Inland Waterways; New Rules concerning passengers’ rights
A paper by Alceste Santauri.
Over the last decade, the European Union has increasingly devoted much of its attention towards passengers’ and tourists’ rights and its legal protection.Nonetheless, whereas air, railroad and bus passengers’ protection has been often tackled, passengers travelling by sea and inland waterways have been comparatively less concerned until recently.
In order to fill this gap, on 24 November 2010, the European Parliament and the Council passed a specific regulation concerning the rights of maritime and inland waterway passengers.
The Regulation acknowledges that maritime and inland waterway passenger is the weaker party to the transport contract and that, accordingly, it needs as well as all passengers to be protected with an adequate level of safety and security. This approach falls within the general duty of European institutions to ensure consumer protection at large.
The Regulation provides for a set of minimum standard of protection, thus not preventing single carriers to offer passengers better contract conditions.The paper is aimed at analysing the content of the Regulation No 1177/2010 so as to better understand its implications and any future perspectives also concerning the possibility of drafting some EU-funded project frameworks on this subject.
Click below to tread the rest of the paper.
Interesting to note that the EU considers waterborne passengers rights – only after, say, the more ‘commercial’ passengers.
I guess that’s the way it goes. Commercial pressures will dictate the priority such legislation is drafted by the EU. It’s clear that pressure groups – or projects such as yours are important in the role they can play in lobbying for such action?
A very interesting article / topic. Thank you Alceste. My questions /comments probably reflect my ‘lay persons’ undertanding of such matters rater than your explanations! These are;
Can you clarify the distinction between passengers ‘commercial’ rights – e.g. to get their money back if a trip is cancelled or curtailed and a passengers right to be carried safely? I’ve a feeling that Maritime/Boat Safety is a big issue in itself and EU regulations covering this is extremely comprehensive. Does regulation 1177/2010 somehow embrace this area AND commercial rights? Or have I missed the point?
Could you also clarify the difference between ‘passengers’ and ‘consumers’ ? (see “The concept of passengers and consumers.”) I’m still a bit unclear about this.
The article states that Maritime Sector is a ‘liberalised’ market sector. What does this mean?
The EU seems to suggest that the quality of passenger protection may influence choice – as opposed to price / environmental benefits etc. Do you think this is a realistic claim?
Finally – I noted the list of exemptions from Reg 1177/2010. Many inland waterway transport ‘offers’ or services may be covered by these – probably more so on the UK’s smaller waterways. I suspect those countries using their waterways for getting passengers from ‘A’ to ‘B’ will be mainly not exempt due to the size and modernity of such vessels.
Hello everyone!!
It is the lunch time in Spain. Can we start with the chat room now?
Hi Alba and Loreto! Thanks for posting – not feeling so lonely now. Let’s see if this works…
What do you want us to do exactly?
Just carry on please! Can you update me on my comment re the SIRGA doc regarding new uses for old watersiide buildings?
Greetings from Tipperary!
Hi Labhaoise! Had any more Press Conferences lately?
Ciao Labhoise … how are you?
Hi Chris! I don’t think Alceste will be here today beacuse I know he was attending a meeting in Verona
Any thoughts on the SIRGA article? Labhaoise – what’s the situation in South Tipperary regarding use of old waterside buildings. Presumably that’s quite a big thing in the Cultural Heritage ‘sector’?
We have also made a comment regarding the SIRGA doc
in the meanwhile, I commented your good practice
A time for coffee!!
OK! Thanks for having a go at this..Hope to be in touch.
Hi Claudio! No problems re. Alceste – I’m sure he’ll be good enough to answer our posts when he can.
I was really impressed with the marketing work done in Ro on the Po (!) that Emma highlighted. As mentioned, I think there’s a real attraction there – mixing the natural environment with cultural / industrial heritage. A popular thing for tourists these days?
yes, I agree with you…
and (at least in the milanese area) it’s very interesting also for those tourist that spend only few nights in Milan for job and that want to extend their travel for the weekend. So it’s interesting to offer a destination that combine nature, culture, traditions in the territory very close to the city
Hi Chris, hi all,
How is it going ?
greetings from Paris
Marvin
hi Marvin, welcome
greetings from sunny Milan
Hi Marvin,
It’s going surprisingly well..though we’ll probably delete the more ‘social’ comments when we’re done. Feel free to add a few comments to other documents – sounds like the meeting in Lille went well?
Yes it went well, quite productive. The list and description of good practices is 95% finished and the program for the master classes as well. About the Master Classes, we’ll have to select an expert for governance, so if any partners have thought, ideas, contact, please let us know.
Have a nice day!
cheers,