38 Amendments of Phil BENNION related to 2013/0014(COD)
Amendment 41 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) The Agency, while performing its tasks, and particularly in relation to drafting recommendations, should take upmost account of external railway expertise. This expertise should predominantly consist of professionals from the railway sectorexperts from the national safety authorities and other relevant national authorities as well as professionals from the railway sector. They should form competent and representative working parties of the Agency.
Amendment 45 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Railway undertakings have been faced with various problems when applying for safety certificates to competent national authorities, ranging from protracting procedures and excessive costs to unfair treatment, especially of new entrants. The certificates issued in one Member State have not been unconditionally recognised in other Member States, with a detriment to the Single European rail area. In order to make the procedures for issuing safety certificates to railway undertakings more efficient and impartial, it is essential to migrate towards a single safety certificate valid throughout the Union within the specified areas of use and issued by the Agency. The revised Directive … [Railway Safety Directive] provides a basis for this.
Amendment 51 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) In order to further pursue the development of Single European rail area, in particular with relation to providing appropriate information to freight customers and passengers, and taking into account current involvement of the Agency, it is necessary to give it a strengthened role in the field of telematics applications within a flexible framework ensuring interoperability as well as enabling innovative commercial strategies to coexist. This would ensure their consistent development and swift deployment.
Amendment 62 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) Competent national authorities have been normally charging for issuing vehicle authorisations and safety certificates. With the transfer competence to the Union level, the Agency should be entitled to charge the applicants for issuing the certificates and authorisations mentioned in the preceding recitals. The level of those charges should be equal to or lower than the current average in the Unvary according to the extent of operations and area of use specified in the certificate or authorisation and should be determined in a delegated act to be adopted by the Commission.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) It is a general objective that the transfer of functions and tasks from the Member States to the Agency should be done efficiently, without any reduction in the current high levels of safety. The Agency should have sufficient resources for its new tasks, and the timing of the allocation of these resources should be based on clearly defined needs. Taking into account the know-how of national authorities, in particular the National Safety Authorities, the Agency should be allowed to make appropriate use of that expertise including through contractual agreements when granting the relevant authorisations and certificates. To this end, secondment of national experts to the Agency should be encouragstrongly encouraged, promoted and facilitated.
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) Performance, organisation and decision-making procedures in the field of railway interoperability and safety vary substantially among the national safety authorities and notified conformity assessment bodies, with a detrimental effect to smooth operation of the Single European rail area. In particular, small and medium companies wishing to enter the railway market in another Member State can be negatively affected. Therefore, a strengthened coordination with a view to greater harmonisation at the Union level is essential. To this end, the Agency should monitor the national safety authorities and notified conformity assessment bodies through audits and inspections. Equal monitoring of the performance of the Agency is as well required.
Amendment 70 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) The interoperability of the Trans- European network should be enhanced and theboth ongoing and new investment projects chosen for support by the Union should be in line with the objective of interoperability set in Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the Trans-European transport network. The Agency is the right institution to contribute to these objectives.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) In order to ensure the greatest possible transparency and equal access for all parties to relevant information, the documents envisaged for the railway interoperability and safety processes should be accessible to the public. The same applies to licences, safety certificates and other relevant railway documents. The Agency should provide an efficient, user friendly and easily accessible means of exchanging and publishing this information.
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) In order to increase the efficiency of the Union financial support, its quality and compatibility with relevant technical regulations, the Agency, as the only Union body with reputable competence in the railway field, should play an active role in the assessment of rail project should play an active role in the assessment of rail projects with European added value, in close cooperation with national infrastructure managers.
Amendment 76 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) Railway interoperability and safety legislation, implementation guides or recommendations of the Agency may sometimes pose interpretation and other problems to the stakeholders. Proper and uniform understanding of those acts is a precondition for effective implementation of the railway acquis and the functioning of the railway market. Therefore, the Agency should actively engage in training and explanatory activities in that regard, with a particular attention to be given to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Amendment 80 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) In order to perform its tasks properly, the Agency should have legal personality and an autonomous budget funded mainly through a contribution by the Union and through fees and charges paid by applicants. In order to ensure independence in its daily management and in the opinions, recommendations and decisions which it issues, the Agency's organisation should be transparent, the Executive Director should have full responsibility. The Agency's staff should be independent and should represent an appropriate balance of short-term and long-term contracts, of seconded national experts and permanent officials, in order to maintain its organisational knowledge and business continuity while keeping necessary and on- going exchange of expertise with the railway sector.
Amendment 86 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 37
Recital 37
(37) In order to properly determine the level of fees and charges which the Agency is entitled to levy, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of articles dealing with issuing and renewal of authorisations for placing in service of trackside control- command and signalling subsystems, authorisations for placing on the market for vehicles and for types of vehicles, and safety certificates. A differentiated level of fees and charges should be applied according to the areas of use and extent of operations specified in safety certificates and authorisations. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level. The Commission, when preparing and drawing-up delegated acts, should ensure a simultaneous, timely and appropriate transmission of relevant documents to the European Parliament and Council.
Amendment 135 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 1
Article 12 – paragraph 1
The Agency shall issue, renew, suspend, amend or revoke single safety certificates in accordance with Articles 10 and 11 of Directive … [the Safety Directive].
Amendment 145 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point g a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point g a (new)
(ga) submit to the Commission the recommendations on European standards developed by European standardisation bodies, particularly concerning spare parts.
Amendment 157 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. The drafting, adoption and review of each TSI, including the basic parameters, shall take account of the estimated costs and benefits of all the technical solutions considered, together with the interfaces between them, so as to establish and implement the most viable solutions.
Amendment 163 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1
The Agency shall issue, renew, suspend, amend or revoke authorisations for placing on the market for railway vehicles in accordance with Article 20 of Directive … [the Interoperability Directive].
Amendment 171 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 17 – paragraph 1
Article 17 – paragraph 1
The Agency shall issue, renew, suspend, amend or revoke authorisations for placing on the market for types of vehicles in accordance with Article 22 of Directive … [the Interoperability Directive].
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 18 – paragraph 1
Article 18 – paragraph 1
The Agency shall issue, renew, suspend, amend or revoke authorisations for placing in service of the trackside control- command and signalling subsystems located or operated in the entire Union in accordance with Article 18 of Directive … [the Interoperability Directive].
Amendment 192 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 19 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 19 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. The Agency may play a role in promoting open and full access to data including international timetable dataset
Amendment 215 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22 – paragraph 3 – point a
Article 22 – paragraph 3 – point a
(a) issue a recommendation addressed to the Member State concerned, that the problematic rule be repealed or modified immediately, and stating the reasons why theat rule in question shouldhas to be modified or repealed;
Amendment 218 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 22 – paragraph 5
Article 22 – paragraph 5
5. The procedure described in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, in cases where the Agency becomes aware of any national rule, notified or not, being redundant or in conflict with the CSMs, CSTs, TSIs or any other Union legislation in the railway field, or resulting in arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on rail transport operation between or within Member States.
Amendment 224 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 23 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Within one month after the entry into force of this Directive, Member States shall notify to the Commission any existing national rule which has not been notified by the date of entry into force of this Regulation.
Amendment 250 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 31 – paragraph 3
Article 31 – paragraph 3
3. At the Commission’s request, the Agency shall issue recommendations on how to improve the interoperability and safety of the railway systems, in particular by facilitating coordination between railway undertakings and infrastructure managers, or between infrastructure managers.
Amendment 270 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. The Agency shall make the following documents and registers provided for by Directive … [Interoperability Directive] and Directive … [Railway Safety Directive] publicly available through an implemented, user-friendly and easily accessible IT solution:
Amendment 274 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – point g
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – point g
(g) the vehicle registers, including via links to relevant nationalEuropean vehicle registers;
Amendment 276 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – point m a (new)
Article 33 – paragraph 2 – point m a (new)
(ma) the register of certified entities in charge of maintenance, in accordance with Article 14 of Directive...[railway safety directive]
Amendment 279 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 33 – paragraph 5
Article 33 – paragraph 5
5. The national authorities responsible for issuing the licences and certificates referred to in points (c) and (d) of paragraph 2 shall notify the Agency within one monthfifteen days of each individual decision to issue, renew, amend or revoke those licenses and certificates.
Amendment 291 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 38 – paragraph 1
Article 38 – paragraph 1
Without prejudice to the derogations provided for by Article 9 of Directive […] [Railway Interoperability Directive], the Agency shall, at the Commission's request, examine, from the point of view of interoperability and safety, any project involving the design, construction, renewal or upgrading of the subsystem for which an application for Union financial support has been submitted. In the case of projects funded under the Trans European Network – Transport (TEN-T) programme, the Agency should closely cooperate with the TEN-T Executive Agency.
Amendment 294 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 41 – paragraph 1
Article 41 – paragraph 1
The Agency shall contribute to identifying potential railway spare parts to be standardised. To this end, the Agency mayshall establish a working party in order to coordinate the stakeholders' activities and mayshall establish contacts with the European standardisation bodies. The Agency shall present the Commission with appropriate recommendations two years after the entry into force of this regulation.
Amendment 312 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 51 – paragraph 1
Article 51 – paragraph 1
1. The Agency shall establish one or more independent Boards of Appeal.
Amendment 323 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 53 – paragraph 1
Article 53 – paragraph 1
1. The members of the Board of Appeal mayshall not take part in any appeal proceedings if they have any personal interest in the proceedings, if they have previously been involved as representatives of one of the parties to the proceedings, or if they participated in the decision under appeal.
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 54 – paragraph 1
Article 54 – paragraph 1
1. An appeal may be brought before the Board of Appeal against decisions taken, or not taken within the prescribed time limits, by the Agency pursuant to Articles 12, 16, 17 and 18.
Amendment 339 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 55 – paragraph 1
Article 55 – paragraph 1
1. Any natural or legal person may appeal against a decision addressed to that person by the Agency pursuant to Articles 12, 16, 17 and 18 or against a failure to take a decision within the prescribed time limits.
Amendment 347 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 56 – paragraph 1
Article 56 – paragraph 1
1. When examining the appeal, the Board of Appeal shall act expeditiously and within a maximum of two months. It shall, as often as necessary, invite the parties to the appeal proceedings to file, within specified time limitsone month, observations on its notifications or on communications from other parties to the appeal proceedings. Parties to the appeal proceedings shall be entitled to make oral presentations.
Amendment 359 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 58 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 58 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) the fees paid by applicants for, and holders of, certificates and authorisations issued by the Agency in accordance with Articles 12, 16, 17 and 18. The Agency should set different price charging according to the areas of use of certificates and authorisations and type and extent of railway operations;
Amendment 362 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 63 – paragraph 1
Article 63 – paragraph 1
The Agency may alsoshall make use of Seconded National Experts and in particular staff from national safety authorities, or other staff not employed by the Agency under the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.
Amendment 385 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 72 – title
Article 72 – title
Combating fraud Combating fraud and monitoring performance
Amendment 386 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 72 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 72 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. The European Court of Auditors shall monitor the performance and decision-making of the Agency through audit and inspections.