means regular services, by whomsoever organised, which provide for the carriage of specified categories of passengers to the exclusion of other passengers;
‘occasional services’ means services which do not fall within the definition of regular services, including special regular services, and the main characteristic of which is the carriage of groups of passengers constituted on the initiative of the customer or the carrier himself;
‘own-account transport operations’ means operations carried out for non-commercial and non-profit-making purposes by a natural or legal person, whereby:
— the transport activity is only an ancillary activity for that natural or legal person, and — the vehicles used are the property of that natural or legal person or have been obtained by that person on deferred terms or have been the subject of a long-term leasing contract and are driven by a member of the staff of the natural or legal person or by the natural person himself or by personnel employed by, or put at the disposal of, the undertaking under a contractual obligation;
‘host Member State’ means a Member State in which a carrier operates other than the carrier’s Member State of establishment;
‘cabotage operations’ means either:
— national road passenger services for hire and reward carried out on a temporary basis by a carrier in a host Member State, or — the picking up and setting down of passengers within the same Member State, in the course of a regular international service, in compliance with the provisions of this Regulation, provided that it is not the principal purpose of the service;
‘serious infringement of Community road transport legislation’ means an infringement which may lead to the loss of good repute in accordance with Article 6(1) and (2) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009, and/or to the temporary or permanent withdrawal of a Community licence.
Article 3
Freedom to provide services
Any carrier for hire or reward referred to in Article 1 shall be permitted in accordance with this Regulation to carry out regular services, including special regular services and occasional services by coach and bus, without discrimination on grounds of nationality or place of establishment if he:
(a) is authorised in the Member State of establishment to undertake carriage by means of regular services, including special regular services, or occasional services by coach and bus, in accordance with the market access conditions laid down by national legislation;
(b) satisfies the conditions laid down in accordance with Community rules on admission to the occupation of road passenger transport operator in national and international transport operations; and
(c) meets legal requirements regarding the standards for drivers and vehicles as laid down, in particular, in Council Directive 92/6/EEC of 10 February 1992 on the installation and use of speed limitation devices for certain categories of motor vehicles in the Community (9), Council Directive 96/53/EC of 25 July 1996 laying down for certain road vehicles circulating within the Community the maximum authorised dimensions in national and international traffic and the maximum authorised weights in international traffic (10) and Directive 2003/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2003 on the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers (11).
Any own-account carrier referred to in Article 1 shall be permitted to carry out the transport services pursuant to Article 5(5) without discrimination on grounds of nationality or place of establishment if he:
(a) is authorised in the Member State of establishment to undertake carriage by coach and bus in accordance with the market-access conditions laid down in national legislation; and
(b) meets legal requirements regarding the standards for drivers and vehicles as laid down, in particular, in Directives 92/6/EEC, 96/53/EC and 2003/59/EC.
CHAPTER II
COMMUNITY LICENCE AND MARKET ACCESS
Article 4
Community licence
The competent authorities of the Member State of establishment shall issue the holder with the original of the Community licence, which shall be kept by the carrier, and the number of certified true copies thereof corresponding to the number of vehicles used for the international carriage of passengers at the disposal of the holder of the Community licence, whether those vehicles are wholly owned, or held in another form, particularly under an instalment-purchase, hire or leasing contract.
The Community licence and the certified true copies thereof shall correspond to the model set out in Annex II. They shall contain at least two of the security features listed in Annex I.
The Commission shall adapt Annexes I and II to technical progress. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 26(2).
The Community licence and the certified true copies thereof shall bear the seal of the issuing authority as well as a signature and a serial number. The serial numbers of the Community licence and the certified true copies thereof shall be recorded in the national electronic register of road transport undertakings provided for in Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 as part of the data relating to the carrier.
The Community licence shall be issued for renewable periods of up to 10 years.
Community licences and certified true copies thereof issued before the date of application of this Regulation shall remain valid until their date of expiry.
Article 5
Access to the market
Regular services shall be open to all, subject, where appropriate, to compulsory reservation.
Such services shall be subject to authorisation in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III.
Regular services from a Member State to a third country and vice versa shall be subject to authorisation in accordance with the bilateral agreement between the Member State and the third country and, where appropriate, the transited Member State, as long as the necessary agreement between the Community and the third country concerned has not been concluded.
The regular nature of the service shall not be affected by any adjustment to the service operating conditions.
The organisation of parallel or temporary services, serving the same public as existing regular services, the non-serving of certain stops and the serving of additional stops on existing regular services shall be governed by the same rules as those applicable to existing regular services.
Special regular services shall include in particular:
(a) the carriage of workers between home and work;
(b) the carriage of school pupils and students to and from the educational institution. The fact that a special service may be varied according to the needs of users shall not affect its classification as a regular service. Special regular services shall not be subject to authorisation in accordance with Chapter III where they are covered by a contract concluded between the organiser and the carrier.
Occasional services shall not require authorisation in accordance with Chapter III.
However, the organisation of parallel or temporary services comparable to existing regular services and serving the same public as the latter shall be subject to authorisation in accordance with the procedure laid down in Chapter III.
Occasional services shall not cease to be occasional services solely on the grounds that they are provided at certain intervals.
Occasional services may be provided by a group of carriers acting on behalf of the same contractor, and travellers may catch a connection en route, with a different carrier of the same group, on the territory of a Member State.
The Commission shall establish the procedures for the names of such carriers and the connection points en route to be communicated to the competent authorities of the Member States concerned. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 26(2).
Own-account transport operations shall be exempt from any system of authorisation but shall be subject to a system of certificates.
The certificates shall be issued by the competent authorities of the Member State in which the vehicle is registered and shall be valid for the entire journey including transit.
The Commission shall establish the format of the certificates. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 26(2).
CHAPTER III
REGULAR SERVICES SUBJECT TO AUTHORISATION
Article 6
Nature of authorisation
Authorisations shall be issued in the name of the carrier and shall be non-transferable. However, a carrier who has received an authorisation may, with the consent of the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the point of departure is situated, hereinafter referred to as the ‘authorising authority’, operate the service through a subcontractor. In this case, the name of the subcontractor and its role shall be indicated in the authorisation. The subcontractor shall satisfy the conditions laid down in Article 3(1). For the purposes of this paragraph, the point of departure shall mean ‘one of the termini of the service’.
In the case of undertakings associated for the purpose of operating a regular service, the authorisation shall be issued in the names of all the undertakings and shall state the names of all the operators. It shall be given to the undertaking that manages the operation and copies shall be given to the other undertakings.
Authorisations shall specify the following:
(a) the type of service;
(b) the route of the service, giving in particular the point of departure and the point of arrival;
(c) the period of validity of the authorisation;
(d) the stops and the timetable.
The operator of a regular service may use additional vehicles to deal with temporary and exceptional situations. Such additional vehicles may be used only under the same conditions as set out in the authorisation referred to in paragraph 3.
In this case, the carrier shall ensure that the following documents are carried on the vehicle:
(a) a copy of the authorisation of the regular service;
(b) a copy of the contract between the operator of the regular service and the undertaking providing the additional vehicles or an equivalent document;
(c) a certified true copy of the Community licence issued to the operator providing the additional vehicles for the service.
Article 7
Submission of application for authorisation
Article 8
Authorising procedure
The competent authorities of the Member States whose agreement has been requested shall notify the authorising authority of their decision on the application within 2 months. This time limit shall be calculated from the date of receipt of the request for agreement which is shown in the acknowledgement of receipt. If the decision received from the competent authorities of the Member States whose agreement has been requested is negative, it shall contain a proper statement of reasons. If the authorising authority does not receive a reply within 2 months, the authorities consulted shall be deemed to have given their agreement and the authorising authority may grant the authorisation.
The authorities of the Member States whose territories are crossed without passengers being picked up or set down may notify the authorising authority of their comments within the time limit laid down in the first subparagraph.
Authorisation shall be granted unless:
(a) the applicant is unable to provide the service which is the subject of the application with equipment directly available to him;
(b) the applicant has not complied with national or international legislation on road transport, and in particular the conditions and requirements relating to authorisations for international road passenger services, or has committed serious infringements of Community road transport legislation in particular with regard to the rules applicable to vehicles and driving and rest periods for drivers;
(c) in the case of an application for renewal of authorisation, the conditions of authorisation have not been complied with;
(d) a Member State decides on the basis of a detailed analysis that the service concerned would seriously affect the viability of a comparable service covered by one or more public service contracts conforming to Community law on the direct sections concerned. In such a case, the Member State shall set up criteria, on a non-discriminatory basis, for determining whether the service applied for would seriously affect the viability of the abovementioned comparable service and shall communicate them to the Commission, upon its request;
(e) a Member State decides on the basis of a detailed analysis that the principal purpose of the service is not to carry passengers between stops located in different Member States.
In the event that an existing international coach and bus service is seriously affecting the viability of a comparable service covered by one or more public service contracts conforming to Community law on the direct sections concerned, due to exceptional reasons which could not have been foreseen at the time of granting the authorisation, a Member State may, with the agreement of the Commission, suspend or withdraw the authorisation to run the international coach and bus service after having given 6 months’ notice to the carrier.
The fact that a carrier offers lower prices than those offered by other road carriers or the fact that the link in question is already operated by other road carriers shall not in itself constitute justification for rejecting the application.
Having completed the procedure laid down in paragraphs 1 to 5, the authorising authority shall grant the authorisation or formally refuse the application.
Decisions refusing an application shall state the reasons on which they are based. Member States shall ensure that transport undertakings are given the opportunity to make representations in the event of their application being refused.
The authorising authority shall inform all the authorities referred to in paragraph 1 of its decision, sending them a copy of any authorisation.
Article 9
Renewal and alteration of authorisation
Article 8 shall apply, *mutatis mutandis*, to applications for the renewal of authorisations or for alteration of the conditions under which the services subject to authorisation must be carried out.
In the event of a minor alteration to the operating conditions, in particular adjustment of intervals, fares and timetables, the authorising authority need only supply the other Member States concerned with information relating to the alteration.
The Member States concerned may agree that the authorising authority alone shall decide on alterations to the conditions under which a service is operated.
Article 10
Lapse of an authorisation
Article 11
Obligations of carriers
CHAPTER IV
OCCASIONAL SERVICES AND OTHER SERVICES EXEMPT FROM AUTHORISATION
Article 12
Control documents
The journey form shall contain at least the following information:
(a) the type of service;
(b) the main itinerary;
(c) the carrier(s) involved.
Article 13
Local excursions
Within the framework of an international occasional service, a carrier may carry out occasional services (local excursions) in a Member State other than that in which it is established.
Such services shall be intended for non-resident passengers previously carried by the same carrier on one of the international services mentioned in the first paragraph and shall be carried out with the same vehicle or another vehicle from the same carrier or group of carriers.
CHAPTER V
CABOTAGE
Article 14
General principle
Any carrier who operates road passenger transport services for hire or reward and who holds a Community licence shall be permitted, under the conditions laid down in this Chapter and without discrimination on grounds of the carrier’s nationality or place of establishment, to operate the cabotage operations as specified in Article 15.
Article 15
Authorised cabotage operations
Cabotage operations shall be authorised for the following services:
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