NETHERLANDS: The European Commission has sent a further letter of formal notice to the Netherlands, expressing concerns about the direct award of a contract for state-owned incumbent Nederlandse Spoorwegen to operate services on the designated core passenger network between January 1 2025 and December 24 2033.
On March 13 the Commission said the introduction of regulated competition into the rail market was ‘essential to provide passengers with more attractive and innovative services at lower cost, while keeping public service tasks’, adding that it believed the Netherlands had failed to apply Regulation (EC) 1370/2007 correctly.
The Commission sent a first letter of formal notice on July 14 2023, suggesting that the planned direct award of a public service obligation contract to NS would circumvent the principle of tendering and arguing that a competitive procedure should be used.
However, the Dutch government went ahead and awarded a formal contract to NS on December 21, just days before the expiry of a provision in the Fourth Railway Package which permitted direct awards under certain conditions.
The Commission has now raised additional concerns, saying the Netherlands had not sufficiently analysed which services could be provided by market operators under commercial open access conditions.
The Netherlands has two months to respond. The Commission may then decide to issue a reasoned opinion, a formal request to comply with EU law. In the absence of compliance, the Commission may subsequently decide to refer the matter to the Court of Justice.
