How to increase railways competitiveness - CITs`perspective - Working Party on Rail Transport, 25 November 2014 Cesare Brand, Secretary General, CIT Ref. E337

The CIT and its members 200 railway undertakings and maritime companies Association under Swiss law located in Bern Main Tasks: 1.Practical implementation of COTIF and European transport law. 2.Standardization of contractual relationships 3.Representation of members’ interests towards authorities and other associations 2

Success key for railways 3  Good Quality of infrastructure  Technical interoperability (vehicle authorisation and safety certification)  Level playing field with other transport modes  Competetive and planable charge for use of infrastructure  Less administrative burdens: New regulatory requirements when customers benefit  Stable and fair legal framework

Chita Urumqui Shanghai Hong Kong Teheran Mumbai Reykjavik Istanbul Ulan Ude Xiangtang Ulan Bator Pardubice Shenzhen Moscow Wien Kars Baku T’Bilisi Astana Beijing Zabaikalsk Almaty Novosibirsk Chongqing Duisburg Warschau Xi’an Lanzhou Ekateringburg Lianyungang Opportunities & challenges for railway companies today : Eurasian Freight Corridors - An existing market with potential Freight traffic China-Europe ~90% Sea/40 days <10% Air/1 day ~1% Railway/ ~15 days ~ 70 freight trains per week 4

Opportunities & challenges for railway companies today: Different legal regimes - a challenge for operators SMGS/SMPS EC Law COTIF corridor regulation Nationallaw Legal interoperability 5

Legal duality for rail transport as an obstacle to competitiveness CIM (Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of International Carriage of Goods by Rail - Appendix B to COTIF) Annex to the main convention Consensual contract Contractual freedom Consignment note design within the competence of RUs Joint and several liability SMGS (Agreement on International Goods Transport by Rail) Main convention Formal contract Obligation to set and publish tariffs and to carry Consignment note defined in SMGS itself Individual liability Administrative costs 6

Why is legal interoperability important for the business and competitiveness? Country A  Transport contract  LiabiIity  Transport documents / consignment note  Tickets  Claims Country B  Transport contract  Liability  Transport documents / consignment note  Tickets  Claims A One legal regime B - 10% administrative costs Legal certainty, less legal costs Optimisation of business operation 7

Solutions to increase railway competitiveness: the CIM/SMGS consignment note Success of the CIM/SMGS consignment note as good basis for further works on contractual level: Statistics CIM/SMGS consignment note used in 70-80% of the total CIM/SMGS traffic – 20-30% increase Facts  Explicit reference to the CIM/SMGS consignment note in Annex 9 to the UNECE Agreement 1982  Explicit reference to the CIM/SMGS consignment note as a transit customs document in the Customs Code of the RBK CU Actions  Inclusion of the three traffic axes from and to China: Alshankou – Dostyk (China and Kazakhstan); Erljan – Zaminuud (China and Mongolia); Manzuli – Zabaikalsk (China and Russia)  Integration of the Baltic ports into Trans-Siberian Rail Corridor (e.g. Ust-Luga, Riga Port, Sassnitz und Baltic Port Rail Mukran) 8

General Terms and Conditions for EurAsia Rail Transport Contracts of the CIT (GTC EurAsia)  Point 3 - of the UNECE Political Declaration  Framework contract - for participating railways (on different corridors)  Applicable law - mandatory provisions of the national law shall apply  Precondition – opting-in through the participating railways (for example DB, PKP Cargo, BC, RZD and CCTT or GETO)  Legal basis - international private law (IPR) Solutions to increase railway competitiveness: GTC Eurasia as instrument on contractual level 9

Solutions to increase railway competitiveness: UNECE Joint Declaration Joint Declaration on the promotion of Euro-Asian Rail Transport and activities towards Unified Railway Law (26 February 2013, Geneva) Important step torwards a solution to unify different legal regimes State of play: Draft of relevant legal provisions to be included into a new international legal railway regime for transmission to the forthcoming session of the Inland Transport Committee (24–26 February 2015). CIT strongly invites the states and stakeholders to coordinate their work for consistent legal layers - For the benefit of a performant transport logistic and the competitiveness of the railway transportation. Unified Rail Transport Law COTIF/CIM SMGS 10

Conclusions Savings in time and costs Simplification of customs formalities Greater legal certainty Larger share of the market CIM/SMGS consignment note Standardised CIM/SMGS claims handling procedure General Terms and Conditions EurAsia Unified Rail Transport Law 11

Thank you for your attention! For further information, visit  Cesare Brand Secretary General CIT Tel:  12