EN Official Journal of the European Union L 189/19

COMMISSION DECISION

of 19 July 2010

on Common Safety Targets as referred to in Article 7 of Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

(notified under document C(2010) 4889)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2010/409/EU)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to 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) (1), and in particular Article 7 thereof,

Having regard to the recommendation of the European Railway Agency on the first set of Common Safety Targets, delivered to the Commission on 18 September 2009,

Whereas:

(1) According to Directive 2004/49/EC, Common Safety Targets (CSTs) should be gradually introduced to ensure that a high level of safety is maintained and, when and where necessary and reasonably practicable, improved. They should provide tools for assessment of the safety level and the performance of the operators at EU level as well as in Member States.

(2) Article 3(e) of Directive 2004/49/EC defines CSTs as the safety levels that must at least be reached by different parts of the railway system (such as the conventional railway system, the high speed railway system, long railway tunnels or lines solely used for freight transport) and by the system as a whole, expressed in risk acceptance criteria. However, Recital 7 of Commission Decision 2009/460/EC of 5 June 2009 on the adoption of a common safety method for assessment of achievement of safety targets, as referred to in Article 6 of Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) states that, due to the lack of harmonised and reliable data on safety performance of parts of rail systems which are in operation in the different Member States, the development of the first set of CSTs for parts of the rail system (such as the conventional rail system, the high speed rail system, long railway tunnels or lines solely used for freight transport) is not feasible.

(3) Article 7(3) of Directive 2004/49/EC requires that the first set of CSTs should be based on an examination of existing targets and safety performance of railway systems in the Member States. According to the methodology established by Decision 2009/460/EC, the first set of CSTs is to be based on National Reference Values (NRVs). It has been calculated using series of data based on Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on rail transport statistics (3) and provided by Eurostat on 6 March 2009 for the period 2004-2007. For each railway risk category the maximum tolerable level of risk for a Member State should be (1) the NRV if the NRV is equal to, or lower than, the corresponding CST or (2) the CST if the NRV is higher than the corresponding CST, in accordance with section 3 of the annex to Decision 2009/460/EC.

(4) The first set of CSTs should be considered as a first step of a process. With this first set, a harmonised and transparent framework is put in place for an efficient monitoring and safeguarding the European safety performance of railways.

(5) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 27(1) of the Directive 2004/49/EC,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Subject matter and definitions

This Decision establishes the values of the first set of Common Safety Targets based on National Reference Values, in compliance with Article 7(3) of Directive 2004/49/EC and following the methodology laid down by the Decision 2009/460/EC.

For the purposes of this Decision, definitions of the Directive 2004/49/EC, Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 and Decision 2009/460/EC shall apply.

Article 2

National Reference Values

The National Reference Values for the different Member States and for the different risk categories are laid down in chapter 1, sections from 1.1 to 1.6 of the Annex.

Article 3

Common Safety Targets

The first set of Common Safety Targets for the different risk categories are laid down in chapter 2 of the Annex.

Article 4

Addressees

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 19 July 2010. For the Commission Siim KALLAS Vice-President

(1) OJ L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 44.

(2) OJ L 150, 13.6.2009, p. 11.

(3) OJ L 14, 21.1.2003, p. 1.