Communication on the interpretation of Regulation No 3577/92 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within Member States (maritime cabotage)

The European Commission has given new guidance on the interpretation of the regulation to provide cabotage within a Member State, thus providing an internal market for the provision of maritime transport services.

The new guidance updates the previous Commission's guidance in order to align it to recent EU law and case-law of the Court of Justice. In future, there will be more flexibility in defining the duration of public service contracts. The new guidance is presented in the interest of transparency and legal certainty to help explain the EU rules to all actors that wish to make use of it. Amongst other things the interpretative communication adopted today provides updated guidance on: 1° the scope of the freedom to provide services in the maritime cabotage sector who enjoys that freedom and which services the Regulation covers, 2° the award procedure for public service contracts, 3° the duration of public service contracts, 4° the manning rules on vessels providing maritime cabotage, 5° the application of Regulation No 1370/2007 on public passenger transport services by rail and by road and repealing Council Regulations No. 1191/69 and 1107/703 to maritime cabotage services, 6° transitional arrangements for Croatia. Member States and stakeholders were fully involved and consulted in the process of preparation of the report and the new interpretative guidelines.