The Railways (Interoperability) (High-Speed) Regulations 2002 No. 1166

Regulations 2 and 5

SCHEDULE 7 (Annex VII to the high-speed Directive)MINIMUM CRITERIA WHICH MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT BY THE MEMBER STATES WHEN NOTIFYING BODIES

1.  The body, its Director and the staff responsible for carrying out the checking operations may not become involved either directly or as authorised representatives in the design, manufacture, construction, marketing or maintenance or the interoperability constituents or subsystems or in their use. This does not exclude the possibility of an exchange of technical information between the manufacturer or constructor and that body.

2.  The body and the staff responsible for inspection must carry out the checking operations with the greatest possible professional integrity and the greatest possible technical competence and must be free of any pressure and incentive, in particular of a financial type, which may affect their judgement or the results of their inspection, and in particular those generated by persons or groups of persons affected by the results of the checks.

3.  That body must employ staff and possess the means required to perform adequately the technical and administrative tasks linked with the conducting of checks. It should also have access to the equipment needed for exceptional checks.

4.  The staff responsible for the checks must possess:

• proper technical and vocation training;

• a satisfactory knowledge of the requirements relating to the checks that they carry out and sufficient practice in those checks;

• the ability to draw up the certificates, records and reports which constitute the formal record of the inspections conducted.

5.  The independence of the staff responsible for inspections must be guaranteed. No official must be remunerated either on the basis of the number of inspections performed or of the results of those inspections.

6.  The body must take out civil liability insurance unless that liability is covered by the State under national law or unless the inspections are carried out directly by that Member State.

7.  The staff of that body are bound by professional secrecy with regard to everything they learn in the performance of their duties (with the exception of the competent administrative authorities in the State where they perform those activities) in pursuance of this Directive or any provision of national law implementing the Directive.