Today, the European Commission decided to refer the Netherlands to the Court of Justice for failing to properly apply Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 on public passenger transport by road and rail. Competition in the rail market is vital for offering passengers more appealing and innovative services at lower costs while fulfilling public service obligations.

The Netherlands awarded the concession contract for rail passenger transport services for 2025 to 2033 directly to the incumbent operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, whereas it should have followed a competitive award procedure based on Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007.

The Commission is concerned about how the public service obligations defined in that contract were determined. It views the Netherlands as having violated Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 by not analyzing if and which transport services included in the new concession contract could be offered by market operators under commercial, open access conditions, without public service obligations and compensation.

On July 14, 2023, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice, followed by an additional letter on March 13, 2024, and a reasoned opinion on February 12, 2025. Despite extensive communication between the Commission services and Dutch authorities since 2020, the Netherlands did not amend this concession contract and its scope in a way that could address the Commissions concerns. Therefore, the Commission is referring the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Background

Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007, enacted in October 2007, governs public transport by rail and road. It was amended in 2016 under the fourth railway package. Following this amendment, the option to directly and unconditionally award public service contracts for rail passenger transport ended in December 2023. Since then, competitive award of such contracts has become the norm. The rail transport services provided under the Dutch concession contract began on January 1, 2025. Hence, this contract should have been competitively awarded.

Moreover, public service contracts awarded under Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 can only impose public service obligations in exchange for compensation and/or exclusive rights when the services concerned would not be provided by operators under normal market conditions and without reward. In determining the scope of this concession contract, the Dutch authorities did not analyze the market to consider potential commercial offers from market operators.

For More Information

EU infringement procedure

Infringement decisions database and infringements map and graphs

July 2025 infringement package

Infringement procedure the Netherlands (INFR(2023)4011)