3/21
CIT/UIC Passenger Claims Department’s Conference
Claim handling from the legal point of view and digitalization in the railway sector affecting handling processes were some of the highlights of this year’s CIT/UIC Conference of Passenger Claims Departments, which was hold on 22 September 2021 as online meeting.
Record attendance
More than 90 persons from CIT and UIC participated in this year’s conference. The event was opened by Marc Guigon, Director of UIC’s Passenger department, who provided information on current challenges within the passenger transportation. The conference was chaired by Isabelle Saintilan, Legal Counsel for passenger matters at SNCF and also Chair of the CIV Committee.
Legal aspects on claim handling processes
During the first part of the morning session, participants were given by Oliver Hirschfeld (DB) an overview on claim handling processes from a legal point of view with an analysis of the Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of International Carriage of Passengers by Rail (CIV), the current Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 on Rail Passengers’ Rights and Obligations (PRR) and CIT’s Agreement concerning the Relationship between Transport Undertakings in respect of International Passenger Traffic by Rail (AIV). Outcomes of the PRR Recast (Regulation (EU) 2021/782) related to the claim handling process and to the claim form was the tackled by Isabelle Saintilan (SNCF).
Digitalisation of claim handling processes
The second part of the morning session was dedicated to digitalization in claim handling processes. Digitalisation in the rail sector affects indeed also claim handling processes. Challenging issues include online submission of claim forms, online claim interfaces and automation in processing of claim handling. Different speakers coming from the railway sector presented how they deal practically with those new technical solutions in claim handling processes and after-sales procedures.
Jessica Hamburger and Torsten Zapf (DB) presented new online claim form and process of digital submission of claims. Katarina Nyman and Frida Walker (SJ) showed the audience the automatization and self-service process for customers in Sweden. Jana Peléšková (CD) explained the importance of email management in claim handling processes and James Blackwood together with Mattew Elvey (Eurostar) talked about Eurostar’s experience in digitalization using e-vouchers and on the challenges related to Covid-19 in this respect. This part of the conference was concluded with a presentation of José Carlos Bravo Garcia and Angel De la Villa (RENFE) who underlined the high value of automatic systems to compensate passengers.
Development of a new EU claim form and CIT’s products
Sandra Dobler (CIT) and Jan Vávra (CIT) presented the development of a new EU-Claim Form, followed by an overview of CIT’s products which are of interest for customer services, including the revised Manual on Data Protection (MDP), amendments to the AIV and to the Manual for International Rail Tickets (MIRT) and other useful information coming from the CIT.
Fruitful workshop and discussion
The highlight of the conference was a workshop dealing specifically with the cases conditioned by huge travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, giving participants the possibility to discuss unclarified or disputed cases. The animate discussions showed the value of networking and the importance of sharing views between participants.
At the end of the conference, the participants were thanked for their active participation and were invited to next year’s Conference of Passenger Claims Departments, which will be held on 28 September 2022. The location of the event will be announced at a later date.