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15 MAI 2014. - Railway Passenger Rights and Obligations Act

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
CHAPTER 1^er. - General provision
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution
CHAPTER 2. - Definitions
Art. 2. For the purposes of this Act, it shall be understood by:
1° Regulation: Regulation (EC) No. 1371/2007 of Parliament and Council of 23 October 2007 on the rights and obligations of railway passengers;
2° "authority": the authority designated in accordance with Article 3;
3° complaint: any denunciation of a alleged violation of the regulation;
4° "administration": the administration responsible for rail transport.
CHAPTER 3. - The enforcement authority
Art. 3. The King shall designate the authority responsible for the application of the regulation.
CHAPTER 4. - Monitoring and control
Art. 4. § 1^er. The King designates the members of the administrative staff who are responsible for investigating and detecting violations of the regulations that may result in administrative fines.
The King determines the model of the legitimation cards of the personnel of the authority referred to in Article 3.
§ 2. In order to gather all the information necessary for the search and finding of the offences, the members of the staff appointed by the King are empowered to carry out all the findings, gather information, make statements, submit documents, documents, books and objects that are necessary for the fulfilment of their mission.
§ 3. The personnel referred to in § 1^er shall be held at the discretionary duty as to the information obtained in the exercise of their control missions.
Art. 5. § 1^er. Designated personnel note the offences through reports that are alleged to the contrary, as a result of a complaint, either on a voluntary basis or on the basis of the documents in the administrative file.
The report is dated and signed by its editor.
At least he mentions:
1° the name of the alleged offender;
2° the offence and its legal basis, if applicable;
3° the place, date and time of the finding of the offence, if applicable.
CHAPTER 5. - Complaints
Art. 6. § 1^er. Each traveller may file a complaint with the authority at no cost. The complaint is filed by letter, fax or electronic form of the authority or orally and in person.
The complaint includes:
1st the complainant's identity and address;
2° a statement of facts;
3° all the documents that the complainant considers necessary.
§ 2. If the authority considers the complaint admissible, it shall notify the complainant in writing within thirty days of the date of receipt and simultaneously inform the company that is the subject of the complaint.
§ 3. The authority refuses to process a complaint and declares the complaint inadmissible:
1° if it is manifestly unfounded;
2° if the content relates to facts that occurred before December 3, 2009, the date on which the regulations came into force;
3° if the content of the complaint is based on an article of the regulation on which the Belgian State has granted an exemption, in accordance with the procedure of Article 2 of the Regulation, and that during the validity of that exemption;
4° if it is identical to a previous complaint filed by the authority and contains no new elements in relation to the previous complaint;
5° if the facts are prescribed in accordance with the period referred to in Article 14.
§ 4. If the authority does not deal with or continue to process a complaint, it shall notify the complainant in writing within thirty days of receipt by mentioning the reasons.
§ 5. A complaint relating to a train trip or service that has not taken place in Belgian territory is sent in writing by the authority to the body designated as competent for the treatment by the Member State in the territory of which the train or service trip took place.
The complainant shall be notified in writing within thirty days of sending it to the body referred to in the preceding paragraph.
Art. 7. When the complaint is admissible, the authority shall immediately designate one of the personnel referred to in section 4 to gather all the information necessary for the investigation and finding of the offence.
The staff member shall prepare a report in accordance with section 5.
The time limit for processing the complaint by the designated staff member is three months from receipt of the complaint.
The report and the administrative record are immediately forwarded to the authority.
If the authority finds a violation of the regulations, the procedure set out in sections 11 and below shall apply.
The authority shall inform the complainant of the action reserved for his complaint at the end of the examination of the complaint.
It also informs the company concerned in the event that it does not conclude a violation of the regulations.
Art. 8. The railway company responds to requests for information from the authority within 30 days.
CHAPTER 6. - Administrative amendments
Section 1^re. - Constituent acts of an offence
Art. 9. The following behaviours are defined as an offence:
1° the refusal by a railway company to authorize a passenger to take his bicycle on the train under the conditions laid down by section 5 of the regulations;
2° the limitation or exemption of obligations to passengers resulting from the regulation by railway companies in accordance with section 6 of the regulations;
3° the lack of pre-implementation information to interrupt the service in accordance with section 7 of the regulations;
4° the absence of travel information before and during such travel in accordance with section 8 of the regulations;
5° non-compliance with obligations relating to the availability of tickets, direct tickets and reservations in accordance with section 9 of the regulations;
6° failure to comply with the procedures required by Article 10 § 1^er, 2 and 4 of the rules for information and booking tickets by automated way;
7° the disclosure of personal information within the meaning of Article 10, § 5, of the Regulation;
8° non-compliance with liability obligations in the event of death and injury of passengers in accordance with section 11 of the regulations;
9° non-compliance with liability obligations for hand baggage, animals, baggage and vehicles in accordance with section 11 of the regulations;
10° non-compliance with the liability insurance coverage for travellers in accordance with section 12 of the regulations;
11° the failure of the railway company to respond to the request for information made by the authority in accordance with Article 8;
12° non-compliance with the obligation to pay advances to the natural person entitled to compensation if a traveller is killed or injured in accordance with section 13 of the Regulation;
13° non-compliance with the requirement to assist the traveller seeking compensation to third parties in the event of injury, in accordance with section 14 of the Regulations;
14° non-compliance with liability obligations in respect of delay, missed correspondence and cancellation, as determined by Title IV, Chapter II, of Schedule I^ère in accordance with section 15 of the regulations;
15° non-compliance with the requirement to propose reimbursement or rerouting in the event of delay of more than sixty minutes in accordance with section 16 of the regulations;
16° non-compliance with the obligation to compensate passengers when the delay did not result in the refund of the ticket in accordance with section 17 of the regulations;
17° the non-compliance with the requirement to assist passengers in the event of a delay of more than sixty minutes in accordance with section 18 of the regulations;
18° non-compliance with the obligation to ensure non-discriminatory access rules applicable to the transport of persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility in accordance with Article 19, § 1^erthe regulations;
19° non-compliance with the prohibition of discriminatory treatment of persons with reduced mobility when booking or purchasing tickets in accordance with Article 19, § 2, of the Regulation;
20° the non-compliance with the obligation to provide persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility with information on the accessibility of railway services and conditions of access to rolling stock in accordance with section 20 of the regulations;
21° non-compliance with the obligation to ensure access to stations, docks, rolling stock and other equipment to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility in accordance with Article 21, § 1^erthe regulations;
22° non-compliance with the obligation to allow persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility access to railway transport in the absence of accompanying personnel in accordance with Article 21, § 2, of the Regulation;
23° the non-compliance with the provision of free assistance to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility, in stations with staff, to board and disembark the train, and the obligation to provide them with easily accessible information in stations not equipped with personnel in accordance with section 22 of the regulations;
24° the non-compliance with the obligation to provide free assistance to persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility on board the train and on boarding and disembarking in accordance with section 23 of the regulations;
25° non-compliance with the requirements under which assistance is provided in accordance with section 24 of the Regulations;
26° the non-compliance with the obligation of total compensation, without any financial limit in the event of loss or damage, total or partial, of a mobility equipment or other specific equipment used by persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility in accordance with section 25 of the Regulation;
27° non-compliance with the obligation to take appropriate measures to ensure the personal safety of passengers in accordance with section 26 of the regulations;
28° the failure to comply with the requirement for railway companies to establish a complaints mechanism, to deal with complaints received within certain time limits and to publish an individual report on complaints received in accordance with section 27 of the regulations;
29° non-compliance with the requirement for railway companies to define service quality standards, to implement a quality management system and to evaluate their activities according to the quality standards of service they have defined, in accordance with section 28 of the regulations;
30° non-compliance with the requirement to inform travellers of the rights conferred on them by the regulations, in accordance with section 29 of the regulations.
Section 2. - Amount of administrative fines
Art. 10. Offences are divided into three degrees:
1° First-degree offences are of individual order and cause an average discomfort or injury to the traveller.
They are punished by fines between 750 and 1,500 euros.
Constituent offences of the first degree, the offences defined in article 9, 1°, 4°, 5°, 7°, 11°, 13° to 17°, 19°, 20°, 22° to 26°;
2° the offences of the second degree are of structural order and cause discomfort or are of individual order and cause serious harm.
They are punished by fines between 2,000 and 4,000 euros.
Constitutes offences of the second degree, the offences defined in article 9, 3°, 6°, 8°, 9°, 12° and 18°;
3° Third-degree offences are structural and cause medium to severe harm.
They are punished by fines between 6,000 and 12,000 euros.
Constitutes offences of the third degree, the offences defined in article 9, 2°, 10°, 21°, 27°, 28° to 30°.
Section 3. - Rules of procedure
Art. 11. § 1^er. If, on the basis of the report referred to in Article 5 and its examination of the administrative record, the authority referred to in Article 3 considers that one of the offences referred to in Article 9 has been committed, it shall notify the person concerned, within ten days after receipt of the report referred to in Article 5, of its intention to impose an administrative fine by a registered consignment with acknowledgement of receipt.
§ 2. This letter is accompanied by a copy of the report referred to in section 5 and states:
1° the facts about which the administrative fine procedure is initiated;
2° the days and hours during which he has the right to consult his file;
3° that the person concerned has the right to be assisted by counsel;
4° that the interested party has a period of thirty days, which begins to run three working days after the receipt of the recommended shipment, to send it a recommended consignment containing its means of defence and, if so, to be heard.
§ 3. When, in accordance with § 2, 4°, the interested party requests to be heard, the authority shall have fifteen days, from the date of receipt of the request, to notify the interested party, by registered mail, of the date of the hearing. This date is set within 30 days of receipt of this recommended shipment.
These deadlines are limited to nullity of the entire administrative fine procedure.
§ 4. In the absence of a response from the interested party within the thirty-day period referred to in § 2, 4°, the authority shall continue processing the file.
§ 5. When a hearing of the interested person takes place, a report of the hearing is written and submitted to the administrative file.
Art. 12. The authority referred to in Article 3 may request any person concerned, by reasoned request, to support the file and allow it to make its decision in full knowledge.
Art. 13. At the earliest of the thirty-day period referred to in Article 11, § 2, 4°, and in any case, not more than thirty days after the hearing of the interested person if he requested it and presented himself to the convocation of the authority carried out in accordance with Article 11, § 3, the authority shall make a decision on the facts that are the subject of the proceedings. It notifies this decision to the individual by registered mail.
The decision which imposes an administrative fine shall state, in the event of a nullity, its amount and the remedies available against that decision.
Art. 14. The limitation period for the infliction of an administrative fine is three years from the date of commission of the facts.
The right to receive the administrative fine is prescribed by two years from the last day the offender should have paid.
Art. 15. In the event of competitions of several offences, all administrative fines are accumulated, although they may not exceed the maximum of the third highest administrative fine.
Art. 16. If the offender is liable, for the same offence, for an administrative fine in the year following the date on which the decision of the authority to impose an administrative fine has become final, or one year after the decision on the appeal against that decision has been made, the minimum amounts defined in section 10 may be doubled.
Art. 17. To define the amount of the fine, the authority shall ensure that it is proportionate to the gravity of the facts that motivate it, to the elements of the record and to the eventual recidivism.
Section 4. - Imposition of an administrative fine
Art. 18. Every year at 1^er January, the amounts referred to in section 10 are adapted to the health index according to the following formula: the base amount, multiplied by the new index and divided by the starting index.
The new index is the November health index of the year before the year in which the amounts will be adjusted.
The starting index is the health index of November 2012.
The result obtained is rounded to the upper euro if the decimal part is greater than or equal to fifty cents. It is to the lower euro if this part is less than fifty cents.
Art. 19. § 1^er. The offender has completed the administrative fine within the month following the date on which the decision to impose an administrative fine has become final or where the decision to reject the appeal against that decision has been passed in force of a judgment.
From that moment on, fines are enforceable.
§ 2. The amount of fines is paid to the SPF Mobility and Transport.
Art. 20. If the offender pays the administrative fine with delay, the amount will be increased in full law with a minimum of five per cent of the amount of the administrative fine.
CHAPTER 7. - Abrogatory provisions
Art. 21. Are repealed:
Sections 2 to 8 of the Act of 30 December 2009 on various provisions;
2° Article 32 of the Act of 2 December 2011 on various provisions;
3° the royal decree of 14 February 2011 determining the sanctions regime applicable in the event of a violation of the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the rights and obligations of railway passengers;
4° the Royal Decree of 7 March 2013 determining the rules of procedure for the application of Article 30, § 2, Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and Council of 23 October 2007 on the rights and obligations of railway passengers.
CHAPTER 8. - Transitional provision
Art. 22. The application of this Act is limited in time to administratively punishable acts committed after the coming into force of the Act.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 15 May 2014.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
The Minister of the Interior,
Ms. J. MILQUET
The Secretary of State for Mobility,
Mr. WATHELET
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
____
Note
(1) Session 2013-2014
House of Representatives
Documents. - Bill, 53-3491. - No. 1. - Report, 53-3491 - No. 2. - Text corrected and adopted by the Commission, 53-3491. - No. 3. - Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate, 53-3491. - No. 4.
Full report: 23 April 2014.
Senate
Documents. - Project referred to by the Senate, 5-2883. - No. 1. - Report, 5-2883. - No. 2. - Decision not to amend, 5-2883. - No. 3.
Annales du Senate: April 24, 2014.