Page 13 - Annual report - Araf 2014

EUROPEAN TOUR OF THE RAILWAY REGULATOR NETWORKS
2
FOCUSING ON.
16 JUNE 2015: ARAF AND ORR TO REGULATE THE CHANNEL TUNNEL ACCESS
In June 2015, the French and British Ministries for Transport transferred economic regulation of the Channel Tunnel to Araf and to the Ofice of Rail and Road (ORR).
It means both regulators are to guarantee that access conditions to the cross-border tunnel are transparent and fair for all railway undertakings – Eurostar; SNCF; Deutsche Bahn; British freight operators.
Araf and ORR also verify that access charges set by Eurotunnel as the infrastructure manager do not exceed tunnel operating costs.
This task had been the responsibility of the governments of the two countries since 1986. The two independent regulatory bodies have taken up this mission as of
16 June 2015, which was the deadline for the transposition of the “Recast” directive.
This transfer of competences is enshrined in a new binational regulation. It describes the cooperation arrangements between the two regulators and with the Intergovernmental Commission, which remains competent in matters of Channel Tunnel safety. It sets out the charging framework for access
to the Channel Tunnel. The two regulators worked throughout 2014 on these coregulation arrangements in order to organise coordinated and eficient cooperation and set up joint working procedures. This resulted in the signing by Pierre Cardo, chairman
of Araf and Anna Walker, chair of ORR, of a cooperation agreement on 16 March 2015 in Paris.
The purpose of this agreement is to jointly adopt opinions and decisions whilst ensuring that the principles of transparency, predictability, fairness and non-discrimination are observed in relation to the Fixed Link area.
The cooperation agreement provides for a bi-national permanent service and a bi-national committee:
• the bi-national permanent service was established to enhance co- operation between the services of both regulators. Its main mission is to investigate all cases for the bi- national committee;
• the bi-national committee was established for the two regulators to exchange views, conciliate and adopt opinions and decisions; it is made up of three members from each regulatory body.
These two bodies started operating on 16 June 2015. On the French side, Araf will be represented at
the bi-national committee by Araf vice-president Anne Yvrande-Billon and two other board members, Jean-François Bénard and Nicolas Matchou.
13 Araf 2014 annual report