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 adopted by the Council with a view to adopting a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 establishing a European Railway Agency
Date: 2008-03-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Union Agency for Railways, mutual recognition principle, rail transport, technical standard, trans-European network, transport safety, vehicle on rails

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 7.3.2008 
COM (2008) 136 final 

2006/0274 (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 adopted by the Council with a view to adopting a Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 
establishing a European Railway Agency 

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2006/0274 (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 adopted by the Council with a view to adopting a Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 
establishing a European Railway Agency 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
the Council (document COM(2006) 785 final – 2006/0274 COD): 

13.12.2006 

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

11.7.2007 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

29.11.2007 

Date of adoption of the common position (by unanimity) 

3.3.2008 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

On 13 December 2006 the European Commission adopted a series of measures to support the 
revitalisation  of  the  railway  sector  by  removing  obstacles  to  the  movement  of  trains 
throughout the European rail network.  

The Commission launched this initiative for two main reasons: 

–  to facilitate the free movement of trains within the EU by making the procedure for putting 

locomotives into service more transparent and more efficient. 

–  to  simplify  the  regulatory  environment  by  consolidating  and  merging  the  directives  on 

railway interoperability.  

One of these measures consists of amending the Regulation which established the European 
Railway Agency in order to include new tasks in the aim of facilitating the free movement of 
trains. Notably: 

–  to  develop  a  reference  document  cross-referencing  all  the  national  rules  applied  by  the 

Member States for putting rolling stock into service;  

–  to organise the systems work of the national safety authorities so as gradually to reduce the 
number of national rules imposed by each Member State and to identify those which can 
be deemed to be equivalent; 

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–  to  produce  technical  opinions  if  requested  by  the  national  safety  authorities  or  the 

Commission. 

In addition, the amendment of the Regulation provided an opportunity to clarify a number of 
different tasks based on the experience acquired following the establishment of the Agency, 
particularly  in  the  context  of  setting  up  the  ERTMS  (European  Rail  Traffic  Management 
System) system and the registers of rolling stock. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

The three institutions tried to secure an early agreement at first reading of this file. However, 
this was not possible due to the requests of the European Parliament, mainly concerning the 
role  to  be  played  by  the  Agency  in  relation  to  the  national  safety  authorities.  The  Council's 
common position adopted by unanimity does not undermine the essential objectives and the 
underlying approach of the Commission's proposal.  

Furthermore,  the  common  position  of  the  Council  already  incorporates  some  of  the 
amendments  adopted  by  the  European  Parliament  at  first  reading  and  ensures  the  necessary 
consistency  with  the  recast  of  the  directives  on  railway  interoperability  (proposal 
COM(2006)783 final – 2006/273 (COD)), on which agreement was reached at first reading.  

4. 

COMMISSION DETAILED COMMENTS 

4.1. 

Amendments  of  the  European  Parliament  accepted  by  the  Commission  and 
incorporated in full or in part in the common position 

All of amendment 2 except the penultimate paragraph because it is up to the Agency and the 
working  party  to  be  set  up  to  organise  their  work  depending  on  the  importance  of  various 
parameters. 

Amendment 3, but it would be more appropriate not to stipulate a specific date but to link this 
to the entry into force of the Regulation.  

Amendment  7  in  line  with  the  agreement  at  first  reading  on  the  proposal  to  recast  the 
directives on railway interoperability.  

With  regard  to  amendment  9,  the  principle  of  extending  the  contracts  of  temporary  agents 
recruited  by  the  Railway  Agency  enables  continuity  of  service  to  be  guaranteed,  but  this 
principle should be provided for solely for the first ten years of activity of the Agency since 
the majority of the contracts will have come to an end by 2010. After 2010, the expiry dates 
of contracts will be staggered, which will provide for better continuity of service. 

4.2. 

Amendments of the European Parliament rejected by the Commission and not 
incorporated in full or in part in the common position 

Amendment 1 is prejudicial to the Executive Director's option to set up any working party he 
deems necessary to accomplish his task. This is one of the general competences described in 
Article 30 of the Regulation establishing the Agency. 

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With regard to amendment 4, it should be noted that, during the negotiations which ended in 
an  agreement  at  first  reading  on  the  proposal  to  recast  the  directives  on  railway 
interoperability,  the  three  institutions  agreed  on  an  amendment  providing  for  a  report  to  be 
drawn up by the Commission on the possible arrangements for cooperation between national 
safety authorities and the Agency. Before embarking on the path suggested by amendment 4, 
this issue should, therefore, be examined in more detail.  

Amendment  5:  it  is  premature  to  ask  the  Railway  Agency  to  issue  a  technical  opinion  on  a 
refusal by the safety authority to issue a safety certificate or safety authorisation (the remedies 
provided for by the current version of the Directive do not seem inadequate or problematic). 
On the other hand, the new Article 21a provided for in the text of the common position allows 
the  different  tasks  of  the  Agency  with  regard  to  its  role  in  ERTMS  projects  to  be  clarified. 
Amendment 8 also relates to this last point. 

Amendment  6,  because  Article  16a  should  be  consistent  with  the  provisions  that  will  be 
adopted  in  the  amendment  of Directive  2004/49/EC  on  safety  on  the  Community's  railways 
((proposal COM(2006)784 final – 2006/272 (COD)). This article must comply with the new 
approach  on  technical  harmonisation  and  compliance  evaluation  and  the  Agency’s  recent 
work on safety management systems (SMS). Moreover, the impact study to be carried out by 
the Agency must not be pre-empted and a commercial model should not be laid down in the 
legislation while it is still capable of refinement.  

5. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission considers that the common position of the Council adopted by unanimity on 
3  March  2008  contributes  to  the  essential  objectives  and  the  underlying  approach  of  its 
proposal, and can therefore support it. 

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