Today, the Commission decided to refer Denmark to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure to comply with its obligations under Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009.
The Regulation provides a definition of cabotage according to which EU carriers are free to provide occasional road passenger transport services on a temporary basis in Member States other than the one of establishment, under the sole requirement that they hold an EU-wide licence.
The Commission considers that the Danish interpretation of this provision, strictly limiting these cabotage operations to seven consecutive days per month, does not allow for a wide number of transport operations to be carried out on the territory of Denmark, despite their clear temporary nature. For example, the national measure does not allow an operator to carry out only two occasional cabotage operations in an entire year if they are provided on the first and twentieth day of a given month, even if the provision of such occasional services appears to be temporary.
This referral to the Court is the next step in the infringement procedure launched by the Commission on 9 June 2021 against Denmark. As the Danish authorities did not respond adequately to the concerns of the Commission on the interpretation of the notion of 'temporary' basis and did not include any commitment to remedy the incompatibility, the Commission sent a reasoned opinion on 19 May 2022, followed by today's referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Background
Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 sets out common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services. It aims at providing a coherent framework which was expected to result in open competition for international and domestic commercial coach and bus services, excluding regular domestic services, such as public service obligations. Its scope covers the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus services and national road passenger services operated on a temporary basis by a non-resident carrier.
Member States, however, often restrict the markets covered by the Regulation and prevent companies from providing new regular services to protect incumbent road and rail operators. This results in low quality services, a lack of connectivity for citizens and a lack of integration with other transport modes.
The freedom to provide services constitutes a basic principle of Regulation 1073/09 and requires that carriers from all Member States have guaranteed access to international transport markets without discrimination on grounds of nationality or place of establishment. This includes all conditions for access to the market, including cabotage operations.
