Regulation (EEC) No 1192/69 of the Council (repealed)Show full title

Regulation (EEC) No 1192/69 of the Council

of 26 June 1969

on common rules for the normalisation of the accounts of railway undertakings (repealed)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 75 and 94 thereof;

Having regard to the Council Decision of 13 May 1965(1) on the harmonisation of certain provisions affecting competition in transport by rail, road and inland waterway;

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission;

Having regard to the Opinion of the Assembly(2);

Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3);

Whereas one of the objectives of the common transport policy is to eliminate disparities which arise by reason of the imposition of financial burdens on, or the grant of benefits to, railway undertakings by public authorities, and which are consequently liable to cause substantial distortion in the conditions of competition;

Whereas it is appropriate for that purpose to take such action as will ensure the elimination of the effects of such financial burdens or benefits with a view to achieving equality of treatment for all modes of transport; whereas for certain classes of financial burden or benefit, such action may consist in their early termination; whereas, in respect of other classes, such action must be carried out as part of a process of normalisation of the accounts of railway undertakings, a feature of such normalisation being the payment of compensation in respect of the effects of such financial burdens or benefits;

Whereas a final settlement of the position as regards certain of the classes of financial burden or benefit to be covered by normalisation will have to be made in conjunction with the progressive harmonisation of the rules governing financial relations between railway undertakings and States as laid down in Article 8 of the Council Decision of 13 May 1965 on the harmonisation of certain provisions affecting competition in transport by rail, road and inland waterway; whereas, for those classes of burden or benefit, it is therefore appropriate, pending a final settlement, to leave to each State the right to decide in each individual case whether normalisation should take place; whereas, if normalisation is decided on, it should be carried out in accordance with the common rules laid down in this Regulation, in particular as regards the methods for calculating financial compensation;

Whereas, before any steps can be taken in pursuance of the normalisation of accounts to pay any compensation due as a result of that normalisation, it is necessary to determine the financial burdens borne or benefits enjoyed by railway undertakings by comparison with their position if they operated under the same conditions as other transport undertakings;

Whereas, in order to make such determination, the cases to which normalisation should be applied must be defined; whereas all existing cases in the Member States should be covered, with the exception, on the one hand, of public service obligations, within the meaning of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1191/69(4) of 26 June 1969 on action by Member States concerning the obligations inherent in the concept of a public service in transport by rail, road and inland waterway and, on the other hand, of disparities in the infrastructure and taxation burdens under the rules governing the three modes of transport - disparities which will in due course be eliminated under the measures proposed with regard to infrastructure charging and in conjunction with the adjustment of the general and specific taxation systems for transport;

Whereas, since each case of normalisation has its own distinctive features, it is appropriate to define the scope of each such case and to lay down the principles of calculation to be applied for the purposes of determining the financial burdens imposed on, or benefits granted to, railway undertakings;

Whereas, in order to determine the amount of such burdens or benefits, it is necessary to compare the system applicable to railway undertakings with that applicable to private transport undertakings operating other modes of transport;

Whereas the financial burdens borne by railway undertakings are usually greater than the benefits they enjoy and furthermore such undertakings can easily supply the accounting data necessary to determine the amount of such burdens or benefits; whereas it is therefore appropriate to allow such undertakings the initiative in the matter, it being left to the competent authorities of the Member States to examine in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation, and before fixing the amount of compensation, the figures on which the undertakings have based their applications; whereas it is desirable to set a time limit within which such authorities must give a decision;

Whereas, since the payment of compensation is linked to the drawing up of the budgets both of the State or the competent authorities and of railway undertakings, it is appropriate to lay down specific provisions providing for the making of payments on the basis of estimates and the settlement of the oustanding balances;

Whereas, for the sake of clarity and in order to publicise appropriately the normalisation of accounts, it is desirable to lay down that amounts of compensation granted pursuant to the normalisation of accounts should appear in a table annexed to the annual accounts of railway undertakings;

Whereas it is desirable to ensure that appropriate means are made available by the Member States to transport undertakings in order to enable the latter to make representations concerning their interests with regard to individual decisions made by Member States in implementation of this Regulation;

Whereas the Commission must be able to obtain from Member States all relevant information concerning the application of this Regulation;

Whereas, since compensation paid pursuant to this Regulation is to be granted by Member States in accordance with common rules laid down by this Regulation, such compensation should be exempted from the preliminary information procedure laid down in Article 93 (3) of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community;

Whereas the implementation of the common transport policy necessitates the immediate application of the provisions of this Regulation to the six national railway undertakings; whereas, by reason of the position of other railway undertakings, with respect in particular to the conditions of competition in transport, and by reason of the need to implement the aforesaid common transport policy by stages, examination of the conditions for extending the application of this Regulation to other railway undertakings can be postponed for some years;

Whereas the process of normalisation does not relieve Member States of their own responsibility for eliminating, as far as possible, existing causes of distortion; whereas, nevertheless, they must not by such action bring about a deterioration, in law or in fact, in the situation of railway staff, or impede or retard improvements in their living and working conditions;

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(1)

OJ No 88, 24.5.1965, p. 1500/65.

(2)

OJ No C 135, 14.12.1968, p. 34.

(3)

OJ No C 118, 11.11.1968, p. 7.

(4)

OJ No L 156, 28.6.1969, p. 1.