BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsforslaget)

The EU’s inland waterways stretch over 42 286 kilometres (km) and are a key means of connecting seaports, cities and industrial centres 1 . The interconnected waterway network of 13 000 km covers 13 Member States 2 and serves over 250 TEN-T inland ports in the TEN-T network. In terms of transport volumes at EU level, inland waterway transport (IWT) plays an important role in the overall European transport system despite its relatively small size. In 2020, 131.7 billion tonne-kilometres (tkm) of freight were transported through inland waters, making up 4.1% of the modal split in terms of freight (with road accounting for 54.9%, sea 29.1%, and rail 11.9%) 3 . Dry cargo (agricultural products, ore, metals, building materials, coal, etc.) accounted for 59.8% of IWT volume in 2020, while liquid cargo (chemicals and petroleum products) accounted for 28.1% and containers accounted for 12.1% 4 .

IWT handles 0.9% of total imports and exports by weight in the EU. By its very nature, IWT is a geographically limited and focused network, but it nevertheless offers an important alternative to transport via road or rail for the regions in the European hinterland closest to inland waterways. Therefore, IWT is mainly in competition with – and often classified along with – land transport modes 5 , and it covers only 6% of freight traffic moved by land and 0.01% of passenger inland traffic. The development of inland waterway activity is highly dependent on: (i) geography (location of rivers); (ii) the types of goods that are or can be transported; (ii) the location of production and consumption sites in relation to the inland waterway network; and (iv) the availability of transhipment infrastructure.

River information services (RIS) are advanced services and functionalities which refer primarily to either traffic related or transport-related aspects. Traffic-related services are Fairway Information Service, Traffic Information, Traffic Management, and Traffic Monitoring and Calamity Abatement; transport-related services are voyage planning, port and terminal management, cargo and fleet management, statistics, and inland waterways infrastructure charges.

RIS support traffic and transport management in inland navigation. They aim to contribute to: (i) a safe and efficient transport process; and (ii) the use of inland waterways to their fullest extent. The legislative process to regulate RIS at EU level started in 2005 with the adoption of the RIS Directive (Directive 2005/44/EC). The Directive lays down a framework for the deployment and use of harmonised, interoperable, and open RIS aiming to increase the safety, efficiency, and environmental friendliness of IWT in the EU. At the same time, the Directive intended to facilitate interfaces between IWT and other transport modes (i.e. multimodal transport). Within the EU framework, the Directive sets out: (i) the general requirements for how RIS should be set up by the Member States; (ii) the areas in which standards need to be developed; and (iii) the principles to be followed. The actual technical guidelines and specifications are developed by the Commission and are adopted through secondary legislation.

The Commission carried out an ex-post evaluation of the Directive 6 , which indicated that it had had a positive impact in terms of harmonising RIS. However, the evaluation also found that there is still room for improvement. This is because, when considering the implementation of the Directive: (i) not all RIS technologies have reached the same level of implementation and maturity; and (ii) not all RIS technologies have been fully used to the same extent in all countries and river corridors. Furthermore, the slow update of standards has played a significant role in the slow development of RIS. This is because, in the current context the development of standards is based on input from Member State experts in a loosely coordinated and time-consuming manner before a new version is ready to be adopted under an implementing act. Experience showed that it takes between 5 and 12 years until the standards are prepared and introduced in the sector. This in turn reduces the efficiency of IWT operators who end up using old standards and technology. The DINA report (2017) examined factors relating to digitalisation and their impact on the competitiveness of the sector compared to other transport modes and identified RIS as potentially playing an important role in IWT. Thus, if not properly deployed, RIS can hinder the competitiveness potential of the IWT sector. 

Furthermore, the European Green Deal requires all transport modes, including IWT, to contribute towards the EU goal of becoming a climate-neutral economy and protecting the environment. For inland waterway transport, this translates also into a better integration with different modes of transport into a seamless, intermodal logistics chain. The transport sector has already seen developments in other modes. For example, the adoption of legal provisions for digital tools relating to cargo were introduced in 2019 for EMSWe and 2020 for eFTI. However, the RIS Directive has so far focused on safety of navigation, while not enabling the integration of IWT into multimodal supply chains. In addition, the efficient exchange of information across borders between authorities is important for an efficient transport system. Despite improved Member State cooperation over time, not all reports used in IWT are digitalised. And even when they are digitalised, Member States use different reporting applications that are not compatible with each other. This means that no substantial reduction in the number of resubmissions of electronic ship reports at borders has been identified in recent years. Moreover, the RIS Directive does not provide for an obligation to exchange personal data currently through RIS. Nevertheless, some stakeholders, from the vessel operators in particular, have raised concerns about the confidentiality of information on the position of vessels, and this has made Member States reluctant to share RIS information. This example indicates that both Member States and stakeholders seem to be unaware of how far – and for which purposes – personal data are or could be lawfully exchanged via RIS. Finally, the evaluation (impacted in part by a significant lack of available data) was not able to identify an impact of RIS on either sustainability or a modal shift for the sector.

Therefore, the main problem is the slow and fragmented deployment of RIS, which hampers the competitiveness and safety of the sector, and holds back its contribution to the objectives of the European Green Deal.

Because IWT is concentrated on navigable waterways, the problems set out in the previous paragraphs are occurring only in those waterways where RIS is introduced and applied. These problems are therefore highly geographically focused and specialised. When considering the size of the sector, the magnitude of the problems will be necessarily limited in any comparison with the rest of the transport sector.

To this end, the initiative aims to address the problems identified. The general objective of amending the Directive is to provide an efficient framework for the deployment and use of RIS. The specific objectives are:

–to ensure RIS data availability and harmonised standards;

–to facilitate the integration of IWT into the multimodal chain;

–to ensure greater uptake and interoperability of digital solutions, and address data-protection concerns.

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

The rationale for revising the RIS Directive is interlinked with the key objectives of current EU policy, as set out in the European Green Deal 7 . Following the sustainable and smart mobility strategy, which sets a milestone of increasing transport by inland waterways and short sea shipping by 25% by 2030, and by 50% by 2050, the European Commission tabled in June 2021 a 35-point NAIADES III action plan to boost the role of IWT in our mobility and logistics systems. The core objectives are: (i) to shift more cargo over Europe’s rivers and canals; and (ii) to facilitate the transition to zero-emission barges by 2050. This is in line with the European Green Deal, which advocates that a substantial part of the inland freight carried today by road should shift onto rail and inland waterways. The NAIADES III Communication indicates that RIS should play an important role in this policy as a data source feeding into the future European mobility-data space, thereby facilitating the integration of IWT into multimodal mobility and logistics chains.

Consistency with other Union policies

This proposal is consistent with – and complementary to – existing legislative acts in the IWT domain as well as with legal acts on transport in general. On a strategic level, it is consistent with the TEN-T Regulation 8  which, among its priorities, deals with: (i) information and communication technology (such as implementing IT applications, including RIS); and (ii) multimodal aspects, such as connecting inland port infrastructure to rail freight and road transport infrastructure. In addition, the Connecting Europe Facility programme, under the TEN-T is providing funding to develop RIS. The approach used in all the policy options in this regard is not to duplicate or develop overlapping digital tools for transport modes and functionalities, but to instead enable and improve links with existing tools (through exchange of appropriate information), thus making the best use of existing systems.

The electronic freight transport information (eFTI) Regulation 9  laid down a legal framework that enables businesses to share information in an electronic format with enforcement authorities (i.e. for the transport of goods by road, rail, inland waterways, and air in the European Union). Operators are not obliged to make regulatory information available electronically to a competent authority. However, when they choose to make this information available electronically, they must follow the set of requirements laid down in the eFTI Regulation. Currently, there is limited interaction between RIS and eFTI, although there are potential synergies that could be achieved by using eFTI platforms to exchange the cargo information required by RIS.

The new Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) 10 introduces targets for shore-side electricity supply in inland waterway ports. It also requires Member States to draw up national policy frameworks that will contain planned initiatives for the deployment of infrastructure for alternative fuels in IWT, such as for hydrogen and electricity. RIS can complement the AFIR by facilitating the exchange of information: (i) between inland vessels and ports equipped for such alternative fuels; and, in particular (ii) on the real-time availability of infrastructure. This in turn can support the uptake of these fuels by the IWT sector.