About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


14 EJCCL 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/ejccl14 and id is 1 raw text is: LEADING ARTICLE Spanish and EU Legislation on Carrier's Liability Insurance in Land Transport' 1. Introduction The provision of passenger land transport services, by rail or road, by bus or coach, or in passenger cars, under a taxi licence or one of car rental with driver, constitutes a dangerous activity in itself. Consequently, the individu- als involved in its development are required to take out compulsory insurance, so that they can be held liable for the potential damages to passengers during transport. However, and contrary to land transport of goods where the carrier is required to take out 'land transport insur- ance' (Articles 54-62 of the Insurance Contract Act 50/1980 of 8 October (henceforth ICA)), technically speaking, there is no single passenger land transport in- surance.' Conversely, depending on the means of trans- port used, the insurance that the carrier, and, when appro- priate, the owner of the vehicle, must take out is different. In the transport carried out by taxi or rental car with driver, the only compulsory insurance is the civil liability insurance for the use and circulation of motor vehicles, usually known as 'compulsory automobile insurance', which is regulated by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2004 of 29 October, which approves the revised text of the Act on Civil Liability and Insurance in the Circulation of Motor Vehicles (henceforth CLICMVA), along with its development regulation, approved by Royal Decree 1057/2008 of 12 September. Compulsory automobile insurance is also compulsory in transport by bus or coach, although not by rail (as per Article 1.2.a of Royal Decree 1507/2008 of 12 September). Moreover, bus or coach companies and railway undertak- ings must take out compulsory passenger insurance, as required by Act 16/1987 of 30 July on the Administrative Organisation of Land Transport (henceforth AOLTA), amended by Act 9/2013, of 4 July (Article 21(1) AOLTA), and whose regulation has been carried out by Royal Decree 1575/1989 of 22 December, which approves the Regulation on Compulsory Passenger Insurance (henceforth CPIR). Such bus or coach and rail companies must have the relevant civil liability insurance, to which the AOLTA also alludes by reference to the European regulations that impose its subscription, that is, Regula- tion (EU) 181/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) 2006/2004 [2011] OJ L 55/1 (henceforth Regulation (EU) 181/2011 of 16 February), on the one hand, and Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers' rights and obligations [2007] OJ L 315/14 (henceforth Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 of 23 October), on the other hand (Articles 21(2) and 23 in fine AOLTA).3 2. Transport by rail 2.1. The impact of Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 of 23 October on the carrier's liability regime Currently, passenger protection in rail transport is regu- lated in the EU by Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 of 23 October. This will be replaced by Regulation (EU) 2021/782 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 on rail passengers' rights and obligations [2021] OJ L 172/1 (henceforth Regulation (EU) 2021/782 of 29 April), applicable as of 7 June 2023 (Article 40), except for its Article 6.4, which refers to the procedures for public procurement of new rolling stock and for the improvement of existing rolling stock that requires a new authorization for its placing on the vehicle market, appli- cable as of 7 June 2025 (Article 41). Nevertheless, Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 of 23 October does not set the amounts of the rail carrier liability cover- age for damages caused to passengers4 and their luggage, referring for that purpose to national laws. It is limited to providing that railway undertakings have to be 'ad- equately insured or to make equivalent arrangements for cover of its liabilities under this Regulation' towards passengers (Article 12.1), in accordance with the provi- sions of Article 9 of the Council Directive 95/18/EC of 19 June 1995 on the licensing of railway undertakings [1995] OJ L 143/70 -now Article 22 of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area [2012] OJ L 343/32 (henceforth DOI 10.7590/187714622X16487115009316 1877-1467 2022 European Journal of Commercial Contract Law Silvia Boboc is a Teaching assistant of Commercial Law at Jaume University (Spain). 1. The present study has been carried out under the research project 'Implicaciones legales del uso de innovaciones tecnol6gicas en el transporte: problemas actuales y retos de futuro' (Ref UJI-B2019-46), financed by the Jaume I University (main researcher: A Puetz). 2. With regard to the classification of transport insurance, see MJ Morillas Jarillo, 'Seguro de transporte' (1997) 9 Cuadernos de Derecho judicial 393, 401-404. 3. The amount of such insurance constitutes an operating expense, which can be passed on to the passenger in the corresponding transport charges (Article 21.3 AOLTA). 4. In this respect, see 'Interpretative Guidelines on Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Rail Passengers' Rights and Obligations' (Communication from the Commission) 2015/C 220/01; ibid, 'Report on the Application of Regu- lation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on Rail Passengers' Rights and Obligations' (Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council), Brussels, 14 August 2013, COM(2013) 587 final. European Journal of Commercial Contract Law 2022-1 Silvia Boboc' 1