International activity

We participate in IRG RAIL and its working groups, which is a voluntary association that brings together regulators from 27 European countries. The purpose of this group of regulators, which does not include the European Commission or any Member State government, is to facilitate cooperation and promote a single European railway market. To this end, the IRG RAIL group is a platform organised into 4 working groups, for exchange of information and experiences in a manner that will promote consistent application of regulations throughout Europe.

The IRG RAIL divides its activities into four groups:

1. The access group, which is focused on aspects related to the needs of railway undertakings and applicants in relation to railway infrastructure. The priorities of this group include the international freight corridors, the characteristics of framework agreements, and liberalisation of the freight and passenger markets.
2. The taxes group, which is focused on non-discriminatory application of network access charges and verification of whether the principles behind the taxes are being appropriately applied. The European Directives grant significant authorities to regulatory bodies in relation to railway taxes, so the objective of this group is to develop common guidelines for tax calculations.
3. Group on regulatory proposals, which establishes common positions for the regulators that participate in IRG RAIL in relation to European legislative initiatives, particularly in relation to liberalisation of the European railway markets and their structure.
4. Market monitoring group, which publishes information on railway markets in the various countries participating in IRG RAIL. It also publishes guidelines that have the purpose of making the statistics published in each country comparable, as well as establishing a minimum set of indicators that must be compiled by all of the regulators.

We participate in the European Network of Railway Regulatory Bodies (ENRRB), which is a network of regulators that also includes participation by the European Commission. In this forum the national experiences with the European Commissions are discussed, the status of transposition of the Directives is assessed, and the Commission's initiatives are debated, in particular the Regulations that must be produced in accordance with the regulatory framework. The ENRRB holds meetings with relevant stakeholders from the sector, especially with the infrastructure administrators that are part of the PRIME group, in order to discuss aspects that are essential for implementation of railway regulations.

There are 9 international freight corridors that have the purpose of promoting cross-border transport of goods. Spain participates on two of these corridors: number 4 (Atlantic) and number 6 (Mediterranean). The regulators that are involved with the corridor cooperate to oversee competition on the corridor and to act in a coordinated manner to resolve any disputes that may arise. Currently there are cooperative agreements signed for both of these corridors.

In relation to the international corridors, the CNMC also participates with SERAC, a group that includes representatives from the Member States as well as the European Commission.

Cooperative agreement among the regulatory authorities responsible for overseeing competition on the Atlantic corridor

Cooperative agreement among the regulatory authorities responsible for overseeing competition on the Mediterranean corridor