Press Release: Rail services: Commission legal action against 13 Member States for failing to fully implement first railway package

The European Commission decided on 24 June 2010 to refer 13 Member States to the EU's Court of Justice for failing to correctly implement various parts of the basic EU legislation on opening the EU's rail market to competition, known as the 'first railway package' (Directives 91/440/EEC, as amended, and 2001/14/EC). Important issues remain to be solved for opening up the railway markets to competition in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. Member States were required to implement these directives by 15 March 2003. Failure to implement these measures to open the rail market deprives rail operators of opportunities to offer services in other Member States and deprives rail customers of a greater choice of competitive rail services.