The opening up to competition of passenger rail transport in Europe

The Dauphine Law Research Center (CR2D) and the Governance and Regulation Chair co-organize this international/European conference, under the scientific Direction of Aurore Laget-Annamayer, Professor of Law, Paris Dauphine-PSL University.

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Titre français : "L'ouverture à la concurrence du transport ferroviaire des voyageurs en Europe"

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This conference on the opening up of passenger rail transport to competition in Europe is part of a series of conferences on the rail sector initiated in 2021. We started with the French case bringing together academics and players of the sector. 

The objective of this second conference is to develop this study through comparative law. 

France, with the law of June 28^th 2018 known as the "new rail pact", transposing EU Directive 2016/2370 of Dec 14^th 2016 on the opening up of the market for national rail passenger transport services, is one of the last European States to have opened up its domestic passenger transport services to competition. The aim is now to analyze the ways in which our European neighbours have done so. 

Several questions arise in order to analyze the concrete results of opening up to competition in the European States, and these can form the backbone of the discussions : What methods of opening up to competition and modalities of organization of the sector have been adopted in these States? Has competition really taken hold and have consumers seen the benefits? Are there still obstacles to full and effective competition? Have disputes arisen and have they led to changes in the organization and regulation of the sector?

This conference enabled us to compare the points of view of European academics and various players in the sector, whether they are operators, regulators or judges in the different selected countries.

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Program : 

(Welcome coffee at 8:30 !)

9.00 Welcoming words

• Claudie Boiteau, Professor of Law, Director of the Law Research Center (CR2D), Paris Dauphine-PSL University
• Éric Brousseau, Professor of Economics and Management, Scientific Director of the Governance and Regulation Chair, Paris Dauphine-PSL University

9.20 Introductory remarks

Aurore Laget-Annamayer, Professor of Law, Paris Dauphine-PSL University

9.30 - 12.30 / Opening up to competition through the lens of the sector organization

I- Presentation of the legal framework  9.30-10.30

Chaired by Aurore Laget-Annamayer

• Tony Prosser, Professor of Law, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
• Monica Delsignore, Professor of Law, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy
• Christian Schneider, Partner, BPV Hügel, Germany and Austria
• Juan José Montero Pascual, Professor of Law, UNED/University of Madrid, Spain

Questions from the floor 10.30 - 10.45

Coffee break 10.45 to 11.00 am

II- Round table about the point of view of operators and regulators 11.00 - 12.30 (including discussion)

Moderated by Patricia Perennes, Consultant, Trans-Missions

European Operators :

• Caroline Chabrol, Project Director for International Development, SNCF Voyageurs
• Andrea Giuricin, Transport economist, CESISP - UNIMIB ; CEO, TRA consulting
• Alix Lecadre, Director of Railway offers and professions, Transdev
• Stefan Remmert, Head of general regulatory policy, Deutsche Bahn
• Roberto Rinaudo, President and CEO, Trenitalia France

National Regulators :

• Grahame Horgan, Head of competition, Office of Rail and Road (ORR), United Kingdom
• Karsten Otte, Head of Department, Rail Regulation, Federal Network Agency, Germany
• Luisa Perrotti, Head of European affairs and international relations, Italian Transport Regulatory Authority (ART), Italy
• Olivier Salesse, Director of Rail transport, French Transport Regulatory Authority (ART), France
• Ivan Santos, Head of the Railway Unit, Transport Regulation Dpt, Comision Nacional de los Mercados y de la Competencia (CNMC), Spain

12:30 - 2:00 p.m LUNCH COCKTAIL (Hall 2 in front of Salle ARON)

2.00 pm - 5:15 p.m / Litigation on the opening to competition

Chaired by Antoine Louvaris, Professor of Law, Paris Dauphine-PSL University

I. National litigation: selected examples 2.00 - 3:15 p.m

• Tony Prosser, Professor of Law, University of Bristol, United Kingdon
• Paola Chirulli, Professor of Law, University of Rome, Italy
• Christian Schneider, Partner, BPV Hügel, Germany and Austria
• Juan José Montero Pascual, Professor of Law, UNED/University of Madrid, Spain
• Elisabeth Cotte, Director of Legal affairs, ART, France

Discussion  3.15 - 3.45 p.m

Coffee break 3.45 - 4.00 p.m

II- European litigation 4.00 - 5.15 p.m

Litigation before the European courts 4.00 - 4:25 p.m

• Stéphane Rodrigues, HDR Lecturer in Law, Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University
• Alfredos Theodorakopoulos, Legal Assistant, Court of Justice of the European Union

Litigation before the European Commission 4:25 - 4:50 p.m

• Elisabetta Garofalo, Legal Officer – Unit A4 – Legal Unit, DG Transport and Mobility, European Commission
• Séverin Grandcolas, Case Handler and Policy Officer – Unit F2 – State aid transports, DG Competition, European Commission 

Last discussion 4.50 - 5.15 p.m

5.15 - 5.45 p.m / Concluding remarks

Stéphane de La Rosa, Professor of Law, Paris-Est Créteil University

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The conference was translated into French simultaneously.

The written synthesis of the event is available here. You can also watch the full replay sequence by sequence.

Discover Eric Brousseau's paper in Le Monde, Feb 10th, about competition and public interest in the transportation sector/ Découvrez la tribune d'Eric Brousseau parue dans le Monde du 10 février 2023 sur le thème de la concurrence associée à l'intérêt général dans le secteur des transports