STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) REGULATIONS (ten-t)

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT

NETWORK (TEN-T)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 552.32

STREAMLINING MEASURES FOR ADVANCING THE

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN

TRANSPORT NETWORK (TEN-T) REGULATIONS

19th September, 2023

LEGAL NOTICE 215 of 2023.

(1)

The title of these regulations is the Streamlining

Measures for Advancing the Realisation of the Trans-European

Transport Network (TEN-T) Regulations.

(2)

These regulations shall apply to permit-granting

procedures required in order to authorise the implementation of

(a)

projects that are part of pre-identified sections of

the core network as listed in the Annex to Directive (EU) 2021/

1187 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July

2021 on streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of

the trans-European transport network (TEN-T); and

(b)

projects on the core network corridor

"Scandinavian – Mediterranean", therefore effecting the ports

of Valletta and Marsaxlokk in accordance with Regulation (EU)

2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of

7 July 2021 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and

repealing Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/

2014, with a total cost exceeding three hundred million euro

(€300,000,000) not exclusively related to telematic

applications, new technologies and innovation within the

meaning of Articles 31 and 33 of Regulation (EU) No 1315/

2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of

11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of

the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision

No 661/2010/EU.

(3)

This regulation shall also apply to public procurements in

cross-border projects falling within the scope of these regulations.

(4)

These regulations transpose the provisions of Directive

(EU) 2021/1187 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7

July 2021 on streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of

the trans-European transport network (TEN-T).

(1)

Unless otherwise stated in these regulations, the

definitions prescribed in the Act shall apply.

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT

NETWORK (TEN-T)

(2)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise

requires

"Act" means the Development Planning Act;

"authorising decision" means the decision or a set of

decisions, which may be of an administrative nature, taken

simultaneously or successively by the Authority, not including

decisions further to appeal, that determine whether or not a

project promoter is entitled to implement the project on the

geographical area concerned, without prejudice to any decision

taken in the context of an administrative or judicial appeal

procedure;

"the Authority" means the same as the meaning assigned

to it in article 2 of the Act;

"cross-border project" means a project covering a cross-

border section between two (2) or more Member States of the

European Union;

"Directive 2014/24/EU" means Directive 2014/24/EU of

the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February

2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/

EC;

"Directive 2014/25/EU" means Directive 2014/25/EU of

the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February

2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy,

transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive

2004/17/EC;

"Directive (EU) 2021/1187" means Directive (EU) 2021/

1187 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July

2021 on streamlining measures for advancing the realisation of

the trans-European transport network (TEN-T);

"joint authority" means an authority established by

mutual agreement between Malta and one (1) or more other

Member States of the European Union to facilitate the permit-

granting procedures related to cross-border projects, including

joint authorities established by designated authorities where

those designated authorities have been empowered by said

Member States to establish joint authorities;

"permit-granting procedure" means any procedure for the

determination of an application, from its validation date, of an

individual project falling within the scope of these regulations

in order to obtain the authorising decision as required by the

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT

NETWORK (TEN-T)

Authority under European Union or national law, with the

exception of urban or land use planning, of procedures related

to the award of public procurement contracts, and of steps

undertaken at strategic level that do not refer to a specific

project, such as strategic environmental assessment, public

budgetary planning, as well as national or regional transport

plans;

"project" means a proposal for the construction,

adaptation or modification of a defined section of the transport

infrastructure which aims to improve the capacity, safety and

efficiency of that infrastructure and of which the

implementation has to be approved by means of an authorising

decision;

"project promoter" means the applicant for authorisation

of the implementation of a project or the public authority which

initiates a project;

"Regulation (EU) 1315/2013" means Regulation (EU)

No 1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of

11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the development of

the trans-European transport network and repealing Decision

No 661/2010/EU;

"Regulation (EU) 2021/1153" means Regulation (EU)

2021/1153 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7

July 2021 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility and

repealing Regulations (EU) No 1316/2013 and (EU) No 283/

2014.

(1)

The Authority, and any other authority involved in

the permit-granting procedure, shall give priority to projects falling

within the scope of these regulations.

(2)

National procedures for priority projects shall be applied

to projects falling within the scope of these regulations, without

prejudice to the objectives, requirements and time-limits of these

regulations.

(3)

Sub-regulations (1) and (2) shall be without prejudice to

any budgetary decisions.

(1)

The Authority shall

(a)

take all necessary measures to provide project

promoters for projects falling within the scope of these

regulations with easily available information about its identity;

(b)

be the point of contact for information for the

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT

NETWORK (TEN-T)

project promoter and for other relevant authorities involved in

the procedure leading to the authorising decision for a given

project;

(c)

provide the project promoter, where required to do

so under national law, with the detailed outline of the project

application referred to in regulation 6(6), including information

on the indicative time-limits relating to the permit-granting

procedures, in accordance with the four (4) year time-limit

referred to in regulation 5(1);

(d)

oversee the timeframe of the permit-granting

procedure, and in particular record any extension of the time-

limit referred to in regulation 5(3);

(e)

if requested, provide guidance to the project

promoter concerning the submission of all relevant information

and documents, including all the permits, decisions and

opinions which have to be obtained and provided for the

authorising decision;

(2)

The Authority may also provide guidance to the project

promoter as to what additional information and, or documents should

be delivered in the event that the notification referred to in regulation

6(1) has been rejected.

(3)

Sub-regulations (1) and (2) shall be without prejudice to

the competence of any other authorities involved in the permit-

granting procedure and to the possibility for the project promoter to

contact the individual authorities for the specific permits, decisions or

opinions which form part of the authorising decision.

(1)

The permit-granting procedure, including the

deadlines for that procedure, shall not exceed four (4) years from the

start of the permit-granting procedure.

(2)

Sub-regulation (1) shall be without prejudice to

obligations arising from international and European Union law and

shall not include periods necessary to undertake appeal procedures and

to seek judicial remedies before a court or tribunal, as well as any

periods necessary to implement any resulting decisions or remedies.

(3)

The Authority shall adopt the necessary measures to

ensure that, in duly justified cases, an appropriate extension of the four

(4) year period referred to in sub-regulation (1) may be granted. The

duration of the extension shall be determined on a case-by-case basis,

be duly justified and be limited to the purpose of completing the

permit-granting procedure and delivering the authorising decision.

When such an extension has been granted, the project promoter shall

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT

NETWORK (TEN-T)

be informed of the reasons for granting it. A further extension may be

granted once, under the same conditions.

(4)

The Authority shall not be held responsible where the

four (4) year period referred to in sub-regulation (1), as extended in

accordance with sub-regulation (3), is not complied with where the

delay incurred is due to the project promoter.

(1)

The project promoter shall notify the project to the

Authority or, where appropriate, to the joint authority established in

accordance with regulation 7(2). The notification of the project by the

project promoter shall serve as the start of the permit-granting

procedure.

(2)

In order to facilitate the assessment of the maturity of the

project, the Authority shall carry out the vetting of the notification to

define the level of detail of information and the relevant documents

which shall be provided by the project promoter when notifying a

project. If the project is not mature, the notification shall be rejected

by a duly justified decision not later than four (4) months after the

receipt of the notification.

(3)

The Authority shall take the necessary measures to

ensure that project promoters receive general information as a guide to

notification, adapted, where relevant, to the mode of transport

concerned, containing information about the permits, decisions and

opinions that may be required for the implementation of a project.

(4)

That information shall, for each permit, decision or

opinion, include the following

(a)

general information about the material scope and

the level of detail of the information which is to be submitted

by the project promoter;

(b)

the applicable time-limits or, if there are no such

time-limits, indicative time-limits; and

(c)

details of the authorities and stakeholders

normally involved in consultations linked to the different

permits, decisions and opinions.

(5)

That information shall be easily accessible to all relevant

project promoters, in particular through electronic or physical

information portals.

(6)

In order to facilitate successful notification, the

Authority shall establish a detailed outline of the project application

upon request by the project promoter. This detailed outline shall

include the following information customised for the individual

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT

NETWORK (TEN-T)

project

(a)

the individual stages of the procedure and

applicable time-limits or, if there are no such time-limits,

indicative time-limits;

(b)

the material scope and the level of detail of the

information to be submitted by the project promoter;

(c)

a list of permits, decisions and opinions which

shall be obtained by the project promoter during the permit-

granting procedure, in accordance with European Union and

national law;

(d)

the details of the authorities and stakeholders

which shall be involved in connection with the respective

obligations, including during the formal phase of the public

consultation.

(7)

The detailed outline of the project application shall

remain valid during the permit-granting procedure. Any amendment to

the detailed outline of the project application shall be duly justified.

(8)

The Authority may provide the project promoter, on

request, with the information supplementing the elements referred to

in sub-regulation (6).

(9)

When the project promoter has submitted the complete

full development application, it shall be validated by the Authority and

the authorising decision shall be adopted within the time-limit referred

to in regulation 5(1).

(10) The authorities involved in the permit-granting

procedure shall notify the Authority that the required permits,

decisions, opinions have been issued.

(1)

For projects subject to these regulations that

concern Malta and one (1) or more other Member States of the

European Union, the Authority shall cooperate with the competent

authorities of those Member States with a view to coordinating their

timetables and agreeing on a joint schedule concerning the permit-

granting procedure.

(2)

For cross-border projects subject to these regulations, a

joint authority may be established.

(3)

Further to the stipulations in sub-regulation (1), the

Authority shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the

European Coordinators designated in accordance with Article 45 of

Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013 receive information on the permit-

REALISATION OF THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT

NETWORK (TEN-T)

granting procedures, and that the European Coordinators may facilitate

contacts between authorities appointed in the context of the permit-

granting procedures for cross-border projects.

(4)

The Authority shall, if the time-limit referred to in

regulation 5(1) is not observed, and upon their request, provide the

European Coordinators concerned with information on the measures

taken or planned to be taken in order to enable the permit-granting

procedure to be concluded with the least possible delay.

(1)

When procurement procedures are conducted by a

joint authority in a cross border project subject to these regulations, the

Authority shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the joint

authority applies the national law of one (1) of the participating

Member States of the European Union and, that law shall be

determined in accordance with paragraph (a) of Article 39(5) of

Directive 2014/24/EU or paragraph (a) of Article 57(5) of Directive

2014/25/EU, as applicable, unless an agreement between the

participating Member States provides otherwise. Such an agreement

shall, in any case, provide for the application of the national law of one

(1) of the participating Member States to the procurement procedures

conducted by the joint authority.

(2)

For procurement conducted by a subsidiary of a joint

authority, the Authority shall take the necessary measures to ensure

that the subsidiary applies the national law of one (1) of the

participating Member States of the European Union. The Authority

may decide jointly with the competent authorities of the participating

Member States that the subsidiary is to apply the national law

applicable to the joint authority.

(1)

These regulations shall not apply to projects for

which the permit-granting procedures started before 10 August 2023.

(2)

Regulation 8 shall only apply to such contracts for which

the call for competition has been sent, or, in cases where a call for

competition is not foreseen, where the contracting authority or

contracting entity commenced the procurement procedure after 10

August 2023.

(3)

Regulation 8 shall not apply to a joint authority set up

before 9 August 2021, if the procurement procedures of that joint

authority continue to be governed by the law applicable to its

procurements on that date.