Directive 2004/49/EC of the european parliament and of the council (repealed)Show full title

CHAPTER III U.K. SAFETY CERTIFICATION AND AUTHORISATION

Article 10 U.K. Safety certificates

1. In order to be granted access to the railway infrastructure, a railway undertaking must hold a safety certificate as provided for in this Chapter. The safety certificate may cover the whole railway network of a Member State or only a defined part thereof.

[F1 The purpose of the safety certificate is to provide evidence that the railway undertaking has established its safety management system and can meet requirements laid down in TSIs and other relevant Community legislation and in national safety rules in order to control risks and provide transport services safely on the network.]

2. The safety certificate shall comprise:

(a) certification confirming acceptance of the railway undertaking's safety management system as described in Article 9 and Annex III,

and

[F1 (b) certification confirming acceptance of the provisions adopted by the railway undertaking to meet specific requirements necessary for the safe supply of its services on the relevant network. These requirements may concern the application of the TSIs and national safety rules, including the network operating rules, acceptance of staff certificates and authorisation to operate vehicles used by railway undertakings. The certification shall be based on documentation submitted by the railway undertaking as described in Annex IV.]

3. The safety authority in the Member State where the railway undertaking first establishes its operation shall grant the certification in accordance with paragraph 2.

The certification granted in accordance with paragraph 2 must specify the type and extent of the railway operations covered. The certification granted in accordance with paragraph 2(a) shall be valid throughout the Community for equivalent rail transport operations.

4. The safety authority in the Member State in which the railway undertaking is planning to operate additional rail transport services shall grant the additional national certification necessary in accordance with paragraph 2(b).

5. The safety certificate shall be renewed upon application by the railway undertaking at intervals not exceeding five years. It shall be wholly or partly updated whenever the type or extent of the operation is substantially altered.

The holder of the safety certificate shall without delay inform the competent safety authority of all major changes in the conditions of the relevant part of the safety certificate. It shall furthermore notify the competent safety authority whenever new categories of staff or new types of rolling stock are introduced.

The safety authority may require that the relevant part of the safety certificate be revised following substantial changes in the safety regulatory framework.

If the safety authority finds that the holder of the safety certificate no longer satisfies the conditions for a certification which it has issued, it shall revoke part (a) and/or (b) of the certificate, giving reasons for its decision. The safety authority that has revoked an additional national certification granted in accordance with paragraph 4 shall promptly inform the safety authority that granted the certification under paragraph 2(a) of its decision.

Similarly, a safety authority must revoke a safety certificate if it is apparent that the holder of the safety certificate has not used it as intended in the year following its issue.

6. The safety authority shall inform the Agency within one month of the safety certificates referred to in paragraph 2(a) that have been issued, renewed, amended or revoked. It shall state the name and address of the railway undertaking, the issue date, scope and validity of the safety certificate and, in case of revocation, the reasons for its decision.

7. Before 30 April 2009 the Agency shall evaluate the development of safety certification and submit a report to the Commission with recommendations on a strategy for migration towards a single Community safety certificate. The Commission shall take appropriate action following the recommendation.

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Directive 2008/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 amending Directive 2004/49/EC on safety on the Community’s railways (Railway Safety Directive) (Text with EEA relevance).

Article 11 U.K. Safety authorisation of infrastructure managers

1. In order to be allowed to manage and operate a rail infrastructure the infrastructure manager must obtain a safety authorisation from the safety authority in the Member State where he is established.

The safety authorisation shall comprise:

(a) authorisation confirming acceptance of the infrastructure manager's safety management system as described in Article 9 and Annex III,

and

(b) authorisation confirming acceptance of the provisions of the infrastructure manager to meet specific requirements necessary for the safe design, maintenance and operation of the railway infrastructure including, where appropriate, the maintenance and operation of the traffic control and signalling system.

2. The safety authorisation shall be renewed upon application by the infrastructure manager at intervals not exceeding five years. It shall be wholly or partly updated whenever substantial changes are made to the infrastructure, signalling or energy supply or to the principles of its operation and maintenance. The holder of the safety authorisation shall without delay inform the safety authority of all such changes.

The safety authority may require that the safety authorisation be revised following substantial changes to the safety regulatory framework.

If the safety authority finds that an authorised infrastructure manager no longer satisfies the conditions for a safety authorisation it shall revoke the authorisation, giving reasons for its decisions.

3. The safety authority shall inform the Agency within one month of the safety authorisations that have been issued, renewed, amended or revoked. It shall state the name and address of the infrastructure manager, the issue date, the scope and validity of the safety authorisation and, in case of revocation, the reasons for its decision.

Article 12 U.K. Application requirements relating to safety certification and safety authorisation

1. The safety authority shall take a decision on an application for safety certification or safety authorisation without delay and in any event not more than four months after all information required and any supplementary information requested by the safety authority has been submitted. If the applicant is requested to submit supplementary information, such information shall be submitted promptly.

2. In order to facilitate the establishment of new railway undertakings and the submission of applications from railway undertakings from other Member States, the safety authority shall give detailed guidance on how to obtain the safety certificate. It shall list all requirements that have been laid down for the purpose of Article 10(2) and make all relevant documents available to the applicant.

Special guidance shall be given to railway undertakings that apply for a safety certificate concerning services on a defined limited part of an infrastructure, specifically identifying the rules that are valid for the part in question.

3. An application guidance document describing and explaining the requirements for the safety certificates and listing the documents that must be submitted shall be made available to the applicants free of charge. All applications for safety certificates shall be submitted in the language required by the safety authority.

Article 13 U.K. Access to training facilities

1. Member States shall ensure that railway undertakings applying for a safety certificate have fair and non-discriminatory access to training facilities for train drivers and staff accompanying the trains, whenever such training is necessary for the fulfilment of requirements to obtain the safety certificate.

The services offered must include training on necessary route knowledge, operating rules and procedures, the signalling and control command system and emergency procedures applied on the routes operated.

Member States shall also ensure that infrastructure managers and their staff performing vital safety tasks have fair and non-discriminatory access to training facilities.

If the training services do not include examinations and granting of certificates, Member States shall ensure that railway undertakings have access to such certification if it is a requirement of the safety certificate.

The safety authority shall ensure that the provision of training services or, where appropriate, the granting of certificates meets the safety requirements laid down in TSIs or national safety rules described in Article 8 and Annex II.

2. If the training facilities are available only through the services of one single railway undertaking or the infrastructure manager, Member States shall ensure that they are made available to other railway undertakings at a reasonable and non-discriminatory price, which is cost-related and may include a profit margin.

3. When recruiting new train drivers, staff on board trains and staff performing vital safety tasks, railway undertakings must be able to take into account any training, qualifications and experience acquired previously from other railway undertakings. For this purpose, such members of staff shall be entitled to have access to, obtain copies and communicate all documents attesting to their training, qualifications and experience.

4. In every case each railway undertaking and each infrastructure manager shall be responsible for the level of training and qualifications of its staff carrying out safety-related work as set out in Article 9 and Annex III.

F2 Article 14 U.K. [F2 Placing in service of in-use rolling stock]

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Textual Amendments

F2 Deleted by Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community (Recast) (Text with EEA relevance).

[F3 Article 14a U.K. Maintenance of vehicles

1. Each vehicle, before it is placed in service or used on the network, shall have an entity in charge of maintenance assigned to it and this entity shall be registered in the NVR in accordance with Article 33 of the Railway Interoperability Directive.

2. A railway undertaking, an infrastructure manager or a keeper may be an entity in charge of maintenance.

3. Without prejudice to the responsibility of the railway undertakings and infrastructure managers for the safe operation of a train as provided for in Article 4, the entity shall ensure that the vehicles for which it is in charge of maintenance are in a safe state of running by means of a system of maintenance. To this end, the entity in charge of maintenance shall ensure that vehicles are maintained in accordance with:

(a) the maintenance file of each vehicle;

(b) the requirements in force including maintenance rules and TSI provisions.

The entity in charge of maintenance shall carry out the maintenance itself or make use of contracted maintenance workshops.

4. In the case of freight wagons, each entity in charge of maintenance shall be certified by a body accredited or recognised in accordance with paragraph 5, or by a national safety authority. The accreditation process shall be based on criteria of independence, competence and impartiality, such as the relevant EN 45 000 series European standards. The recognition process shall also be based on criteria of independence, competence and impartiality.

Where the entity in charge of maintenance is a railway undertaking or an infrastructure manager, compliance with the requirements to be adopted under paragraph 5 shall be checked by the relevant national safety authority pursuant to the procedures referred to in Articles 10 or 11 and shall be confirmed on the certificates specified in those procedures.

5. Based on a recommendation by the Agency, the Commission shall, by 24 December 2010 , adopt a measure establishing a system of certification of the entity in charge of maintenance for freight wagons. Certificates granted in accordance with this system shall confirm compliance with the requirements referred to in paragraph 3.

The measure shall include the requirements concerning:

(a) the maintenance system established by the entity;

(b) the format and validity of the certificate granted to the entity;

(c) the criteria for accreditation or recognition of body or bodies responsible for issuing certificates and ensuring controls necessary for the functioning of the certification system;

(d) the date of application of the certification system, including a transition period of one year for existing entities in charge of maintenance.

This measure, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 27(2a).

Based on a recommendation by the Agency, the Commission shall, by 24 December 2018 review this measure in order to include all vehicles and to update, if necessary, the certification system applicable to freight wagons.

6. The certificates granted in accordance with paragraph 5 shall be valid throughout the Community.

7. The Agency shall evaluate the certification process implemented in accordance with paragraph 5 by submitting a report to the Commission, no later than three years after the entry into force of the relevant measure.

8. Member States may decide to fulfil the obligations to identify the entity in charge of maintenance and to certify it through alternative measures, in the following cases:

(a) vehicles registered in a third country and maintained according to the law of that country;

(b) vehicles which are used on networks or lines the track gauge of which is different from that of the main rail network within the Community and for which fulfilment of the requirements referred to in paragraph 3 are ensured by international agreements with third countries;

(c) vehicles identified in Article 2(2), and military equipment and special transport requiring an ad hoc national safety authority permit to be delivered prior to the service. In this case derogations shall be granted for periods not longer than five years.

Such alternative measures shall be implemented through derogations to be granted by the relevant national safety authority:

(a) when registering vehicles pursuant to Article 33 of the Railway Interoperability Directive, as far as the identification of the entity in charge of maintenance is concerned;

(b) when delivering safety certificates and authorisations to railway undertakings and infrastructure managers pursuant to Articles 10 and 11 of this Directive, as far as the identification or certification of the entity in charge of maintenance is concerned.

Such derogations shall be identified and justified in the annual safety report referred to in Article 18 of this Directive. Where it appears that undue safety risks are being taken on the Community rail system, the Agency shall immediately inform the Commission thereof. The Commission shall make contact with the parties involved and, where appropriate, request the Member State to withdraw its derogation decision.]

Textual Amendments

F3 Inserted by Directive 2008/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 amending Directive 2004/49/EC on safety on the Community’s railways (Railway Safety Directive) (Text with EEA relevance).

Article 15 U.K. Harmonisation of safety certificates

1. Before 30 April 2009 decisions on common harmonised requirements in accordance with Article 10(2)(b) and Annex IV and a common format for application guidance documents shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 27(2).

2. The Agency shall recommend common harmonised requirements and a common format for application guidance documents under a mandate which shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 27(2).