Hørringssvar

Høringssvar: Reply to the revised EU framework C-4380 on passenger rights: stricter rules of maritime passengers

Danske Havne acknowledges the importance of securing the passengers rights when travelling by sea on cruise ships and ferries. Denmark is the third-largest ferry nation in the EU in terms of passengers with around 40 million passengers embarking and disembarking in 2023. In terms of cruise passengers Denmark is as well a large cruise country, with many cruise ships docking the Danish ports each year.

Certain provisions in Article 3 (“Amendments to Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010) also involve cruise passengers. Therefore, these rights impact the shipping companies, but under certain circumstances, and to a limited extent, it may also involve terminal operators and ports.

In general, it is unclear to which extend the port authorities are obliged to implement the stricter rules on passenger rights.

Detailed comments

Amendments to the existing EU Regulation No 1177/2010, Article 16:

Article 16 is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. In the case of a cancellation or a delay in departure of a passenger service or a cruise, passengers departing from port terminals or, if possible, passengers departing from ports shall be informed by the carrier or, where appropriate, by the terminal operator, of the situation and of their passenger rights under this Regulation as soon as possible and in any event no later than 30 minutes after the scheduled time of departure, and of the estimated departure time and estimated arrival time as soon as that information is available.’; (b) the following paragraph is added: ‘4. The information required under paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be provided by electronic means to all passengers, within the time-limit stipulated in paragraph 1, if the passenger has agreed to it and has provided the necessary contact details to the carrier or, where appropriate, to the terminal operator, when purchasing the ticket.

Comment:

“In the event of a delay/cancellation of a departure, ‘the carrier’ or, where appropriate, the terminal operator must inform passengers about it and their rights to compensation, etc.

It is unclear when the obligation to notify, with the words ‘where appropriate,’ should include the terminal operator. Since the terminal operator does not have a contractual relationship with the passengers or have information about them, the obligation to notify should rest with ‘the carrier,’ unless, exceptionally, it is the terminal operator who has sold the tickets to the passengers.

This should be clarified as a note to the draft.

Amendments to the existing EU Regulation No 1177/2010, Article 23:

Article 23 (3)is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 is amended as follows: (i) the following sentence is inserted before the first sentence: ‘When selling tickets for services falling within the scope of this Regulation, carriers, ticket vendors, travel agents, tour operators and terminal operators shall, within their respective areas of competence, ensure that passengers are provided with appropriate and comprehensible information regarding their rights under this Regulation.’; (ii) the second sentence is replaced by the following: ‘Carriers, terminal operators and, when applicable, port authorities, shall also, within their respective areas of competence, ensure that information on the rights of passengers under this Regulation is publicly available on board ships, in ports, if possible, and in port terminals.’; (b) paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: ‘3. Carriers, terminal operators and, when applicable, port authorities shall inform passengers in an appropriate manner on board ships, in ports, if possible, and in port terminals, of their contact details and the contact details of the enforcement body designated by the Member State concerned pursuant to Article 25(1).

The following Article 23a is inserted: 17 Regulation (EU) 2021/782 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations (recast) (OJ L 172, 17.5.2021, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/782/oj). EN 27 EN ‘Article 23a Means of communication with passengers The information referred to in Articles 16, 22 and 23 shall be provided in the most appropriate format, where technically possible by electronic means. “

Comment

Carriers, terminal operators, and, when applicable, port authorities are obligated to ensure that information about passengers’ rights is made available on ships, in ports, and, if possible, in terminals. The wording makes it unclear who is responsible for informing passengers about their rights on the ships – it should be specified that this is the responsibility of the ‘carriers.’ It is also unclear who should inform passengers about their rights in the ports/in terminals.”

Amendments to the existing EU Regulation No 1177/2010, Article 24a:

The following Article 24a is inserted: ‘Article 24a Service quality standards 1. Carriers shall establish service quality standards and implement a quality management system to maintain service quality. The service quality standards shall at least cover the items listed in Annex V. 2. Carriers shall monitor their performance as reflected in the service quality standards. They shall publish a report on their service quality performance on the Internet by [2 years after the day of application of this Regulation], and every two years thereafter. This report shall not contain personal data. 3. Terminal operators shall establish service quality standards based on the relevant items listed in Annex V. They shall monitor their performance pursuant to those standards and provide access to the information on their performance to the national public authorities on request.”

Comment

According to the draft, terminal operators – like ‘carriers’ – are required to establish certain service quality standards in relation to a mentioned Annex V. Since terminal operators do not have a contractual relationship with passengers, unless the terminal operator exceptionally sells tickets to passengers, the terminal operator’s responsibility in this regard should be conditional on ticket sales or any other contractual relationship with the passengers.”

Yours sincerely
Danske Havne