COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a regulation establishing a European Railway Agency

2002/0024 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a regulation establishing a European Railway Agency

1. BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to Parliament and the Council: (documents COM(2002) 21 final - 2002/0022 (COD) COM(2002) 22 final - 2002/0023 (COD) COM(2002) 23 final - 2002/0024 (COD) COM(2002) 25 final - 2002/0025 (COD)): // 25.1.2002

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: // 19.9.2002

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament on first reading: // 14.1.2003

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: // Not applicable

Date of adoption of the common position: // 25.6.2003

2. SUBJECT OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

There are four related legislative proposals:

- A proposal for the amendment of Directive 91/440 to extend infrastructure access rights to include rail freight services within a Member State and to speed up the opening up of the market.

- A proposal for a Directive on rail safety concerned with definition of the main elements of safety systems for infrastructure managers and railway undertakings. The aim is to develop a common approach to safety and to put in place a common system for the issuing, content and validity of safety certificates. Lastly, the aim is to introduce, as in other sectors, the principle of the independence of technical investigations in the event of accidents.

- A proposal for a Regulation creating a European Rail Agency to provide technical support for interoperability and safety work. Its areas of action would be, firstly, the development of common safety standards and the development and management of a system for monitoring safety performance and, secondly, the long-term management of the system for the establishment, registration and monitoring of technical specifications for interoperability.

- An amendment to the interoperability Directives 96/48/EC and 2001/16/EC. Beyond the adjustments required by the previous proposals for the interoperability directives, the main aim is to ensure coherence of the fields of application between the network in which access will be opened up and the network in which the interoperability rules will have to apply.

3. COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.3 Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a European Rail Agency

Consideration of Parliament's opinion

The main amendment by Parliament, on which the Commission had expressed a favourable opinion, have been adopted in the common position, with a few drafting changes which do not alter the substance.

In particular, the Council has accepted (Article 3) Parliament's ideas concerning representation of the sector on the Agency's Administrative Board, adding passenger representation (amendments 2, 5 and 35), and in the working parties (amendment 14). It has, however, spelt out the criteria for their representation.

The Council has not on the other hand accepted the Commission's proposal for the composition of the Administrative Board and, as in the other transport sector agencies, has decided that there should be one representative for each Member State (Article 26).

With regard to the direct participation of rail workers' representatives in the working parties, the Council has preferred to maintain the Commission's initial proposal, which provides for a consultation mechanism (Article 4). The arrangements for such consultation, both for the social partners and for customers' and passengers' representatives have, however, been strengthened. The Commission had supported Parliament's amendment 14 which provided that worker organisation representatives could participate in the working parties concerned (in addition to the formal consultation of the social partners provided for in Article 4) as far as the Agency's work which has a direct bearing on the working conditions, health and safety of workers in the sector is concerned. The Council's text is also acceptable given that the consultation arrangements have been strengthened.

Furthermore, the common position broadly follows the wording used in Article 30 for the duties and powers of the Executive Director (amendment 31), in Article 31 for his/her appointment (amendment 32), and in Article 33 for the Agency's visits to the Member States (amendment 37).

As regards the financial and budgetary aspects, it should be noted that it has not yet been possible to take full account of the entry into force on 1 January 2003 of the new general Financial Regulation, despite Parliament's amendments to that end. In addition, new general guidelines for the agencies are being adopted [6] in the light of the Commission's proposal amending the instruments setting up Agencies (COM(2002) 406 final) following the adoption of the new Financial Regulation. It will therefore be necessary, during the second reading, to align the provisions of the Regulation establishing the Rail Agency on the standard provisions which will then be available.

[6] Opinion of the Parliament on first reading adopted on 27 March 2003.

The Council has not accepted the proposal for two advisory committees, for the national safety authorities and for the investigative bodies (amendment 19), which the Commission had rejected since the new working of Article 3 enables these bodies to take part directly in work carried out by the Agency. Furthermore, the Agency still has the task of networking these bodies in order to facilitate their cooperation.

With regard to the Agency's working languages (Article 35), the Council has taken over the text in force for the Aviation Safety Agency and not the solution proposed by Parliament (amendment 38).

New provisions introduced by the Council

The Council has expressed the wish to extend the Agency's powers as regards the working conditions of staff having safety duties (Article 12(e)). The Commission welcomes this addition.

4. CONCLUSIONS

The Commission supports the texts of the common position.

However, as regards the Agency, the Commission would like to draw attention to the forthcoming adoption of the standard provisions for all agencies following the entry into force of the new Financial Regulation.

5. STATEMENTS BY THE COMMISSION

The Commission entered the following statements in the minutes of the Transport Council meeting of 28 March 2003:

- "The Commission intends to present by the end of 2003 to the European Parliament and the Council a proposal relating to the introduction of a European driving licence for train drivers. Besides, the Commission fully supports and encourages the work in progress in the framework of the European Social Dialogue by the social partners, in accordance with Article 139 of the Treaty, concerning the harmonisation of driving times and rest periods for train drivers and staff accompanying trains.

- The Commission declares that the final budgetary needs for the European Railway Agency depend on a clear agreement on the competencies of this Agency between the Council and the European Parliament. These needs, of which a first assessment has been made in the financial statement attached to the legislative proposal, will have to be translated in the annual budgetary requests tabled by the Commission to the Council and the Parliament acting as the budgetary authority. A precise estimate of these needs for 2004-2006 can only be made once the codecision procedure has been completed.

- The arrangements laid down in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 8 of the Directive on safety do not constitute a system of prior authorisation."