On 29 January 2026, the European Commission released its Staff Working Document (SWD) regarding the fitness check of the IWT market access legislation. The SWD is based on a supporting study and surveys carried out by Ecorys. The IWT sector had previously contributed to various stakeholders consultations, both general and targeted.

The SWD provides an interesting introductory overview of the IWT sector’s relevance in the European internal transport market supported by quantitative data, as well as an extensive analysis and assessment of the relevant market access legislation in IWT in the various chapters of the report including the annexes.

The report presents the findings of the fitness check of the internal market legislative framework for inland waterway transport (IWT). In the full document (p. 1), you will find the seven piece of legislation which have been assessed.

The EU legislation on access and organization of the inland waterways market dates back to the period between the 1960s and the 1990s. The legislation was originally designed for a smaller number of Member States. Besides the fact that the original scope was geographically more limited, the legislation primarily addressed the challenges present in the inland navigation transport sector at that time.

The purpose and general objectives of the seven legal acts were to lay down rules on access to the IWT market and on the occupation of carriers, liberalise price setting, eliminate discriminatory conditions and structurally improve the IWT market. These acts were introduced over a period of almost 40 years, with the first act adopted in 1960 and the last in 1999. During this period, the main priority was to lay down the necessary elements to create a true internal IWT market.

The key problems the legislative framework was intended to solve were:

  • the lack of equal access conditions for EU operators which hindered their ability to provide transport services on all EU waterways, both nationally and internationally in a nondiscriminatory way,
  • the absence of common, EU-wide standards to access the occupation of a carrier,
  • the absence of a free pricing regime driven by market conditions,
  • structural overcapacity in the IWT market.

Overall conclusions (par. 5.1. p. 67 onwards)

The report concludes that the  IWT internal market legislative Framework has been effective to a large extent: fixed pricing regimes have been abolished, the structural overcapacity in the market has been reduced, common rules for access to the occupation have been set and the market has been opened up for all EU operators who can operate on equal footing. The original intentions of the legal acts have been fulfilled, the group-specific objectives have been met.

In addition, respondents acknowledged the EU added value of the Framework, confirming that EU action had been justified and similar results could not have been achieved with other levels of governance whether international, regional (like river basin )or national levels. Application of the Framework at EU level has largely resulted in a level playing field for enterprises, many of them SMEs, as well as non-discrimination of operators and consignees/consignors across the EU. A high degree of harmonisation has been reached overall;however, in areas where the legal form of the legislation left room for diverging implementation, inconsistencies in implementation appeared (Group 3).

 

The IWT sector endorses the results of the fitness check in general and in particular its conclusion when it comes to the added benefit of the European IWT Platform, that has been established with funding from the reserve fund, and as such promotes safety, clean technologies and innovation of the fleet as well as education and training.

Author: Theresia Hacksteiner