Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1795 of 20 November 2018 laying down procedure and criteria for the application of the economic equilibrium test pursuant to Article 11 of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance.)

Type Implementing Regulation
Publication 2018-11-21
State In force
Text As published
Department European Commission, MOVE
Source EUR-Lex
articles 16

This is the act as published. Later amendments are not folded into the text below: each one is a separate act in this repository and an entry in this law's history.

Reform history JSON API
21.11.2018 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 294/5

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area 1, and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 11(4) thereof,

Whereas:

These specific provisions are without prejudice to the application of this regulation to a public service contract which is on-going at the time the applicant's notification is received. In these circumstances, and where the economic equilibrium test on the existing public service contract demonstrates that access can be granted, such access should be time-limited until the expiry of the existing public service contract.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation sets out the details of the procedure and criteria to be followed when determining whether the economic equilibrium of a public service contract for rail transport would be compromised by a new rail passenger service.

Article 2

Scope

This Regulation applies to situations where a Member State has decided to limit the right of access referred to in Article 10(2) Directive 2012/34/EU for new rail passenger services between a given place of departure and a given destination when one or more public service contracts cover the same route or an alternative route, as provided for in Article 11(1) of that Directive.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

Article 4

Notification of a planned new rail passenger service

1.

The applicant shall notify the infrastructure managers and the regulatory bodies concerned of its intention to operate a new rail passenger service in accordance with the deadline set in Article 38(4) of Directive 2012/34/EU.

2.

Regulatory bodies shall develop and publish on their website a standard notification form to be completed and submitted by the applicant, which shall be limited to the following information:

3.

The information regarding the planned operation of the new rail passenger service shall cover at least the first three years and, as far as possible, the first five years of operation. The regulatory body may however agree to a shorter period.

4.

The regulatory body shall publish on its website the standard notification form submitted by the applicant and shall notify the following without undue delay and at the latest within 10 days of receiving a complete notification form:

5.

All information provided by the applicant via the standard notification form and any supporting documents shall be sent to the regulatory bodies and infrastructure managers in electronic form. However, the regulatory body may, in duly justified cases, accept that documents be submitted in paper format.

6.

If the notification is incomplete, the regulatory body shall inform the applicant that incomplete requests will not be considered and shall give the applicant the possibility to complete its request within a reasonable time not exceeding ten working days.

Article 5

Deadline for requesting the economic equilibrium test

1.

Any request for an economic equilibrium test shall be made to the regulatory body by the entities referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 11(2) of Directive 2012/34/EU within the deadline set out in that provision.

2.

Where, at the time of receipt of the applicant's notification referred to in Article 4 a public service contract covering the same route or an alternative route is being competitively tendered and the deadline for submitting bids to the competent authority has expired, an economic equilibrium test may be requested within the deadline referred to in paragraph 1 by the entities referred to in Article 11(2) of Directive 2012/34/EU in respect of the future public service contract.

This is without prejudice to the application of this regulation to a public service contract which is on-going at the time of the applicant's notification.

3.

If no request for an economic equilibrium test is made within the deadline referred to in paragraph 1, the regulatory body shall inform the applicant and the infrastructure manager without delay. The infrastructure manager shall process the access request in accordance with Section 3 of Chapter IV of Directive 2012/34/EU.

Article 6

Public service contracts with exclusive rights

Where a competent authority has granted exclusive rights to the railway undertaking performing a public service contract in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007, the existence of such rights shall not preclude access being granted to an applicant for the purpose of operating a new rail passenger service, provided that access would not compromise the economic equilibrium of the public service contract.

In carrying out the test pursuant to Article 10, the regulatory body shall give due consideration to the value of any such exclusive rights.

Article 7

Information requirements for the economic equilibrium test

1.

The entity requesting the economic equilibrium test shall provide the following information:

2.

The regulatory body may request any necessary information, including, as the case may be:

The information obligations of the infrastructure manager set out in point (d) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be without prejudice to its obligations under the allocation procedure referred to in Section 3 of Chapter IV of Directive 2012/34/EU.

3.

All information shall be sent to the regulatory body in electronic form. The regulatory body may, however, in duly justified cases, accept that documents be submitted in paper format.

Article 8

Confidentiality

1.

The regulatory body shall not disclose commercially sensitive information received from the parties in connection with the economic equilibrium test.

2.

The entity requesting the economic equilibrium test and the applicant shall substantiate any proposed non-disclosure of commercially sensitive information at the time the information is provided to the regulatory body. Such information may include, in particular, technical or financial information relating to an undertaking's know-how, business plan, cost structures, marketing and pricing strategies, supply sources and market shares. The regulatory body shall redact any commercially sensitive information from its decision before its notification and publication in accordance with Article 11(5). Information included in the standard notification form, as specified in Article 4(2), shall not be considered commercially sensitive.

3.

If the regulatory body finds that the reasons for non-disclosure provided under paragraph 2 cannot be accepted, that decision shall be communicated and justified in writing to the party requesting confidentiality, at the latest two weeks before adoption of the decision referred to in Article 11(1).

4.

The regulatory body's decision on confidentiality shall be subject to judicial review according to Article 56(10) of Directive 2012/34/EU. The regulatory body shall not disclose the disputed information until the national court has issued a ruling on confidentiality.

Article 9

Procedure for the economic equilibrium test

1.

The regulatory body may request the entity requesting the economic equilibrium test to provide it with any additional information it deems necessary in accordance with Article 7(2) within one month of receiving the request. The requesting entity shall provide such information within a reasonable deadline set by the regulatory body. The regulatory body may request further information if it considers that the additional information received is not sufficient.

2.

In the event that six weeks before the final date for receipt of requests for capacity set in accordance with point 3 of Annex VII to Directive 2012/34/EU the information provided by the requesting entity is still incomplete, the regulatory body shall perform the test on the basis of available information. If, however, the regulatory body considers that the information is insufficient to perform the test, it shall reject the request.

3.

Within one month of receiving the request for the economic equilibrium test, the regulatory body shall also ask other parties referred to in Article 7(2) to provide it with the information necessary to perform the test in accordance with that provision, to the extent that such information can reasonably be provided by the party concerned. Where the information thus provided is incomplete, the regulatory body may request further clarifications, setting reasonable deadlines.

4.

In the event that six weeks before the final date for receipt of requests for capacity set in accordance with point 3 of Annex VII to Directive 2012/34/EU the information provided by the applicant seeking access is still incomplete the regulatory body shall perform the test on the basis of available information. If, however, the regulatory body considers that the information provided by the applicant is insufficient to perform the test, it shall adopt a decision resulting in access being denied.

5.

Where the undertaking performing the public service contract is not the requesting entity, and where six weeks before the final date for receipt of requests for capacity set in accordance with point 3 of Annex VII to Directive 2012/34/EU the information provided by this undertaking is still incomplete, the regulatory body shall perform the test on the basis of available information. If, however, the regulatory body considers that the information provided is insufficient to perform the test, it shall adopt a decision resulting in access being granted.

6.

The regulatory body shall adopt a decision within six weeks from the receipt of all relevant information, and in any event before the final date for receipt of requests for capacity set in accordance with point 3 of Annex VII to Directive 2012/34/EU. The regulatory body shall inform the infrastructure manager of its decision without delay.

7.

Where a request for the economic equilibrium test is made according to Article 5(2) in respect of a public service contract which is in the process of being competitively tendered, the regulatory body may suspend consideration of the proposed application for a new rail passenger service for a maximum period of 12 months from receipt of the applicant's notification of the new rail passenger service or until the tender process has concluded, whichever is the sooner.

Article 10

Contents of the economic equilibrium test and assessment criteria

1.

The regulatory body shall assess whether the economic equilibrium of a public service contract would be compromised by the proposed new rail passenger service. Economic equilibrium shall be considered as compromised where the new rail passenger service would have a substantial negative impact on at least one of the following elements:

2.

The analysis shall refer to the public service contract as a whole, not to individual services operated under it, over its entire duration. Predetermined thresholds or specific criteria may be applied but not strictly or in isolation from other criteria.

3.

The regulatory body shall assess the net financial impact of the new rail passenger service on the public service contract. The analysis of costs and revenues generated in operating the services covered by the public service contract after the market entry of the new rail passenger service shall include the following elements:

4.

The regulatory body shall assess the significance of the impact taking into account, in particular, the contractual arrangements in place between the competent authority and the railway undertaking operating the public services, including where applicable the level of compensation determined in accordance with the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 or resulting from competitive award and any mechanisms for sharing risks such as traffic and revenue risks.

5.

The regulatory body shall also assess:

6.

Where the regulatory body is examining more than one application for access, it may take different decisions on the applications received, based on an analysis of their respective impacts on the economic equilibrium of the public service contract, competitive effects, net benefits to customers and network impacts, and of their cumulative effects on the economic equilibrium of the public service contract.

7.

The assessment carried out in accordance with this Article is without prejudice to the regulatory body's obligation to report State aid issues to the national authorities in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 56(12) of Directive 2012/34/EU.

Article 11

Result of the economic equilibrium test

1.

As a result of the economic equilibrium test carried out in accordance with Articles 9 and 10, the regulatory body shall take a decision provided for in Article 11(2) of Directive 2012/34/EU, on the basis of which the right of access to the rail infrastructure shall be granted, modified, granted only under conditions or denied.

2.

Where the economic equilibrium of a public service contract would be compromised by the new rail passenger service, the regulatory body:

3.

Where the request for access concerns the operation of a new service as defined by Article 3(36) of Directive 2012/34/EU, following the procedure and analysis laid down in this regulation, the regulatory body shall act in accordance with Article 11a of Directive 2012/34/EU.

4.

In the circumstances described in Article 5(2) second subparagraph, where the economic equilibrium test on the existing public service contract demonstrates that access can be granted, it shall be time-limited, pending the outcome of the economic equilibrium test to be carried out in accordance with Article 5(2), first paragraph and Article 9(7).

5.

The regulatory body shall notify a non-confidential version of its decision to the entities listed in Article 11(3) of Directive 2012/34/EU and publish it on its website.

Article 12

Cooperation between regulatory bodies competent for a proposed new international passenger service

1.

Upon receipt of an applicant's notification of its intention to start a new international passenger service, the regulatory body shall inform the other regulatory bodies having competence for the route of the proposed new service. The regulatory bodies concerned shall check the information received and inform each other of any inconsistencies.

2.

Upon receipt of a request from the entities referred to in Article 11(2) of Directive 2012/34/EU for an economic equilibrium test, the regulatory body shall inform thereof the other competent regulatory bodies.

3.

Regulatory bodies shall provide each other with the results of their respective economic equilibrium tests in order to give the other regulatory bodies sufficient opportunity to comment on the results of those tests before they are finalised. They shall cooperate in order to bring about a resolution of the matter in accordance with Article 57 of Directive 2012/34/EU.

4.

During any exchange of information regarding the tests, regulatory bodies shall respect the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information received from the parties involved in the tests. They may only use the information for the case concerned.

Article 13

Fees

A Member State or the regulatory body may decide that a fee be paid for the economic equilibrium test by the entity requesting the test.

Article 14

Methodology

1.

The methodology used by the regulatory body to perform the test shall be clear, transparent and non-discriminatory and shall be published on its website.

2.

Regulatory bodies shall exchange experiences and best practices in applying their respective methodologies in the context of the network established in Article 57(1) of Directive 2012/34/EU.

Article 15

Repeal

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 869/2014 is repealed with effect from 12 December 2020. It shall apply to applicants' notifications received after 1 January 2019 only where these are submitted sufficiently in advance for the new rail passenger services to be able to start before 12 December 2020.

Article 16

Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2019, in time for the working timetable starting on 12 December 2020.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 20 November 2018.

For the Commission

The President

Jean-Claude JUNCKER

2

Directive (EU) 2016/2370 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 amending Directive 2012/34/EU as regards the opening of the market for domestic passenger transport services by rail and the governance of the railway infrastructure (OJ L 352, 23.12.2016, p. 1).

3

Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 1191/69 and 1107/70 (OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 1).

4

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 869/2014 of 11 August 2014 on new rail passenger services (OJ L 239, 12.8.2014, p. 1).

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