Article 2

Denmark shall introduce into all current public transport service contracts with Danske Statsbaner the refund mechanism described in recitals 222 to 240 and 356 of this Decision, the principal characteristics of which are as follows:

• Adjustment of the contractual payments at the end of the financial year by determining a gross reduction calculated on the basis of the following formula:

  Total revenue – reasonable profit – Total expenditure = gross reduction

• Modulation of the gross reduction to take account of efficiency gains and improvements in quality of service according to the following formula and parameters:

  Refund mechanism = gross reduction – corrections (Cost Δ. + Pas.km Δ) = net reduction

  • Cost Δ: reduction in costs (per passenger-kilometre) compared with the average cost over the past 4 years in accordance with the calculation: differential in cost per passenger-kilometre (as a percentage) compared with the average cost over the last 4 years multiplied by a total cost basis, and

  • Pas.km Δ: increase in passenger traffic measured in terms of passenger-kilometres (DKK 0,80 per passenger-kilometre),

  • the total reductions on account of improvements in performance may not exceed the gross reduction in a given year. The net reduction is therefore between zero and the gross reduction.

• Introduction of an upper limit on the refund mechanism making it possible to guarantee that the profit is maintained at a reasonable level according to the following formula and characteristics:

  

  • the calculation takes account only of the share of equity capital corresponding to DSB’s public service activity,

  • the upper limit on the reasonable profit is fixed at a 12 % return on equity, but with a maximum of 10 % over 3 years.