AG Campos Sánchez-Bordona: Czech transport infrastructure access authority does not exercise judicial functions and its request for preliminary ruling should be dismissed

Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona has issued an Opinion in CityRail (C-453/20), finding that Czech Transport Infrastructure Access Authority (‘UPDI’) does not perform judicial functions and thus cannot make a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice under Article 267 TFEU. 

The case originated in a complaint lodged by CityRail before the railway administration in the Czech Republic seeking a review of a network statement adopted by the infrastructure manager that relates to railway companies’ access to places of loading. CityRail argued that certain statement’s rules essentially eliminate competition on the market of individual consignments in freight transport.

Transport Infrastructure Access Author