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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS


2001 No. 319

COMPETITION

The Competition Act 1998 (Public Transport Ticketing Schemes Block Exemption) Order 2001

  Made 8th February 2001 
  Laid before Parliament 8th February 2001 
  Coming into force 1st March 2001 

Whereas the Director has recommended that the Secretary of State make an order specifying a category of agreements relating to public transport ticketing for the purposes of section 6 of the Competition Act 1998[1];

     And whereas before making the said recommendation the Director published details of his proposed recommendation and considered the representations about it which were made to him;

     Now therefore the Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 6(2), (5), (6) and (7), 8(6), 71(3) and 75 of the Competition Act 1998 hereby makes the following Order:

Citation, Commencement, Duration and Interpretation
     1. This Order may be cited as the Competition Act 1998 (Public Transport Ticketing Schemes Block Exemption) Order 2001 and shall come into force on 1st March 2001.

    
2. This Order shall have effect from the beginning of 1st March 2000 and shall cease to have effect at the end of the period of five years commencing on 1st March 2001.

    
3. In this Order - 

each being purchased as an add-on to a ticket (or tickets) entitling the holder to make a particular journey on one or more connecting services;

and where a public transport service consists of one or more parts with respect to which one or both of these conditions are met, and one or more parts with respect to which neither of them is met, each of those parts shall be treated as a separate public transport service;

Block Exemption
     4.  - (1) The category of agreements identified in paragraph (2) as public transport ticketing schemes is hereby specified for the purposes of section 6 of the Act.

    (2) For the purpose of this Order a public transport ticketing scheme is one or more of the following:

     5. This block exemption has effect subject to the conditions and the obligation specified in Articles 6 to 17.

Conditions and consequences of breach of conditions
    
6. Unless there is an objective, transparent and non-discriminatory reason, a public transport ticketing scheme shall not, directly or indirectly, in isolation or in combination with other factors under the control of the parties:

     7. A public transport ticketing scheme shall not, directly or indirectly, in isolation or in combination with other factors under the control of the parties, have the object or effect of limiting:

     8. A public transport ticketing scheme shall not, directly or indirectly, in isolation or in combination with other factors under the control of the parties, have the object or effect or limiting the frequency or timing of any public transport services operated by any operator or long distance operator, unless such restriction is indispensable to the effective operation of that scheme, pursuant to an agreement which provides for onward travel connections for passengers.

    
9.  - (1) Subject to paragraph (2), a public transport ticketing scheme shall not, directly or indirectly, in isolation or in combination with other factors under the control of the parties, have the object or effect of facilitating an exchange of information between the parties to that public transport ticketing scheme.

    (2) Paragraph (1) shall not prevent an exchange of information between the parties to a public transport ticketing scheme which is directly related and indispensable to the effective operation of that scheme, provided that the relevant provision under which the information is exchanged is objective, transparent and non-discriminatory and that it does not breach any of the other conditions imposed by this Order.

    
10. Breach of any of the conditions imposed by any of Articles 6, 7, 8 or 9 shall have the effect of cancelling the block exemption in respect of that public transport ticketing scheme.

    
11. The parties to a public transport ticketing scheme which provides for members of the public to purchase a multi-operator travelcard shall not distribute between themselves the revenue received by virtue of the operation of that scheme other than pursuant to terms contained in that scheme which reflect, as far as is reasonably practicable, the actual passenger miles travelled on the vehicles or vessels of each party by passengers using tickets issued under that scheme during the accounting period in which such revenue was received.

    
12. Breach of the condition imposed by Article 11 shall have the effect of cancelling the block exemption in respect of the relevant public transport ticketing scheme to the extent that such scheme provides for members of the public to purchase a multi-operator travelcard.

    
13.  - (1) Subject to paragraph (2), a public transport ticketing scheme which provides for members of the public to purchase a through ticket, multi-operator individual ticket, short distance add-on or long distance add-on, shall not directly or indirectly, in isolation or in combination with other factors under the control of the parties have the object or effect of fixing a price at which the respective through ticket, multi-operator individual ticket, short distance add-on or long distance add-on is offered for sale.

    (2) Paragraph (1) shall not prevent:

provided that such action does not breach any of the other conditions imposed by this Order.

    
14. Breach of the condition imposed by Article 13 shall have the effect of cancelling the block exemption in respect of the relevant public transport ticketing scheme to the extent that such scheme provides for members of the public to purchase the relevant through ticket, multi-operator individual ticket, short distance add-on or long distance add-on.

    
15. The parties to a public transport ticketing scheme which provides for members of the public to purchase a multi-operator individual ticket, shall not:

     16. Breach of the condition imposed by Article 15 shall have the effect of cancelling the block exemption in respect of the relevant public transport ticketing scheme to the extent that such scheme provides for members of the public to purchase a multi-operator individual ticket.

Obligation
    
17. A person shall, within ten working days from the date on which it receives notice in writing under this Article, supply to the Director such information in connection with those public transport ticketing schemes to which it is a party as the Director may require.

Cancellation by notice
    
18. If there is a failure to comply with the obligation imposed by Article 17 without reasonable excuse, the Director may, subject to Article 20, by notice in writing cancel this block exemption in respect of any public transport ticketing scheme to which the relevant request for information under Article 17 relates.

    
19. If the Director considers that a particular public transport ticketing scheme is not one to which section 9 of the Act applies, he may, subject to Article 20, by notice in writing cancel this block exemption in respect of that scheme.

    
20. If the Director proposes to cancel the block exemption in accordance with Article 18 or Article 19, he shall first give notice in writing of his proposal and shall consider any representations made to him.

    
21. For the purpose of Articles 18, 19 and 20, notice in writing is given by:


Peter Hain
Minister for Energy, and Competitiveness in Europe, Department of Trade and Industry

8th February 2001



EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)


This Order is a block exemption Order under section 6 of the Competition Act 1998 (`the Act'). It gives effect to the Director General of Fair Trading's recommendation that public transport ticketing schemes (as defined in the Order) for local public transport services constitute a category of agreements which are likely to be agreements to which section 9 of the Act applies. Agreements which fall within the category specified in the block exemption Order are exempt from the prohibition in Chapter I of the Act.

The recommendation was made by the Director following consultation in accordance with section 8(1) of the Act.

The block exemption has effect subject to certain conditions and obligations and concerns particularly agreements between local public transport operators (and in one case, together with long distance public transport operators) which provide for the purchase, in a single transaction, of:

as defined in the Order.

The block exemption applies to such agreements to the extent that they fall within the scope of section 2 of the Act (agreements etc. preventing, restricting or distorting competition (the Chapter I prohibition)).

The Order includes provisions concerning the cancellation of the block exemption.

The block exemption is retrospective and has effect from 1st March 2000 and will cease to have effect at the end of the period of five years from the date of coming into force of the Order.

Guidance on the block exemption is available from the Director General of Fair Trading at www.oft.gov.uk.


Notes:

[1] 1998 c. 41.back

[2] 1968 c. 73; the definition of "bus service" in section 159(1) was substituted by the Transport Act 1985 (c. 67), section 1 and Schedule 1, paragraph 1.back

[3] S.I. 2000/293.back



ISBN 0 11 019238 9


 © Crown copyright 2001

Prepared 14 February 2001


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