At the end of the year 2007 the European Council of Ministers of Transport finally approved a new regulation: “Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road and the repealing of Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 1191/69 and 1107/70”, which will enter into force on 3 December 2009 (24 months after publication).  

With this move, the long period of insecurity in the public transport sector of the EU ended, because regulation 1191/69 applied up to this point had originated in the year 1969 and did not meet with the modern public passenger transport market needs. As a result, the European Court had been forced to hear several principal arguments between different service providers, the best known of which was the so-called Altmark case.

The most important result of the regulation is the European Union’s new approach to the signing of public servicing contracts, according to which competition should not be primary but, among other factors, a means used for providing qualitative services in varied situation for the best possible price.

This means that instead of accepting principally only “competitive offers” the European Union will find a compromise in creating competition between the systems granting public servicing contracts, which will enable, under certain conditions, to sign as well direct contracts alongside competitive offers.

CONTACT: brigitte.ollier@uitp.org