Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

SECTION 4 Access to railway infrastructure and services

Article 10 Conditions of access to railway infrastructure

1. Railway undertakings shall be granted, under equitable, non-discriminatory and transparent conditions, the right to access to the railway infrastructure in all Member States for the purpose of operating all types of rail freight services. That right shall include access to infrastructure connecting maritime and inland ports and other service facilities referred to in point 2 of Annex II, and to infrastructure serving or potentially serving more than one final customer.

2. Railway undertakings shall be granted the right of access to railway infrastructure in all Member States for the purpose of operating an international passenger service. Railway undertakings shall, in the course of an international passenger service, have the right to pick up passengers at any station located along the international route and set them down at another, including stations located in the same Member State. That right shall include access to infrastructure connecting service facilities referred to in point 2 of Annex II.

3. Following the request from the relevant competent authorities or interested railway undertakings, the relevant regulatory body or bodies referred to in Article 55 shall determine whether the principal purpose of the service is to carry passengers between stations located in different Member States.

4. Based on the experience of regulatory bodies, competent authorities and railway undertakings and based on the activities of the network referred to in Article 57(1), the Commission shall adopt by 16 December 2016 measures setting out the details of the procedure and criteria to be followed for the application of paragraph 3 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(3).

Article 11 Limitation of the right of access and of the right to pick up and set down passengers

1. Member States may limit the right of access provided for in Article 10 on services between a place of departure and a destination which are covered by one or more public service contracts which are in accordance with Union law. Such limitation shall not have the effect of restricting the right to pick up passengers at any station located along the route of an international service and to set them down at another, including stations located in the same Member State, except where the exercise of that right would compromise the economic equilibrium of a public service contract.

2. Whether the economic equilibrium of a public service contract would be compromised shall be determined by the relevant regulatory body or bodies referred to in Article 55 on the basis of an objective economic analysis and based on pre-determined criteria, after a request from any of the following:

(a) the competent authority or competent authorities that awarded the public service contract;

(b) any other interested competent authority with the right to limit access under this Article;

(c) the infrastructure manager;

(d) the railway undertaking performing the public service contract.

The competent authorities and the railway undertakings providing the public services shall provide the relevant regulatory body or bodies with the information reasonably required to reach a decision. The regulatory body shall consider the information provided by these parties, and, as appropriate, shall ask for relevant information from, and initiate consultation with, all relevant parties, within one month of receipt of the request. The regulatory body shall consult all the relevant parties as appropriate, and shall inform the relevant parties of its reasoned decision within a pre-determined, reasonable time, and, in any case, within six weeks of receipt of all relevant information.

3. The regulatory body shall give the grounds for its decision and specify the time period within which, and the conditions under which, any of the following may request a reconsideration of the decision:

(a) the relevant competent authority or competent authorities;

(b) the infrastructure manager;

(c) the railway undertaking performing the public service contract;

(d) the railway undertaking seeking access.

4. Based on the experience of regulatory bodies, competent authorities and railway undertakings and based on the activities of the network referred to in Article 57(1), the Commission shall adopt by 16 December 2016 measures setting out the details of the procedure and criteria to be followed for the application of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(3).

5. Member States may also limit the right to pick up and set down passengers at stations within the same Member State along the route of an international passenger service where an exclusive right to convey passengers between those stations has been granted under a concession contract awarded before 4 December 2007 on the basis of a fair competitive tendering procedure and in accordance with the relevant principles of Union law. Such a limitation may continue for the original duration of the contract, or 15 years, whichever is shorter.

6. Member States shall ensure that the decisions referred to in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 5 are subject to judicial review.

Article 12 Levy on railway undertakings providing passenger services

1. Without prejudice to Article 11(2), Member States may, under the conditions laid down in this Article, authorise the authority responsible for rail passenger transport to impose a levy on railway undertakings providing passenger services for the operation of routes which fall within the jurisdiction of that authority and which are operated between two stations in that Member State.

In that case, railway undertakings providing domestic or international rail passenger transport services shall be subject to the same levy on the operation of routes which fall within the jurisdiction of that authority.

2. The levy is intended to compensate the authority for public service obligations laid down in public service contracts awarded in accordance with Union law. The revenue raised from such a levy and paid as compensation shall not exceed what is necessary to cover all or part of the cost incurred in the relevant public service obligations taking into account the relevant receipts and a reasonable profit for discharging those obligations.

3. The levy shall be imposed in accordance with Union law, and shall respect in particular the principles of fairness, transparency, non-discrimination and proportionality, in particular between the average price of the service to the passenger and the level of the levy. The total levies imposed pursuant to this paragraph shall not endanger the economic viability of the rail passenger transport service on which they are imposed.

4. The relevant authorities shall keep the information necessary to ensure that the origin of the levies and their use can be traced. Member States shall provide the Commission with this information.

5. Based on the experience of regulatory bodies, competent authorities and railway undertakings and based on the activities of the network referred to in Article 57(1), the Commission shall adopt measures setting out the details of the procedure and criteria to be followed for the application of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(3).

Article 13 Conditions of access to services

1. Infrastructure managers shall supply to all railway undertakings, in a non-discriminatory manner, the minimum access package laid down in point 1 of Annex II.

2. Operators of service facilities shall supply in a non-discriminatory manner to all railway undertakings access, including track access, to the facilities referred to in point 2 of Annex II, and to the services supplied in these facilities.

3. To guarantee full transparency and non-discrimination of access to the service facilities referred to in points 2(a), (b), (c), (d), (g) and (i) of Annex II, and the supply of services in these facilities where the operator of such a service facility is under direct or indirect control of a body or firm which is also active and holds a dominant position in national railway transport services markets for which the facility is used, the operators of these service facilities shall be organised in such a way that they are independent of this body or firm in organisational and decision-making terms. Such independence shall not imply the requirement of the establishment of a separate legal entity for service facilities and may be fulfilled with the organisation of distinct divisions within a single legal entity.

For all service facilities referred to in point 2 of Annex II, the operator and the body or firm shall have separate accounts, including separate balance sheets and profit and loss accounts.

Where operation of the service facility is ensured by an infrastructure manager or the operator of the service facility is under the direct or indirect control of an infrastructure manager compliance with the requirements set out in this paragraph shall be deemed to be demonstrated by the fulfilment of the requirements set out in Article 7.

4. Requests by railway undertakings for access to, and supply of services in the service facility referred to in point 2 of Annex II shall be answered within a reasonable time limit set by the regulatory body referred to in Article 55. Such requests may only be refused if there are viable alternatives allowing them to operate the freight or passenger service concerned on the same or alternative routes under economically acceptable conditions. This shall not oblige the operator of the service facility to make investments in resources or facilities in order to accommodate all requests by railway undertakings.

Where requests by railway undertakings concern access to, and supply of services in a service facility managed by an operator of the service facility referred to in paragraph 3, the operator of the service facility shall justify in writing any decision of refusal and indicate viable alternatives in other facilities.

5. Where an operator of the service facility referred to in point 2 of Annex II encounters conflicts between different requests, it shall attempt to meet all requests in so far as possible. If no viable alternative is available, and it is not possible to accommodate all requests for capacity for the relevant facility on the basis of demonstrated needs, the applicant may complain to the regulatory body referred to in Article 55 which shall examine the case and take action, where appropriate, to ensure that an appropriate part of the capacity is granted to that applicant.

6. Where a service facility referred to in point 2 of Annex II has not been in use for at least two consecutive years and interest by railway undertakings for access to this facility has been expressed to the operator of that service facility on the basis of demonstrated needs, its owner shall publicise the operation of the facility as being for lease or rent as a rail service facility, as a whole or in part, unless the operator of that service facility demonstrates that an ongoing process of reconversion prevents its use by any railway undertaking.

7. Where the operator of the service facility provides any of the services referred to in point 3 of Annex II as additional services, it shall supply them upon request to railway undertakings in a non-discriminatory manner.

8. Railway undertakings may request, as ancillary services, further services referred to in point 4 of Annex II from the infrastructure manager or from other operators of the service facility. The operator of the service facility is not obliged to supply these services. Where the operator of the service facility decides to offer to others any of these services, it shall supply them upon request to railway undertakings in a non-discriminatory manner.

9. Based on the experience of regulatory bodies and operators of service facilities and based on the activities of the network referred to in Article 57(1), the Commission may adopt measures setting out the details of the procedure and criteria to be followed for access to the services to be supplied in the service facilities referred to in points 2 to 4 of Annex II. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(3).