Key Benefits:
Publics concerned: railway companies, rail transport organization authorities, infrastructure managers.
Subject: adaptation of the procedure before the introduction of a new international rail passenger transport service with inland service.
Entry into force: the text comes into force on the day after its publication.
Notice: pursuant to Articles 10 and 11 of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway space (reflecting), domestic service provided by international passenger services is authorized as an accessory and provided that it does not compromise the economic balance of public service contracts. The Decree No. 2010-932 of 24 August 2010 relating to the railway transport of passengers has therefore provided for a procedure for the Autorité de regulation des activitésrails (ARAF) to verify, a priori, whether the intended internal service is well-addressed and is not the main object of the service; This is the so-called "main object test" of the service, at the end of which the right of access to the network can be denied. The so-called "economic equilibrium test" then assesses whether internal desserts do not compromise the economic balance of a public service contract; upon completion of this test, access to the network may be prohibited or limited.
The decree amends the decree Decree No. 2010-932 of 24 August 2010 to take into account the developments in the procedure before the introduction of a new international rail transport service of passengers with internal service, from three texts: Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway space (introduction of two times in the procedure for the test of economic balance), the Implementing Regulation (EU) No 869/2014 of the Commission of 11 August 2014 concerning new servicesArticle 10 of Act No. 2014-872 of 4 August 2014 which abolished the articles L. 2121-12 and L. 2133-1 of the transport code the intervention of the administrative authority which was competent to supervise the exercise of the internal desserts following a notice of the AAFC on the main object of the service, this competence being reserved only to the transport organizing authorities.
References: the decree is taken for the application of theArticle 10 of Act No. 2014-872 bringing rail reform. It is available on the website Légifrance (http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr).
The Prime Minister,
On the report of the Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No. 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on public services for the carriage of passengers by rail and road, and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1191/69 and (EEC) No. 1107/70;
Considering the Commission's Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 869/2014 of 11 August 2014 on new passenger rail transport services;
Having regard to Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway space (reflecting), in particular articles 10, 11 and 38;
Vu le Transport codeincluding articles L. 2121-12, L. 2122-1 and L. 2133-1;
Vu le Decree No. 2010-932 of 24 August 2010 concerning the rail transport of passengers;
Considering the opinion of the Railway Regulatory Authority of 1 July 2015;
The State Council (section of public works) heard,
Decrete:
The above-mentioned decree of 24 August 2010 is thus amended:
1° Section 1 is amended as follows:
(a) It is inserted at the beginning of the article a paragraph as follows:
"I. - The provisions of this Order apply to new international passenger transport services operated on the railway network defined by theArticle L. 2122-1 of the Transport Code.
(b) The I becomes the II and its 2° is replaced by the following:
" 2° "Organising Authorities" : competent authorities defined by the 5 of Article 2 of the Implementing Regulations (EU) No 869/2014 of the Commission of 11 August 2014 relating to new railway transport services of passengers such as those mentioned in point b of Article 2 of the Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of 23 October 2007 referred to above, having entered into a contract of public service concerning the operation of a railway service » ;
(c) II becomes the III and the words: "at Articles 4, 5 and 6" are replaced by the words: "at Articles 3, 6, 7, 11 and 12 of the above-mentioned Implementing Regulations";
2° Section 2 is replaced by the following:
“Art. 2. - I. - Any applicant for the operation of a new international passenger rail transport service, before introducing a request for infrastructure capacity with the infrastructure manager, shall send an information file to the infrastructure manager. The infrastructure manager acknowledges receipt.
"In addition to the applicant's identification, licence and security certificate, this file includes the following information:
« 1° The detailed route indicating the location of the original station and the final destination of the new service and its frequency;
« 2° The intended interior desserts, their length and correspondence;
« 3° The scheduled hours and the capacity to transport;
« 4° The location of stops in other EU Member States;
« 5° The length of the largest domestic service and the length of international service;
« 6° The date for the launch of the new service.
"This information covers at least the first three years and, to the extent possible, the first five years of the operation of the new service.
“II. - The applicant for the operation of a new international passenger rail service shall notify the Railway Operations Regulatory Authority of its intention to operate this new service by sending it a record in accordance with Article 3 of the Implementing Regulations of 11 August 2014 referred to in Article 1. Where the Authority does not accept the rationale that paragraph 5 of this same article requests to make in the matter of secrecy of cases to the applicant for the operation of a new passenger rail service, it shall make a decision in that regard and shall inform the applicant accordingly.
"The Authority is responsible for receiving, reviewing and publishing this notification in accordance with Article 3 of the above-mentioned Implementing Regulations.
"The Authority has two weeks to analyze the new nature of the service presented in this notification.
"The Authority shall establish and publish a methodology in accordance with Article 1 of the above-mentioned Implementing Regulations for an assessment of the new character of an international service and shall be developed so that it may be appropriate in time, in particular to take into account the experience of the control bodies of the other Member States of the European Union.
"The Authority, if it considers that this notification does not concern a new service, makes a decision in that it publishes on its website and informs the infrastructure managers concerned.
"If it considers that this notification concerns a new international passenger transport service, as defined in Article 2(1) of the above-mentioned Implementing Regulations, it publishes this notification in accordance with Article 3, paragraph 4, of the Regulations and simultaneously informs it electronically:
« 1° The organization(s) that have entered into public service contracts in a geographic area impacted by the new service;
« 2° The organizing authorities having entered into a public service contract covering a place of departure and a place of arrival of the new service;
« 3° Any railway undertaking operating international or domestic passenger rail services on the route(s) to be served by the proposed new service;
« 4° Any railway undertaking that executes the public service contract awarded by the authority referred to in 2°;
« 5° Minister for Transport;
« 6° The infrastructure manager(s) involved. »
"III. - The candidate for the operation of a new international passenger transport service who notify the Regulatory Authority of railway activities, pursuant to the II, of his intention to operate such a service has the quality of applicant for the application of the above-mentioned regulations. » ;
3° Section 3 is amended as follows:
(a) The words: "17-1 of the Act of 30 December 1982 referred to above" are replaced by the words: "L. 2122-1 of the Act of 30 December 1982 referred to above" Transport code » ;
(b) The first and third occurrence of the words: "ARAF" are replaced by the words: "the Authority for the regulation of railway activities" and the second occurrence is replaced by the words: "the Authority";
4° The title of Chapter 2 is replaced by the following:
“Chapter 2
"Main object test"
5° Section 4 is replaced by the following:
“Art. 4. - The Railway Activities Regulatory Authority is responsible for conducting the test of the main object in accordance with Articles 4 to 9 of the Implementing Regulations of 11 August 2014 referred to in Article 1.
"When a new service has not been notified in accordance with section 2, the entities referred to in section 5 of that regulation may seize the authority at any time.
"When one of these entities introduces a request for a test of main object under this same Article 5, the Authority for the regulation of railway activities shall promptly inform the applicant for the operation of the new international passenger rail service.
"When the Rail Regulatory Authority does not accept the secret justification of the cases that section 6, paragraph 2, of the above-mentioned regulation requires the entity that has requested the test to make, it shall make a decision in that respect and shall inform that entity. » ;
6° The title of Chapter 3 is replaced by the following:
“Chapter 3
"Economic Balance Test"
7° Section 5 is replaced by the following:
“Art. 5. - The competent authority referred to in section 10 (b) of the Implementing Regulations of 11 August 2014 referred to in section 1 is the Minister responsible for transport.
"The Authority for the regulation of railway activities is responsible for conducting the test of economic equilibrium in accordance with Articles 4 and 10 to 15 of this regulations.
"When a new service has not been notified in accordance with Article 2, the entities referred to in Article 10 of the above-mentioned Implementing Regulations may refer to the Authority at any time.
"When one of the entities referred to in Article 10 of the Regulations introduces an application for a test of economic equilibrium, the Authority for the regulation of railway activities shall promptly inform the applicant for the operation of the new international passenger rail service.
"When the Rail Regulatory Authority does not accept the secret justification for the business that section 11, paragraph 3, of the above-mentioned regulations requires to provide to the entity that has requested the test, to the organizing authority, to the undertaking that executes the public service contract, to the applicant for the operation of the new service or to the infrastructure manager concerned, it shall make a decision in that regard and shall not inform the entity or entity that
"The Authority for the regulation of railway activities, subject to information covered by business secrecy, publishes its decision and, simultaneously, notifies it to the entity that requested the test, as well as to the organising authority concerned if it is not that entity.
"If the Railway Regulatory Authority has estimated that the intended domestic service would be likely to compromise the economic balance of a public service contract, the organizing authority, within one month of the notification of the Authority's decision, may refuse, grant, modify or grant under certain conditions the right of access to the railway network, to the extent that it is necessary to compensate for the impact of the domestic economic service envisaged.
"The organizing authority may also, if the Authority has determined that the intended domestic service would jeopardize the economic balance of a public service contract, propose to the applicant for the operation of the new service to conclude a convention providing for the payment by the latter of a financial contribution that compensates, within the strictly necessary limits, the impact on this balance of that service. Methods for calculating this contribution are determined on an objective, transparent and non-discriminatory basis. The organizing authority shall communicate the draft convention to the Regulatory Authority for railway activities and shall inform the applicant for the operation of the new service.
"The organizing authority shall notify the applicant of its decision to operate the new service. It shall promptly inform the Minister responsible for transport, the holder of the public service contract, the Railway Regulatory Authority and the infrastructure managers concerned. » ;
8° Article 6 is repealed;
9° Section 7 is replaced by the following:
“Art. 7. - All information transmitted to the Authority for the regulation of railway activities under an application for a review of a decision resulting from the test of the economic balance submitted in accordance with Article 16 of the above-mentioned Implementing Regulations shall be electronically transmitted. » ;
10° Sections 8 and 13 are repealed.
The Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and the Secretary of State for Transport, the Sea and Fisheries are responsible, each with regard to it, for the execution of this decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done on September 22, 2015.
Manuel Valls
By the Prime Minister:
Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy,
Royal
State Secretary for Transport, the Sea and Fisheries,
Alain Vidalies
