Inland navigation: access to the market

KEY POINTS

The legislative framework for the EU inland waterway transport (IWT) includes legislation covering various objectives which together aim at liberalising the IWT transport market by:

• ensuring that IWT operators have free access to all European inland waterways;
• abolishing discriminatory and unfair market practices, in particular regarding rates and tariffs; and
• creating fair conditions of competition through common rules including admission to the occupation of IWT carrier.

Regulation (EC) No 169/2009 aims to harmonise EU competition rules on road, rail and inland waterways transport, by defining exemptions from the prohibition of restrictive agreements, decisions or concerted practices that aim to achieve technical improvements or technical cooperation by:

• standardising equipment;
• exchanging or pooling staff, equipment, vehicles or fixed installations;
• fixing and applying inclusive rates for successive, complementary, substitute or combined transport operations, including special competitive rates;
• using the most rational routes;
• coordinating transport timetables for connecting routes;
• grouping single consignments;
• establishing uniform tariff structures, provided those rules do not lay down rates and conditions.

The regulation also exempts certain small and medium-sized enterprises.

Regulation (EC) No 718/1999 aims to lay down community fleet policy for IWT in the EU.

• It covers vessels that transport goods commercially with certain exemptions, inter alia for vessels that operate exclusively on the Danube or for vessels that are used for storing goods or dredging.
• It requires EU countries with fleet tonnage of over 100,000 tonnes and with waterways connected with other EU countries to set up an inland waterways fund. Each fund shall have a reserve fund with separate accounts for dry cargo carriers¹, tankers² and pusher vessels³. These funds are to be administered by national authorities.
• The reserve fund can be used:
  • in the event of ‘serious market disturbance’ in the IWT market (within the meaning of Directive 96/75/EC, see below) at the request of an EU country; or
  • if unanimously requested by the organisations representing IWT.

Regulation (EC) No 181/2008 sets out the practical arrangements for implementing the EU fleet capacity policy, including the rate of the contributions to the fund.

Amending Regulation (EU) No 546/2014 extends the scope of the measures available under Regulation (EC) No 718/1999.

Directive 96/75/EC includes two sets of policy measures:

• to achieve freely negotiated chartering contracts and pricing in the EU by transitioning from the previous system of ‘chartering by rotation’ for transport operations (at previously fixed prices based on the order in which vessels become available after unloading);
• to allow the European Commission to take action in the event of serious disturbance of the IWT market including, in particular, measures designed to prevent any new increase in the transport capacity.

Regulation (EC) No 1356/96 aims to ensure that operators who transport goods or passengers by inland waterway are allowed to carry out transport operations between EU countries and to transit through them without discrimination on grounds of nationality or place of establishment, if they:

• are legally established in an EU country and are entitled in that country to carry out international transport of goods or passengers by inland waterway and use vessels which are registered in an EU country;
• satisfy the conditions of Regulation (EEC) No 3921/91.

Special rules on the rights of operators from non-EU countries exist under the Revised Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine (Convention of Mannheim) and the Convention regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube (Belgrade Convention), or may arise from other international agreements or treaties to which the EU is a party.

Regulation (EEC) No 3921/91 builds upon the general principles of equality of treatment and freedom to provide services, whereby non-resident carriers should be allowed to carry out national transport services (‘cabotage’) on inland waterways in the EU. It lays down the following conditions:

• carriers may temporarily carry out cabotage services, without having to set up a registered office, provided that they are established in an EU country in accordance with its legislation and that they are entitled to transport goods or persons internationally by inland waterway;
• carriers may only use vessels owned by:
  • EU residents or EU-country nationals, or
  • legal persons with their registered office in an EU country and in which EU-country nationals hold a majority interest.

Directive 87/540/EEC requires that individuals and undertakings possess competences recognised by the authorities or by a body appointed by each EU country in the following areas:

• law;
• commercial and financial management of an undertaking;
• access to the market;
• technical standards and technical aspects of operation;
• safety; and
• international transport operational issues.

The authority will issue a certificate on the basis of a diploma, attendance at a course or proven practical experience. If the carrier no longer meets the conditions, the certificate may be withdrawn.

Regulation (EEC) No 2919/85. The Revised Convention for the Navigation of the Rhine (amended by Additional Protocol No. 2) stipulates that only vessels belonging to the Rhine navigation are authorised to navigate on the Rhine.

A vessel belongs to the Rhine if it carries a document issued by a competent authority of a Rhine country (i.e. Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland). The regulation extends the application of the convention to all EU countries, thereby ensuring the equal treatment of vessels from throughout the EU.

EEC Council Regulation No 11/1960 aims to implement Article 79(3) of the Treaty of Rome (now Article 95 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). The regulation:

• prohibits any discrimination by carriers — in the form of charging different rates and imposing different conditions for carrying the same goods over the same transport links — on the grounds of the country of origin or of the destination of the goods in question;
• covers the carriage of all goods by several modes of transport, be it by rail, road or inland waterways;
• sets rules on documentation requirements for transport documents;
• requires EU countries to check compliance with the obligations.