Article 8U.K.Authorising procedure
1.Authorisations shall be issued in agreement with the authorities of all the Member States in whose territories passengers are picked up or set down. The authorising authority shall forward to such authorities, as well as to the competent authorities of Member States whose territories are crossed without passengers being picked up or set down, a copy of the application, together with copies of any other relevant documentation, and its assessment.
2.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.
3.The authorising authority shall take a decision on the application within 4 months of the date of submission of the application by the carrier.
4.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.
5.The authorising authority and the competent authorities of all the Member States involved in the procedure to reach the agreement provided for in paragraph 1 may refuse applications only on the basis of reasons provided for in this Regulation.
6.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.
7.If the procedure for reaching the agreement referred to in paragraph 1 does not enable the authorising authority to decide on an application, the matter may be referred to the Commission within the time limit of 2 months calculated from the date of communication of a negative decision by one or more of the Member States consulted pursuant to paragraph 1.
8.After having consulted the Member States concerned, the Commission shall, within 4 months from receipt of the communication from the authorising authority, take a decision which shall take effect 30 days after the notification to the Member States concerned.
9.The Commission decision shall continue to apply until an agreement is reached between the Member States concerned.