ABSTRACT
Trevor Soames’ paper has provided an expose of the genesis and application of the essential facilities doctrine in EC law as it applies in relation to sea ports. Those are the application of the concept of essential facilities in the rail sector and the application of similar principles in relation to bus stations in the UK. Direction 91/440 gave rights of access to rail infrastructure to certain entities namely railway undertakings engaged in the international combined transport of goods and international groupings of railway undertakings providing cross-border passenger transport. The Commission had acknowledged that the relevant markets in which ENS operated was wider than the markets for business and leisure travel by rail. The Night Services Decision must surely represent the high water mark of the Commission’s application of the essential facilities concept to rail the Court follows the opinion of Advocate General Jacobs in the Bronner case and establishes some limits for the application of the concept.
