2/23
58th meeting of the CIV Working Group (CIV WG) focuses on the new PRR and the AJC as main challenges

The new Passenger Rights Regulation (PRR), Implementing Regulation on a common EU claims form, further steps on the Agreement of Journey Continuation (AJC), and amendments to the CIT passenger transport products were some of the highlights of the last CIV Working Group, which was chaired by Oliver Hirschfeld (DB) and took place on 16 – 17 May 2023 in Bern and remotely.

New PRR still in focus

The new PRR (Regulation (EU) No 2021/782 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations) remains a key concern for CIT members; the application milestone of the law – the day on which it becomes applicable – is 7 June of this year. Among further analyses and clarification of the remaining open issues in this regard, the CIT General Secretariat (CIT GS) also presented the proposed Implementing Regulation on a common EU claim form. 
Based on Articles 18.6 and 19.5 of the Regulation, the European Commission (DG MOVE) has published an Implementing Regulation establishing a common form for reimbursement and compensation requests of passengers. During the meeting it was underlined that the European Commission will publish the form on its homepage in all EU languages, and in addition the National Enforcement Bodies should also publish it. The idea is that passengers would have a right to use this common EU claim form to submit their claims to railway undertakings and in some cases also to ticket vendors. 

Enhancements to the AJC

The AJC represents an important sector-driven contribution on enhancing passengers’ travel experience. The AJC belongs to action point 8 of the CER Ticketing Roadmap for better support of passengers during disruptions and delays. During the meeting, members were informed about previous meetings of the CIT AJC Task Force, which has been established as an important working body in this field. The CIV WG members discussed a variety of AJC-related topics, especially further steps in enhancing the agreement to benefit passengers: 

•    harmonisation of delay/cancellation confirmation based on the outcomes of CIT’s extensive survey on this topic,
•    digitalisation of the cooperation-based process with UIC, whose representative David Sarfatti presented the
      possibilities according the eTCD standard (UIC IRS 90918-4) to digitalise the AJC delay confirmation process,
•    improvement of the AJC Leaflet to achieve better understanding among passengers,
•    further possibilities to enhance the AJC were also tackled.

Amendments to the CIT’s passenger transport products

The CIT GS also presented the amendments made to the Agreement for after-sales (AIV) in respect of claims handling message exchange in the light of the Open Sales and Distribution Model (OSDM), the final proposal for Chapter 10 in the Manual for Rail Tickets (MIRT), on Universal Rail Tickets (URT), and some amendments to the CIT Glossary due to changes in legislation (PRR, TAP TSI revision) and important developments in the sector (OSDM, URT, eTCD etc.). 
These amendments to the MIRT, AIV and CIT Glossary will be submitted to the CIV Committee for its approval (26 September), following which they will take effect on 10 December 2023. 

  During the meeting, members were also reminded that all the CIT Passenger transport products applicable from 7 June this year as amended (mainly because of the new PRR) are to be found on the CIT website.     
The meeting concluded with an invitation to the next CIV WG meeting, which will be held on 21 -22 November in Berne, as well as to further CIT events such as the CIT/UIC Passenger Claims Conference which will be held this year on 27 September in Prague.

jan.vavra(at)cit-rail.org