Activites

• 2008/07/18 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 2008/57
  • OJ L 191 18.07.2008, p. 0001
• 2008/06/17 Final act signed
• 2008/06/17 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2866
• 2008/05/14 Council Meeting
• 2008/05/14 Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
• 2007/12/11 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0597/2007 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution on the proposal for a on the interoperability of the Community rail system. Based on the report drafted by Josu ORTUONDO LARREA (ALDE, ES), it approved the Commission’s proposal, subject to several amendments. The text adopted in plenary was the result of an agreement negotiated with the Council.  The main elements of the compromise were as follows:Objective and scope:  all the provisions of Directive 2004/49/EC (the Safety Directive on authorisation of vehicles) that are already in use are transferred to the Interoperability Directive. As a result, the directive applies to all existing rolling stock.Member States may exclude from the measures they adopt in implementation of the Directive: (a) metros, trams and other light rail systems;(b) networks that are functionally separate from the rest of the railway system and intended only for the operation of local, urban or suburban passenger services, as well as railway undertakings operating solely on these networks; (c) privately owned railway infrastructure and vehicles exclusively used on such infrastructure that exist solely for use by the owner for its own freight operations; (d) infrastructure and vehicles reserved for a strictly local, historical or touristic use.Vehicles: Parliament introduced a new definition of “vehicle” which means a railway vehicle suitable to circulate on its own wheels on railway lines, with or without traction. A vehicle is composed of one or more structural and functional subsystems or parts of such subsystems.  Technical specifications for interoperability (TSIs): when developing new TSIs the aim should always be to ensure compatibility with the existing authorised system. The text states that if certain technical aspects corresponding to the essential requirements cannot be explicitly covered in a TSI, they are identified in an Annex to the TSI as "open points' .When a TSI conform vehicle has already been authorised in one Member State, additional authorisations should only consider those open points that relate to the technical compatibility between the vehicle and the network. The list of parameters to be checked in conjunction with the placing in service of non TSI conform vehicles is a key element in order to achieve interoperability of railway systems, in particular with regard to existing vehicles. This list takes into account experience across a limited number of networks. Therefore, the European Railway Agency will review the parameters in Annex VIa and maks the recommendations it considers appropriate to the Commission.  Moreover, TSI will be revised at regular intervals. However, when critical errors are discovered, an ad hoc rapid procedure will be set up in such a way that a provisional corrigendum is first agreed in the context of the Committee and then published by ERA. This will allow an earlier use of this corrigendum by all stakeholders, pending a formal revision of the TSI by the Commission. Authorisation procedure: the draft directive establishes an authorisation procedure for placing in service which will apply to existing or new rolling stock, whether these conform to the TSIs or not. Members aimed to simplify and clarify the procedures for authorising vehicles, based on the following four principles: (1) the general principle that one authorisation is sufficient for the whole Community rail network;(2) the procedure for authorising vehicles which are TSI conform should be simpler and quicker than in the case of non TSI conform;(3) the principle of mutual recognition should be applied as far as possible: when a vehicle has already been placed in service in one Member States, other Member States should not invoke national rules for imposing unnecessary requirements and redundant verifications, unless these are strictly necessary for verifying technical compatibility of the vehicle with the relevant network. To this end national rules should be classified and compared according to a check-list in order to determine to which extend national rules can be declared as equivalent in terms of requirements, performances and safety; (4) the principle of legal certainty of the outcome of the procedure will be pursued. To this end in the absence of a decision of a national safety authority in the prescribed time limits an applicant should be authorised to place in service a vehicle. Such an authorisation would only be possible if the vehicle has already been authorised in another Member State. In addition the use of such a vehicle would only be possible by a railway undertaking or by an infrastructure manager duly certified according to the railway safety directive, and under their full responsibility.Furthermore, with a view to facilitating the placing in service of vehicles and reducing the administrative burden, a procedure for authorisation of vehicle types is added. Registers of network and vehicles: any vehicle placed in service in the Community rail system shall carry a European vehicle number (EVN) assigned when the first authorisation of placing in service was issued. The compromise text states that each Member State shall keep a National Vehicle Register (NVR) of the rail vehicles authorised in its territory. In addition, the Agency will set up and keep a register of types of rail vehicles authorised by the Member States for placing in service on the European Community's rail network. That register shall be public and accessible to everyone electronically.  Each Member State shall ensure that a register of infrastructure is published and updated. Reports: every three years and for the first time three years after entry into force of the Directive the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the Council on the progress made towards achieving interoperability of the rail system. The Commission shall publish within 5 years from the entry into force of this Directive, a report including an analysis of the application of chapter V (Vehicles) and of the improvements in the cross-acceptance of railway vehicles in the Community in terms of length and costs of the procedures for the applicants. Where appropriate, the report shall also assess the impact of various options for the further simplifying of procedures relating to the authorisation of vehicles. In this case several options concerning the cooperation between national safety authorities and the Agency shall be analysed.

• 2007/11/28 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• #2821
• 2007/10/01 Council Meeting
  • 2821 summary

    The Council reached a general approach on a draft directive on the interoperability of the Community rail system. This directive is part of a set of proposals adopted by the Commission in December 2006 which aim at improving cross-acceptance of railway vehicles in the Community. The Council bodies introduced two important changes compared to the Commission’s proposal: 1)      all the provisions of the Safety Directive on authorisation of vehicles that are already in use are transferred to the interoperability directive. As a result, the directive applies to all existing rolling stock. At its June 2007 session, the Council already supported the concentration of all provisions on authorisation of vehicles in a single legislative act;2)      the principle that, once a Member State has authorised a type of vehicle, all vehicles of the same type will automatically be authorised to be put in service in that Member State, is incorporated in the directive. In addition, in order to facilitate the identification of vehicle types that have already been authorised in Member States, the Council proposes to establish a European register of authorised types of rolling stock. This register is to be set up and kept by the European Railway Agency.The European Parliament's first-reading opinion is scheduled for adoption in November 2007.

• 2007/09/25 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0345/2007
• 2007/09/11 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• #2805
• 2007/06/06 Council Meeting
  • 2805
• 2007/01/17 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2006/12/13 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2006)0783 summary

    PURPOSE:  to merge the interoperability Directives on high-speed and conventional rail systems.PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council.BACKGROUND: national procedures for the approval of locomotives are currently regarded as one of the biggest barriers to the creation of new railway companies in the freight sector and a major obstacle to the interoperability of the European railway system. Since no Member State can decide on its own that the authorisation for placing in service which it issues will be valid on the territory of other Member States, a Community initiative is needed to harmonise national procedures, simplify them and apply more systematically the principle of mutual recognition. Furthermore, with a view to simplifying and modernising the present legal framework, the consolidation and merging of the interoperability directives is proposed. CONTENT: this proposal concerns amendments to i) Directive 96/48/EC and 1882/2003/EC on the interoperability of the trans-European high speed rail systems ii) Directive 2001/16/EC on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail systems and iii) Directive 2004/50/EC, which amends both of the aforementioned Directives.  In particular, it aims to merge the two interoperability Directives on high speed and conventional rail systems is being presented alongside two other initiatives, namely a proposal to amend the Railway Safety Directive (COD/2006/0272) and a proposal to extend the mission of the European Railway Agency (COD/2006/0274). The Commission is proposing amendments to all of these acts for three reasons: firstly, to simplify and streamline legislation for the sake of clarity; secondly, to facilitate the free movement of trains across the EU; and thirdly, to propose several technical improvements.This initiative is part of a set of proposals aimed at resolving the problem of rolling stock for which placing in service has been authorised in one Member State but which is not automatically accepted in another Member State. To this end, it is proposed to simplify the procedure for placing in service. For wagons and passenger carriages placed in service after this Directive has entered into force, a single authorisation for placing in service issued by one Member State of the Community should suffice. In the case of rolling stock placed in service before this Directive enters into force and not bearing an "EC" declaration of verification, it should be made clear that the Railway Safety Directive applies. In the case of rolling stock bearing an "EC" declaration of verification as provided for in Article 18, the only criteria which a safety authority may check with a view to issuing an authorisation for placing in service should be comprehensively identified. In the case of vehicle series produced from a type, Member States should be allowed to issue batch authorisations for placing in service. Furthermore, it makes it possible to reduce the administrative costs associated with theactivities of the national safety authorities.Other changes are being proposed. They relate to:The geographical scope of the new Directive and its extension:- When the proposed new single Directive comes into force it will cover both high speed and conventional rail networks across Europe. The proposed scope will, therefore, need to be progressively extended to cover the entire network and all rolling stock. Any new TSI’s will be dependent on an Agency Impact Assessment.Definitions:- A number of new definitions are proposed including: contracting entity; keeper and project at an advanced stage of development.Derogations:- Amendments are being proposed which allow the Commission to verify whether a derogation, based on the notion of “at an advanced stage of development”, are indeed justified.Transition periods:- The Commission is proposing a transition period for a number of interoperability constituents that are already being applied when a new TSI comes into force.Technical annexes of TSIs:- An amendment is being proposed whereby the Agency will be able to publish technical annexes in the case of rapid technological advances. This is being proposed in a bid to shorten the time of TSI adoptions – particularly in the case of rapid changes, such as control, command and signalling subsystems.Operation and maintenance requirements:- Allowing Member States to check that operators are in compliance with provisions set out in the Railway Safety Directive.Procedure for placing rolling stock in service (Article 14):- A proposed simplification of the procedure for placing rolling stock into service. (See also COD/2006/0272 and 0274).Urgent amendments of a TSI:- This is being proposed in a bid to speed up approval for urgent changes to TSIs, which is currently a cumbersome and lengthy procedure. The Commission proposes that in future the Agency should request a “Technical Opinion” and that the Commission should decide whether or not a Technical Opinion can be used – pending review of the TSI.Certificate for intermediate verification:- This proposed amendment would make it possible to acknowledge the procedure for verifying a subsystem.Infrastructure and rolling stock registers:- The Commission is proposing a clarification of the scope of the various registers including their scope; their contents; how they interconnect and how they are used by the various players such as national safety authorities; infrastructure managers; railway companies; keeper; manufacturers etc.

  • DG Energy and Transport, BARROT Jacques

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2006)0783
• Debate in Council: 2805
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A6-0345/2007
• Debate in Council: 2821
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0597/2007
• : Directive 2008/57
• : OJ L 191 18.07.2008, p. 0001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)