Cableway installations: initial appraisal of the Commission's impact assessment

Briefing 29-10-2014

This note seeks to provide an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the European Commission's Impact Assessment accompanying the proposal for a Regulation on cableway installations. Following the European Commission’s New Legislative Framework for simplifying EU legislation in the area of free movement of industrial products, the proposed Regulation on cableway installations aims to replace the existing Directive 2000/9/EC on cableway installations designed to carry persons (applicable from 3 May 2002). European cableway installations amount to 60 per cent of the world total (mainly in mountainous regions in France, Austria, Italy, Germany and Switzerland). 80 to 90 per cent of the global cableways market is represented by three big European companies, and the remaining 10 to 20 per cent by European SMEs. This note, prepared by the Ex-Ante Impact Assessment Unit for the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection, analyses whether the principal criteria laid down in the Commission’s own Impact Assessment Guidelines, as well as additional factors identified by the Parliament in its Impact Assessment Handbook, appear to be met by the IA. It does not attempt to deal with the substance of the proposal. It is drafted for informational and background purposes to assist the relevant parliamentary committee(s) and Members more widely in their work.