Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 23 October 2007, on Rail Passengers’ Rights and Obligations, contains the basic EU rules regarding the protection of passengers in rail transport, both on a domestic and an international level. Similarly to what happens in carriage by air (Regulation No 2027/1997, as amended by Regulation No 889/2002) and sea (Regulation No 392/2009), the Rail Passenger Regulation refers —in its Articles 4, 11 and 15— to an international Convention, the Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of International Carriage of Passengers by Rail (Appendix A to the 1999 COTIF Convention). However, it introduces some additional rights that do not always fit easily into the framework designed by the Rules, especially as regards the liability of the carrier in case of delay, missed connections and cancellation.
The only judgment of the European Court of Justice on this issue (Case C-509/11, ÖBB-Personenverkehr) addresses only part of the problem, in particular, the compensation of the ticket price in case of delay. Furthermore, Regulation No 1371/2007 does not prohibit the existence of national measures that improve the passengers’ protection, so domestic law has to be taken into account, too. In Spain, the relevant legislation was adopted in 2004 and has not been amended after the Regulation came into force, so some of its provisions are clearly inconsistent with the acquis communautaire.
The paper seeks to describe the exact content of the passengers’ rights under Regulation No 1371/2007 and to identify those domestic rules that cannot be applied any more since they are contrary to European Union law and should therefore be repealed.
