Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on safety on the Community's railways and amending Council Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive 2001 /14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (Railway Safety Directive) (repealed) (c. 49)

CHAPTER IV SAFETY AUTHORITY

Article 16 Tasks

1. Each Member State shall establish a safety authority. This authority may be the Ministry responsible for transport matters and shall be independent in its organisation, legal structure and decision making from any railway undertaking, infrastructure manager, applicant and procurement entity.

2. The safety authority shall be entrusted with at least the following tasks:

(a) authorising the bringing into service of the structural subsystems constituting the trans-European high-speed rail system in accordance with Article 14 of Directive 96/48/EC and checking that they are operated and maintained in accordance with the relevant essential requirements;

(b) authorising the bringing into service of the structural subsystems constituting the trans-European conventional rail system, in accordance with Article 14 of Directive 2001/16/EC and checking that they are operated and maintained in accordance with the relevant essential requirements;

(c) supervising that the interoperability constituents are in compliance with the essential requirements as required by Article 12 of Directives 96/48/EC and 2001/16/EC;

(d) authorising the placing in service of new and substantially altered rolling stock that is not yet covered by a TSI;

(e) the issue, renewal, amendments and revocation of relevant parts of safety certificates and of safety authorisations granted in accordance with Articles 10 and 11 and checking that conditions and requirements laid down in them are met and that infrastructure managers and railway undertakings are operating under the requirements of Community or national law;

(f) monitoring, promoting, and, where appropriate, enforcing and developing the safety regulatory framework including the system of national safety rules;

(g) supervising that rolling stock is duly registered and that safety-related information in the national register, established in accordance with Article 14 of Directive 96/48/EC and of Directive 2001/16/EC, is accurate and kept up-to-date;

3. The tasks referred to in paragraph 2 may not be transferred or subcontracted to any infrastructure manager, railway undertaking or procurement entity.