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Law On Urgent Provisions Concerning Railway

Original Language Title: Loi portant dispositions urgentes concernant le chemin de fer

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belgiquelex.be - Carrefour Bank of Legislation

30 AVRIL 2007. - Railway Emergency Provisions Act



ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
PART Ier. - General provision
Article 1er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
PART II. - Diabolo
Extension of the railway network linking the Brussels airport to the existing network
CHAPTER Ier. - Definitions
Art. 2. § 1er. For the purposes of this Title it is necessary to hear by:
1° "home-workplace subscriptions": all train cards (including mixed train cards) issued by the public law SA SNCB as part of home-workplace transport;
2° "Start of Work": the date of commencement of the contract awarded for the construction of the Infrastructure, as set out in Article 28, 1°, of the Royal Decree of September 26, 1996 establishing the general rules for the execution of public procurement and public works concessions;
3° "Infrabel": the public law SA "Infrabel"; and
4° "commissioning": the date of commissioning set out in the authorization of commissioning referred to in section 12, 1°, of the Act of 19 December 2006 relating to railway safety.
§ 2. For the purposes of this Title, the words "capacity" or "rail infrastructure capacity", "rail company", "rail infrastructure manager", "rail infrastructure", "mandate", "control organ", "network" and "rail" have the meaning given to them in section 5 of the Act of 4 December 2006 on the use of railway infrastructure.
CHAPTER II. - Network extension
Art. 3. Subject to section 17, Infrabel may entrust to a third party, known as the "operator", the financing, design, construction and operation of the railway infrastructure connecting the Brussels-National airport to the central berm of the E19 motorway, including the junction of this infrastructure with the underground railway station of the Brussels-National airport and the necessary or necessary infrastructure arrangements within that station
Infrabel determines, in a convention to be concluded with the operator, the terms and conditions to which the tasks referred to in paragraph 1er are entrusted to the operator.
Art. 4. Infrabel may, for the purposes of section 3, constitute a subsidiary, assign its participation in that subsidiary and entrust to that company, before or after the transfer of its participation, the tasks referred to in section 3. In this case, Article 13, § 3, of the Act of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises does not apply.
Art. 5. The rights of the operator under the agreement referred to in Article 3, paragraph 2, may be transferred, transferred or given in security for the benefit of lenders, financial service providers or persons designated by them in the course of financing or refinancing operations, subject to the conditions specified in the agreement referred to in Article 3, paragraph 2.
CHAPTER III. - Real property rights
Art. 6. Infrabel may assign to the operator the ownership of funds, if any limited to subsoil controls, necessary or useful for the implementation of the tasks referred to in Article 3. Any assignment made under this section provides an option for the redemption of the aforementioned funds and Infrastructure in favour of Infrabel, to be exercised on the terms and conditions agreed between Infrabel and the operator during the assignment, when the operation of the Infrastructure by the operator ends with the term or otherwise.
Art. 7. Infrabel may be in favour of the operator of other real rights or personal rights on the funds referred to in section 6. Any real or personal right constituted under this section expires when the operation of the Infrastructure by the operator ends with the term or otherwise.
Art. 8. The actual rights that the operator holds under sections 6 and 7 are exclusively for the implementation of the tasks referred to in section 3.
Art. 9. Funds for which the property is assigned or on which other real or personal rights are constituted under sections 6 and 7 are and will remain disaffected in full public domain law from the assignment or creation of actual or personal rights in favour of the operator until the end of the operation of the Infrastructure by the operator, by the expiry of the term or otherwise.
Art. 10. The public law SA SNCB Holding may constitute real or personal rights on the underground railway station of the Brussels-National airport in favour of the operator in order to enable it to carry out the infrastructure branch with the underground railway station of the Brussels-National airport and the necessary or necessary arrangements for the implementation of the tasks referred to in Article 3.
The actual rights established under the first paragraph give the operator, for their duration, ownership of the station's improvements. These real rights expire when the operation of the Infrastructure by the operator ends with the term or otherwise.
CHAPTER IV. - Funding of Infrastructure's investment cost
Section 1re. - Contribution of the Rail Infrastructure Manager
Art. 11. § 1er. The railway infrastructure manager may contract to pay an annual contribution to the operator from the calendar year of the second anniversary of the commencement date of the work and for the period agreed in the agreement referred to in Article 3, paragraph 2.
§ 2. The initial amount of the contribution referred to in § 1er is set at 9 million euros. Any increase in this amount under the agreement referred to in Article 3, paragraph 2, shall be subject to the approval of the King by a deliberate order in the Council of Ministers.
§ 3. The amount of the contribution referred to in § 1er is indexed on the basis of the health index (or any index comparable to the replacement) from the calendar year of the third anniversary of the commencement date of work, to the terms determined in the agreement concluded under Article 3, paragraph 2.
Section 2. - Passenger payments
Art. 12. §1er. Any railway company using the railway infrastructure for the transport of passengers shall apply and shall, on each journey by train at the departure or to the airport of Brussels-National, be entitled to the exclusion of home-working subscriptions whose station of the Brussels-National airport is the arrival station and travel of persons entitled to the free journey on all routes of communication operated or granted by public authorities in accordance with articles 66, 71 and 118
§ 2. The initial amount of the passenger fee and any subsequent modification of this amount shall be determined by the King, by a deliberate order in the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the railway infrastructure manager.
§ 3. Notwithstanding §§ 1er and 2, a railway company may agree with the operator, in the agreement referred to in Article 13, § 2, not to apply and collect the passenger's charge on the journeys from or to the Brussels-National airport of passengers receiving tariff reductions or the gratuity imposed by the State, with the payment by the railway company to the operator of an amount equivalent to the royalties to be applied and collected under § 1er on the travels of these passengers.
§ 4. The amount of the passenger fee is indexed annually according to the average of the health index (or any index comparable to the replacement) for the calendar year preceding the calendar year for which the fee is due in relation to the average of the health index (or any index comparable to the replacement) for the year 2004.
Art. 13. § 1er. Any railway company shall pay to the operator the passenger fees to be applied and collected in accordance with Article 12, § 1er.
§ 2. The terms and conditions of the retrocession provided for in § 1er are stopped in a convention to be concluded between the operator and each railway company requesting the allocation of capacity for the transport of passengers from or to the Brussels-National airport. These terms and conditions include the periodicity of the retrocession, the methods of counting the number of passengers transported, the security rights to be established by the railway as a guarantee of its obligation to surrender and the remuneration of the collection of passenger royalties not included in the price of the transport title.
§ 3. If there is no agreement between the operator and the railway company that has applied for capacity on the terms and conditions of the agreement referred to in § 2 within three months of this application, the King may, by a deliberate order in the Council of Ministers, set rules concerning the substances referred to in § 2 on the proposal of the railway infrastructure manager. These rules are applied to the entry into force of a convention concluded in accordance with § 2.
Art. 14. § 1er. The passenger fee is applied and collected from the first day of the month following the second anniversary of the start date of the work to and including the last day of the month in which the operator's operation of the Infrastructure is terminated by the term or otherwise.
§ 2. By derogation from § 1er, the amount of the passenger fee is reduced by half for the period from the first day of the month following the second anniversary of the date of commencement of work to and including the last day of the month of commissioning the Infrastructure.
Section 3. - Contribution of railway companies
Art. 15. § 1er. Any railway company using the railway infrastructure for the inland passenger transport is liable to an annual contribution, known as the " contribution of railway companies", equal to the highest of the following two amounts:
- 0.5% of the turnover (excluding T.V.A.) made by the railway company concerned on the internal transport of passengers on the railway infrastructure during the calendar year preceding the year for which the contribution is due; and
- 1.887.000 euros indexed according to the average of the health index (or any index comparable to the replacement) for the calendar year preceding the year for which the contribution is due to the average of the health index for 2004 multiplied by the distribution key referred to in § 3.
§ 2. The contribution of railway companies is perceived by the railway infrastructure manager. The railway infrastructure manager pays the amounts collected to the operator within twenty business days of the perception of the amounts collected.
To ensure payment of this contribution, the railway infrastructure manager may impose a financial guarantee on railways. This is proportional to the contribution the railway company in question is liable, transparent and non-discriminatory.
§ 3. The distribution key referred to in § 1er is equal, for the railway company liable for the contribution, to the quotient (i) of the turnover (excluding T.V.A.) made by this railway on the inland transport of passengers on the railway infrastructure during the calendar year preceding the year for which the contribution is due on (ii) the sum of the business figures (excluding T.V.A.) made on the inland transport of passengers on the railway infrastructure
§ 4. For the purposes of calculating the amount of the contribution of railways, each of the railways in receipt of the contribution shall communicate to the infrastructure manager by 1er June of the year for which the contribution is due, the turnover (excluding T.V.A.) made by the latter on the internal transport of passengers on the railway infrastructure during the previous calendar year, as well as the elements allowing control.
Based on the data provided by railway companies in accordance with the preceding paragraph, the railway infrastructure manager shall notify each railway company of the contribution, by 15 June of each year, of the amount of the contribution it owes to the current year.
§ 5. The railway company responsible for the contribution pays to the infrastructure manager, no later than June 30 of the current year, the amount of the contribution it owes for this year.
Art. 16. § 1er. The contribution referred to in section 15 is due from the calendar year of the second anniversary of the commencement date of work to and including:
- the calendar year of the thirty-ninth anniversary of the start date of the work; or
- if, before this year, the year in which the operation of the Infrastructure by the operator ends with the term or otherwise.
§ 2. The amount of the contribution that a railway company owes to the calendar year of the second anniversary of the start date of the work is calculated on a pro rata basis of the total number of months between the second anniversary of the start date of the work and the 1er January of the following year.
CHAPTER V. - Infrastructure Management
Art. 17. Notwithstanding section 3, the railway infrastructure manager manages traffic and traffic on the Infrastructure.
Art. 18. § 1er. Any agreement referred to in section 24 of the Act of 4 December 2006 relating to the use of railway infrastructure shall be the faculty of the railway infrastructure manager:
- to suspend or exclude the capabilities assigned on the Infrastructure or, if not, on other relevant segments of the railway infrastructure to a railway company that remains in default, during the period of validity of these capacities, to comply with all or part of its obligations under Articles 12 to 16 or agreements entered into on the basis of Article 13, § 2, after the maintenance by the railway infrastructure manager; or
- not to renew the capabilities assigned on the Infrastructure or, if not, on other relevant segments of the railway infrastructure to a railway company having failed, during the previous two periods of validity of these capacities, to comply with all or part of the obligations referred to above after the railway infrastructure manager has established.
§ 2. The supervisory body shall determine, under its mission of administrative resolution of disputes referred to in Article 62, § 4, of the Act of 4 December 2006 referred to above, the disputes relating to the use by the manager of the railway infrastructure of the faculty referred to in § 1er, in accordance with the terms fixed or fixed by the King under this article.
Art. 19. The network reference document referred to in Article 21 of the Act of 4 December 2006 referred to the provisions of Articles 12 to 16 as well as the provisions laid down in accordance with those provisions.
CHAPTER VI. - Miscellaneous provisions
Art. 20. In the exercise of its duties referred to in Article 62, §§ 3 to 5, of the Act of 4 December 2006 on the use of railway infrastructure in relation to substances referred to in Article 18, § 1erand 19, the control body applies articles 12 to 19.
Art. 21. For the purposes of this Act, any reference to the operator shall also apply to persons referred to in section 5 who are substituted by or under direct contracts with persons referred to in section 5.
Art. 22. The railway infrastructure manager notifies railway companies using rail infrastructure for passenger transport by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt:
- the start date of work within twenty days of the work or, for railway companies not using the railway infrastructure for the carriage of passengers at that date, within twenty days of the first request for capacity for the carriage of passengers;
- the date of commissioning of the Infrastructure, no later than twenty days before that date or, for railway companies not using the railway infrastructure for the transport of passengers at that date, within twenty days of the first request for capacity to transport passengers from or to the Brussels-National airport;
- the date on which the operator's operating rights end within twenty days of the operator.
Art. 23. Sections 360 and 361 of the Act of 20 July 2006 on various provisions are repealed.
PART III. - Redistribution of property
when the SNCB split
Art. 24. An article 359bis is included in the Act of 20 July 2006 on various provisions, which reads as follows:
"The King may specify the rights of use maintained in an uninterrupted and unambiguous manner to the SNCB Holding on assets referred to in Articles 3, § 1er, 2°, and 14, § 1er, 1°, of the aforementioned Royal Decree of 14 June 2004 in order to guarantee the continuity of its rights and obligations resulting from contracts that it has entered into with third parties before 1er January 2005. »
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 30 April 2007.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Budget and Protection of Consumer Affairs,
Ms. F. VAN DEN BOSSCHE
Minister of Mobility
R. LANDUYT
The Secretary of State for Public Enterprises,
B. TUYBENS
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Notes
Documents of the House of Representatives:
51-3055 - 2006/2007
Number 1: Bill.
No. 2: Amendments.
No. 3: Opinion of the State Council.
Number 4: Report
No. 5: Text adopted by the Commission
No. 6: Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate.
Full report: 24 and 25 April 2007.
Documents of the Senate:
3-2434 - 2006/2007
Number 1: Project referred to by the Senate.
Number two: Report.
No. 3: Decision not to amend.
Annales of the Senate: April 26, 2007.