Regulation (EC) No 1335/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 establishing a European Railway Agency (Agency Regulation) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2008-12-16
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: European Union Agency for Railways, marketing, rail transport, technical standard, trans-European network

31.12.2008

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REGULATION (EC) No 1335/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 16 December 2008

amending Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 establishing a European Railway Agency (Agency Regulation)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EURO-
PEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 71(1) thereof,

examined in order to assess, in particular, if they are com-
patible with the common safety methods and the techni-
cal specifications for interoperability (TSIs) in force, as well
as if they enable the common safety targets in force to be
achieved.

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (1),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251
of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 of the European Parliament
and of the Council (3) of 29 April 2004 established a Euro-
pean Railway Agency, hereinafter referred to as ‘the
Agency’, to make a technical contribution to creating a
European railway area without frontiers. Following devel-
opments in Community legislation on rail interoperability
and safety and market developments and on the basis of
the experience gained in operating the Agency and the
relationship between the Agency and the Commission, cer-
tain amendments need to be made to that Regulation, and
in particular certain tasks need to be added.

National rules are to be notified to the Commission both
in accordance with 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) (4), (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Railway Interop-
erability Directive’), and Directive 2004/49/EC of the Euro-
pean Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on
safety on the Community’s railways (Railway Safety Direc-
tive) (5). The two sets of rules should therefore be

(1) OJ C 256, 27.10.2007, p. 39.
(2) Opinion of

the European Parliament of 29 November 2007
(OJ C 297 E, 20.11.2008, p. 140), Council Common Position of
3 March 2008 (OJ C 93 E, 15.4.2008, p. 1) and Position of the Euro-
pean Parliament of 9 July 2008 (not yet published in the Official Jour-
nal). Council Decision of 1 December 2008.

(3) OJ L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 1. Corrected version in OJ L 220, 21.6.2004,

p. 3.

(4) OJ L 191, 18.7.2008, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 44. Corrected version in OJ L 220, 21.6.2004,

p. 16.

(3)

(4)

In order to facilitate the procedure for authorising the plac-
ing in service of vehicles which do not conform to the rel-
evant TSIs, all the technical and safety rules in force in each
Member State should be classified into three groups and
the results of this classification should be presented in a
reference document. The Agency is therefore required to
draw up a draft for creating and updating this document
by cross-referencing the national rules for each of the rel-
evant technical parameters and by providing ad hoc tech-
nical opinions on specific aspects of cross-accepting
projects. After reviewing the list of the parameters, the
Agency may recommend that it be modified.

Due to its legal competence and its high level of technical
expertise, the Agency is the entity which should provide
clarification on complex matters emerging from the activ-
ity in the sector. Therefore, in the context of the proce-
dures authorising the placing in service of vehicles,
it
should be possible to request the Agency to issue technical
opinions in the case of a negative decision by a national
safety authority or on the equivalence of national rules for
the technical parameters established in the Railway
Interoperability Directive.

(5)

It should be possible to request the opinion of the Agency
on urgent modifications to TSIs.

(6)

Under Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 881/2004, the
Agency may monitor the quality of the work of the bodies
notified by the Member States. A study conducted by the
Commission has shown that there is much scope for inter-
pretation of the criteria to be applied for notifying these
bodies. Without prejudice to the Member States’ responsi-
bility with regard to the bodies that they choose to notify
and the checks that they make to ensure that these criteria
have been met, it is important to assess the impact of such
differences in interpretation and to check that they do not
cause difficulties with regard to the mutual recognition of
conformity certificates and the EC declaration of verifica-
tion. Therefore, at the request of the Commission, the

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Agency should be able to monitor the activity of the noti-
fied bodies and, if justified, perform checks with a view to
ensuring that the criteria referred to in the Railway Interop-
erability Directive are met by the relevant notified body.

criteria for defining vocational competences of other staff
involved in the operation and maintenance of the rail
system.

(7)

(8)

Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 authorises the
Agency to assess, at the request of the Commission and
from the point of view of interoperability, applications for
Community funding for railway infrastructure projects.
The definition of these projects should be extended so that
the coherence of the system can also be assessed, as in the
case of projects implementing the European Rail Traffic
Management System (ERTMS), for example.

Following developments of an international dimension,
and in particular the entry into force of the 1999 Conven-
tion concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF), the
Agency should be asked to assess the relationship between
railway undertakings and keepers, particularly with regard
to maintenance, as an extension of its work in the area of
maintenance workshop certification. In this context,
it
should be possible for the Agency to address recommen-
dations regarding the implementation of the system of cer-
tification of maintenance in accordance with Article 14a of
the Railway Safety Directive.

(9) When developing the certification schemes of entities in
charge of maintenance and maintenance workshops, the
Agency should make sure that these schemes are consis-
tent with the responsibilities already allocated to railway
undertakings and the future role of entities in charge of
maintenance. These schemes should facilitate the safety
certification procedure of railway undertakings and avoid
undue administrative burden and duplication of controls,
inspections and/or audits.

(10)

Following adoption of the third railway package, reference
should be made to Directive 2007/59/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the
certification of train drivers operating locomotives and
trains on the railway system in the Community (1) (here-
inafter referred to as the ‘Train Drivers Directive’), which
lays down various tasks to be performed by the Agency
and gives it the possibility to address recommendations as
well.

(11) As far as railway staff are concerned, the Agency should
also identify possible options for the certification of other
crew members performing safety-critical tasks and assess
the impact of these different options. It is intended that,
besides train drivers and other crew members performing
safety-critical tasks, the Agency reflects on specifying

(1) OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 51.

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

(16)

The Railway Interoperability Directive and the Railway
Safety Directive provide for various types of documents,
namely, EC declarations of verification, licences and safety
certificates and national rules notified to the Commission.
Therefore, it should be the Agency’s task to ensure public
access to those documents as well as to the national regis-
ters on vehicles and infrastructure and to the registers kept
by the Agency.

The Agency should examine the appropriate revenues for
the tasks related to the accessibility of documents and reg-
isters in accordance with Article 38(2) of Regulation (EC)
No 881/2004.

Since the adoption of the second railway package, several
initiatives relating to the development and implementation
of the ERTMS have been taken. These include the signing
of a cooperation agreement between the Commission and
the various stakeholders in the sector, the setting up of a
steering committee for implementing this cooperation
agreement, the adoption by the Commission of a Commu-
nication to the European Parliament and the Council on
the deployment of the European rail signalling system
ERTMS/ETCS, the appointment, by the Commission, of a
European coordinator for the ERTMS project as a priority
project of Community interest, the definition of the Agen-
cy’s role as system authority in the context of the various
annual work programmes, and the adoption of
the
‘control-command and signalling’ TSI for conventional
rail (2). Given the growing importance of the Agency’s
input in this area, its tasks should be specified.

The Agency plays a leading role in the future deployment
of the ERTMS in the whole rail system. To that end, coher-
ence of timing between national migration plans should be
ensured.

The version of ERTMS adopted by the Commission on
23 April 2008 should enable railway undertakings which
have invested in interoperable rolling stock to secure an
adequate return on their investment. This version should
be completed with harmonised test specifications. Any
additional specification requested by a national safety
authority should not unduly prevent the movement of roll-
ing stock fitted with future ERTMS versions or the version
adopted by the Commission on 23 April 2008 on lines
which are already equipped in accordance with the latter
version.

(2) Commission Decision 2006/679/EC of 28 March 2006 concerning
the technical specification for interoperability relating to the control-
command and signalling subsystem of the trans-European conven-
tional rail system (OJ L 284, 16.10.2006, p. 1).

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In order to promote interoperability, the Agency should
assess the impact of the adaptation of any version of
ERTMS installed prior to the version adopted by the Com-
mission on 23 April 2008 towards this version.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Amendments

(17)

(18)

(19)

(20)

(21)

(22)

The Agency now has a large number of experts specialis-
ing in the interoperability and safety of the European rail
system. It should be authorised to carry out ad hoc tasks at
the Commission’s request, subject to the compatibility of
those tasks with the Agency’s mission and compliance with
the Agency’s other priorities. In that light, the Agency’s
Executive Director should evaluate the admissibility of this
assistance and report at least once a year on its provision
to the Administrative Board. The Board may assess this
report in accordance with the powers attributed to it by
Regulation (EC) No 881/2004.

The recruitment of project officers with a contract of a
maximum of five years was intensive during the first year
the Agency was established, which means that many of the
technical staff have to leave the Agency within a short time
span. In order to ensure an adequate quantity and quality
of expertise and to anticipate possible difficulties in the
recruitment procedures, the Agency should be allowed to
extend the working contracts of specially qualified staff for
another three years.

The date by which the Agency’s annual work programme
is to be adopted should be amended to allow for better
synchronisation with the budgetary decision-making
process.

The Agency’s work programme should identify the objec-
tive of each activity and to whom it is to be addressed. The
Commission should also be informed of the technical
results of each activity, as this information goes well
beyond the scope of the general report, which is addressed
to all the institutions.

Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the exten-
sion of the Agency’s mission to include its participation in
the simplification of the Community procedure for the cer-
tification of
railway vehicles, cannot be sufficiently
achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by rea-
son of the scale of the action, be better achieved at Com-
munity level, the Community may adopt measures, in
accordance with the principle of subsidiarity set out in
Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of
proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation
does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve
that objective.

(23)

Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 should therefore be
amended accordingly,

Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 is hereby amended as follows:

1) Article 2 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 2

Types of acts of the Agency

The Agency may:

(a) address recommendations to the Commission concern-
ing the application of Articles 6, 7, 9b, 12, 14, 16, 16a,
16b, 16c, 17 and 18; and

(b)

issue opinions
to
Articles 9a, 10, 13 and 15, and to the authorities con-
cerned in the Member States pursuant to Article 10.’;

to the Commission pursuant

2) Article 3 shall be amended as follows:

(a)

the first sentence in paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the
following:

‘1.
For drawing up the recommendations provided
for in Articles 6, 7, 9b, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 18 the Agency
shall establish a limited number of working parties.’;

(b) paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following:

The national

safety authorities defined in
‘3.
Article 16 of the Railway Safety Directive, or, depending
on the subject, the competent national authorities, shall
appoint their representatives for the working parties in
which they wish to participate.’;

3) Article 8 shall be deleted;

4)

the following Chapter title shall be inserted immediately after
Article 9:

‘CHAPTER 2a

NATIONAL RULES, CROSS-ACCEPTANCE AND TECHNICAL
OPINIONS’;

5)

the following Articles shall be inserted:

‘Article 9a

National rules

1.
At the request of the Commission, the Agency shall
carry out a technical examination of the new national rules
submitted to the Commission in accordance with Article 8 of
the Railway Safety Directive or Article 17(3) of 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) (*), (hereinafter referred to as
the “Railway Interoperability Directive”).

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The Agency shall examine the compatibility of the rules
2.
referred to in paragraph 1 with the CSMs and with the TSIs
in force. The Agency shall also examine whether these rules
enable the CSTs in force to be achieved.

3.
If, after taking account of the reasons given by the
Member State, the Agency considers that any of these rules
either is incompatible with the TSIs or the CSMs or does not
allow CSTs to be reached, it shall submit an opinion to the
Commission within two months of transmission of the rules
to the Agency by the Commission.

Article 9b

Classification of national rules

6)

the following paragraphs shall be inserted in Article 10:

The Agency may be called upon to provide technical

‘2a.
opinions:

(a) by a national safety authority or the Commission, on the
equivalence of national rules for one or more parameters
listed in Section 1 of Annex VII to the Railway Interop-
erability Directive;

(b) by the competent appeal body referred to in Article 21(7)
of the Railway Interoperability Directive, in the case of a
decision by a competent national safety authority refus-
ing the placing in service of a railway vehicle.

2b.
The Agency may be called upon by the Commission
to provide technical opinions on urgent modifications to
TSIs, in accordance with Article 7(1) of the Railway Interop-
erability Directive.’;

1.
The Agency shall facilitate Member States’ acceptance
of vehicles placed in service in another Member State in
accordance with the procedures laid down in paragraphs 2
to 4.

7) Article 11 shall be deleted;

8) Article 13 shall be replaced by the following:

2.
The Agency shall, by 19 January 2009 review the list
of parameters in Section 1 of Annex VII to the Railway
Interoperability Directive and make the recommendations it
considers appropriate to the Commission.

‘Article 13

Notified bodies

3.
The Agency shall draw up a draft for a reference docu-
ment cross-referencing all the national rules applied by the
Member States for placing vehicles in service. This document
shall contain the national rules of each Member State for each
of the parameters listed in Annex VII to the Railway Interop-
erability Directive and specify the group referred to in Sec-
tion 2 of that Annex to which these rules belong. These rules
shall comprise those notified under Article 17(3) of the Rail-
way Interoperability Directive, including those notified fol-
lowing adoption of TSIs (specific cases, open points,
derogations) and those notified under Article 8 of the Rail-
way Safety Directive.

1. Without prejudice to the responsibility of Member
States for the notified bodies which they designate, the
Agency may, at the request of the Commission, monitor the
quality of the work of those bodies. It shall submit an opin-
ion to the Commission where appropriate.

2. Without prejudice to the responsibility of Member
States, the Agency shall, at the request of the Commission
when it, in accordance with Article 28(4) of the Railway
Interoperability Directive, considers that a notified body does
not meet the criteria referred to in Annex VIII to that Direc-
tive, check to ensure that those criteria are met. The Agency
shall issue an opinion to the Commission.’;

9) Article 15 shall be replaced by the following:

4. With a view to gradually reducing the national rules in
Group B referred to in Section 2 of Annex VII of the Railway
Interoperability Directive, the Agency shall regularly draw up
a draft for updating the reference document and forward it to
the Commission. The first version of the document shall be
presented to the Commission no later than 1 January 2010.

For the purpose of implementation of this Article, the
5.
Agency shall make use of the cooperation of the national
safety authorities established under Article 6(5) and set up a
working party in accordance with the principles of Article 3.

(*) OJ L 191, 18.7.2008, p. 1.’;

‘Article 15

Interoperability within the Community rail system

Without prejudice to the derogations provided for by
Article 9 of the Railway Interoperability Directive, the Agency
shall, at the request of the Commission, examine, from the
point of view of interoperability, any project involving the
design and/or construction or the renewal or upgrading of
the subsystem for which an application for Community
financial aid has been submitted. Within a period to be agreed
with the Commission according to the importance of the
project and the resources available and which cannot extend
beyond two months, the Agency shall give an opinion on
whether the project conforms with the relevant TSIs.’;

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10) the following Chapter title shall be inserted immediately

before Article 16:

‘CHAPTER 3a

MAINTENANCE OF VEHICLES’;

11) the following paragraph shall be added to Article 16:

‘These recommendations shall be consistent with the respon-
sibilities already allocated to railway undertakings as pro-
vided for in Article 4 of the Railway Safety Directive and the
entity in charge of maintenance as provided for in Article 14a
of that Directive, and shall take full account of the certifica-
tion mechanisms of railway undertakings and entities in
charge of maintenance.’;

12) the following Article shall be inserted:

‘Article 16a

Certification of entities in charge of maintenance

The Agency shall by 1 July 2010 send to the Commis-
1.
sion a recommendation in view of the implementation of the
system of certification of entities in charge of maintenance in
accordance with Article 14a(5) of
the Railway Safety
Directive.

The Agency’s assessment and recommendation shall in par-
ticular cover the following aspects taking due account of rela-
tions an entity in charge of maintenance can have with other
parties such as keepers, railway undertakings and infrastruc-
ture managers:

(a) whether the entity in charge of maintenance has
adequate systems in place, including operational and
management processes, to ensure the effective and safe
maintenance of vehicles;

(b)

the content and the specifications of a system of certifi-
cation adapted to the maintenance of wagons;

(c)

the type of bodies competent for certification and the
requirements to be imposed on such bodies;

(d)

the format and validity of the certificates to be delivered
to the entities in charge of maintenance;

(e)

the technical and operational inspections and controls.

2. Within a period of three years from the adoption by the
Commission of the system of certification of maintenance
referred to in Article 14a(5) of the Railway Safety Directive,
the Agency shall send to the Commission a report evaluating
the implementation of such system. By the same date, the

Agency shall also send to the Commission a recommenda-
tion with a view to defining the content and the specifica-
tions of a similar certification system in the case of entities in
charge of the maintenance for other vehicles, such as loco-
motives, passenger cars, electrical multiple units (EMUs) and
diesel multiple units (DMUs).

3.
The Agency shall analyse the alternative measures
decided in accordance with Article 14a(8) of the Railway
Safety Directive in the context of its report on safety perfor-
mance referred to in Article 9(2) of this Regulation.’;

13) the following Chapter title shall be inserted immediately after

Article 16a:

‘CHAPTER 3b

RAILWAY STAFF’;

14) the following Article shall be inserted:

‘Article 16b

Train drivers

1.
On matters related to Directive 2007/59/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007
on the certification of train drivers operating locomotives
and trains on the railway system in the Community (*) (here-
inafter referred to as the “Train Drivers Directive”) the Agency
shall:

(a) prepare a draft of a Community model for the licence,
the certificate and the certified copy of the certificate,
their physical characteristics, taking into account therein
anti-forgery measures;

(b) cooperate with the competent authorities in order to
ensure the interoperability of the registers for train driv-
ers’ licences and certificates. To this end the Agency shall
prepare a draft on the basic parameters of the registers
to be set up, such as data to be recorded, their format
and the data exchange protocol, access rights, the dura-
tion of data retention and the procedures to be followed
in cases of bankruptcy;

(c) prepare draft Community criteria on the choice of exam-

iners and examinations;

(d) evaluate the development of the certification of train
drivers by submitting to the Commission, not later than
four years following the adoption of the basic param-
eters of the registers, as provided for in Article 22(4) of
the Train Drivers Directive, a report containing, where
appropriate, improvements to be made to the system
and measures regarding the theoretical and practical
examination of the professional knowledge of applicants
for the harmonised certificate for rolling stock and rel-
evant infrastructure;

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(e) by 4 December 2012, examine the possibility of using a
smartcard combining the licence and certificates pro-
vided for in Article 4 of the Train Drivers Directive, and
shall prepare a cost/benefit analysis thereof. The Agency
shall prepare a draft for the technical and operating
specifications for such a smartcard;

15) the following Article shall be inserted:

‘Article 16c

Other on-board staff

(f)

(g)

(h)

(i)

assist the cooperation amongst Member States in the
implementation of the Train Drivers Directive and orga-
nise appropriate meetings with representatives of the
competent authorities;

if asked by the Commission, carry out a cost/benefit
analysis of the application of the provisions of the Train
Drivers Directive to train drivers operating exclusively
on the territory of the requesting Member State. The
cost/benefit analysis shall cover a period of ten years.
This cost/benefit analysis shall be submitted to the Com-
mission within two years of the setting-up of the regis-
ters in accordance with point 1 of Article 37 of the Train
Drivers Directive;

developed

In accordance with Article 28 of the Train Drivers Directive,
the Agency shall, in a report to be presented by 4 June 2009,
and taking into account the TSI on operation and traffic
management
96/48/EC
and 2001/16/EC, identify the profile and tasks of other crew
members performing safety-critical tasks whose professional
qualifications accordingly contribute to railway safety which
should be regulated at Community level by means of a sys-
tem of licences and/or certificates which may be similar to
the system established by the Train Drivers Directive.’;

under Directives

16) in Article 17, the title and paragraph 1 shall be replaced by

the following:

‘Article 17

Vocational competences and training

if asked by the Commission, carry out another
cost/benefit analysis which is to be submitted to the
Commission no later than 12 months prior to the expiry
of the temporary exemption period possibly granted by
the Commission;

1.
The Agency shall make recommendations on specify-
ing common criteria for defining vocational competences
and assessing staff in the case of staff involved in the opera-
tion and maintenance of the rail system but which is not cov-
ered by Articles 16b or 16c.’;

ensure that the system set up under paragraph 2(a)
and (b) of Article 22 of the Train Drivers Directive com-
plies with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on
the protection of individuals with regard to the process-
ing of personal data by the Community institutions and
bodies and on the free movement of such data (**).

17) the following Chapter title shall be inserted immediately after

Article 17:

‘CHAPTER 3c

REGISTERS AND AGENCY’S PUBLIC DATABASE’;

18) Article 18 shall be replaced by the following:

On matters related to the Train Drivers Directive, the

2.
Agency shall make recommendations on:

‘Article 18

Registers

(a) modification of the Community Codes for the different
types in categories A and B as referred to in Article 4(3)
of the Train Drivers Directive;

The Agency shall draw up and recommend to the Com-

1.
mission common specifications for:

(b)

the codes reflecting additional information, or medical
restrictions for use imposed by a competent authority in
accordance with Annex II to the Train Drivers Directive.

The Agency may make a reasoned request to the com-
3.
petent authorities for information on the status of train driver
licences.

(a)

(b)

the national vehicle registers
in accordance with
Article 33 of the Railway Interoperability Directive,
including arrangements for exchange of data and a stan-
dard application form for registration;

the European register of authorised vehicle types in
accordance with Article 34 of the Railway Interoperabil-
ity Directive, including arrangements for exchange of
data with the national safety authorities;

(*) OJ L 315, 3.12.2007, p. 51.
(**) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.’;

(c)

the register of
Article 35 of the Railway Interoperability Directive.

infrastructure in accordance with

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The Agency shall set up and keep a register of types of
2.
vehicles authorised by the Member States for placing in ser-
vice on the rail network within the Community, in accor-
dance with Article 34 of
the Railway Interoperability
Directive. The Agency shall also prepare a draft for the model
of declaration of conformity to type, in accordance with
Article 26(4) of that Directive.’;

19) Article 19 shall be replaced by the following:

The national authorities responsible for issuing the
4.
documents referred to in paragraph 1(c) and (d) shall notify
the Agency within one month of each individual decision to
issue, renew, amend or revoke them.

The Agency may add to this public database any public
this

to the objectives of

link relevant

5.
document or
Regulation.’;

‘Article 19

20) the title of Chapter 4 shall be replaced by the following:

Accessibility of documents and registers

1.
The Agency shall make publicly accessible the follow-
ing documents and registers provided for by the Railway
Interoperability Directive and the Railway Safety Directive:

(a)

the EC declarations of verification of subsystems;

(b)

the EC declarations of conformity of constituents avail-
able to the national safety authorities;

(c)

the licences
95/18/EC;

issued in accordance with Directive

‘SPECIAL TASKS’;

21) the following Articles shall be inserted:

‘Article 21a

ERTMS

1.
The Agency, in coordination with the Commission,
shall assume the tasks set out in paragraphs 2 to 5 with a
view to

(d)

the safety certificates
Article 10 of the Railway Safety Directive;

issued in accordance with

(a)

ensuring a coherent development of the ERTMS;

(e)

the investigation reports sent to the Agency in accor-
dance with Article 24 of the Railway Safety Directive;

(b) contributing to the compliance of ERTMS equipment as
implemented in Member States with the specifications in
force.

(f)

the national rules notified to the Commission in accor-
dance with Article 8 of the Railway Safety Directive and
Articles 5(6) and 17(3) of the Railway Interoperability
Directive;

(g)

the link to the national vehicle registers;

(h)

the link to the registers of infrastructure;

(i)

the European register of authorised types of vehicles;

(j)

the register of requests for changes and planned changes
to the ERTMS specifications;

(k)

the register of vehicle keeper markings kept by the
Agency in accordance with the TSI on operation and
traffic management.

2.
The practical arrangements for transmitting the docu-
ments referred to in paragraph 1 shall be discussed and
agreed by Member States and the Commission on the basis
of a draft of the Agency.

3. When transmitting the documents referred to in para-
graph 1, the bodies concerned may indicate which docu-
ments are not to be disclosed to the public for reasons of
security.

2.
The Agency shall set up a procedure for managing
requests for changes to specifications of the ERTMS. To this
end, a register of requests for changes and planned changes
to ERTMS specifications shall be set up and maintained by
the Agency.

The Agency shall recommend the adoption of a new version
only when the previous version has been deployed at a suf-
ficient rate. The development of new versions shall not be
detrimental to the rate of deployment of the ERTMS, the sta-
bility of the specifications which is needed for the optimisa-
tion of the production of ERTMS equipment, the return of
investment for railway undertakings and the efficient plan-
ning of the deployment of the ERTMS.

3.
The Agency shall support the efforts of the Commis-
sion in developing an EU deployment plan for the ERTMS
and coordinating installation of the ERTMS along the trans-
European transport corridors.

4.
The Agency shall develop a strategy for managing the
different versions of the ERTMS with a view to ensuring tech-
nical and operational compatibility between networks and
vehicles fitted with different versions and to providing incen-
tives to the swift implementation of the version in force and
of possible newer versions.

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31.12.2008

In accordance with Article 6(9) of the Railway Interoperabil-
ity Directive, the Agency shall ensure that successive versions
of ERTMS equipment are backward compatible, as from the
version adopted by the Commission on 23 April 2008.

Article 21b

Assistance to the Commission

With regard to ERTMS equipment which was placed in ser-
vice before 23 April 2008 or whose installation or upgrad-
ing was at an advanced stage of deployment on that date, the
Agency shall prepare an assessment report which shall
identify:

1. Within the limits of Article 30(2)(b), the Agency shall,
at the request of the Commission, assist the Commission in
the implementation of the Community legislation aimed at
enhancing the level of interoperability of railway systems and
at developing a common approach to safety on the European
railway system.

(a)

the additional costs to be borne by early implementers
as a consequence of the introduction of the version
adopted by the Commission on 23 April 2008;

2.
This assistance shall be limited in time and scope, and
carried out without prejudice to all other tasks assigned to
the Agency in this Regulation and may include:

(b) all possible mechanisms, including financial ones, to
support the migration from the earlier versions to the
version referred to in point (a).

(a)

communicating information on how specific aspects of
the Community legislation are implemented;

The Commission shall take the appropriate measures within
one year from the date on which it received the Agency’s
assessment report.

(b) providing technical advice in matters requiring specific

know-how;

The Agency shall set up and chair an ad hoc working
5.
group of notified bodies with a view to checking that the EC
procedures of verification carried out by notified bodies in
the context of specific ERTMS projects are applied consis-
tently. The Agency shall also cooperate with national safety
authorities with a view to checking that the procedures for
authorisation for placing in service are applied consistently.
Where the Agency finds that there is a risk of lack of techni-
cal and operational compatibility between networks and
vehicles fitted with equipment being subject to these proce-
dures, it shall forthwith inform the Commission which shall
take the appropriate measures.

Should technical incompatibilities emerge between net-
6.
works and vehicles in the context of specific ERTMS projects,
notified bodies and national safety authorities shall ensure
that the Agency is able to obtain any relevant information on
the applied procedures for “EC” verification and placing in
service as well as on the operational conditions. The Agency
shall, if necessary, recommend appropriate measures to the
Commission.

7.
The Agency shall evaluate the certification process of
the ERTMS equipment by submitting to the Commission by
1 January 2011 a report containing, where appropriate,
improvements to be made.

8.
On the basis of the report referred to in paragraph 7,
the Commission shall assess the costs and benefits of using a
single type of laboratory equipment, a single reference track
and/or a single certification body at Community level. Such
certification body needs to comply with the criteria of
Annex VIII of the Railway Interoperability Directive. The
Commission may present a report and, if appropriate, bring
forward a legislative proposal to improve the ERTMS certifi-
cation system.

(c)

collecting information through the cooperation of
national safety authorities and investigation bodies pro-
vided for in Article 6(5).

The Executive Director shall report at least once a year
3.
to the Board on the implementation of this Article, including
its impact on resources.’;

22) Article 24(3) shall be replaced by the following:

‘3. Without prejudice to Article 26(1), the Agency’s staff
shall consist of:

— temporary employees recruited by the Agency for a
maximum of five years from among professionals from
the sector on the basis of their qualifications and expe-
rience in the field of railway safety and interoperability;

— officials assigned or seconded by the Commission or
Member States for a maximum of five years; and

— other servants, as defined in the Conditions of Employ-
ment of other servants of the European Communities, to
carry out implementing or secretarial tasks.

During the first 10 years of operation of the Agency, the
period of 5 years referred to in the first indent of the first sub-
paragraph may be extended for another period of up to a
maximum of 3 years when required to guarantee the conti-
nuity of its services.’;

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23) Article 25 shall be amended as follows:

(c)

the railway industry;

(a)

in paragraph 2, point (c) shall be replaced by the
following:

‘(c) adopt, by 30 November each year, and taking the
opinion of the Commission into account, the work
programme of the Agency for the coming year and
forward it to the Member States, the European Par-
liament, the Council and the Commission. That
work programme shall be adopted without preju-
dice to the annual Community budgetary proce-
dure. If, within 15 days of the date of adoption of
the work programme, the Commission expresses its
disagreement with the programme, the Administra-
tive Board shall re-examine the programme and
adopt it, amended if necessary, within a period of
two months, in second reading either by a two-
thirds majority, including the Commission repre-
sentatives, or by unanimity of the representatives of
the Member States;’;

(b)

the following paragraph shall be added:

‘3.
The Agency’s work programme shall identify the
objectives of each activity. As a general rule, each activ-
ity and/or each outcome shall be the subject of a report
to the Commission.’;

24) Article 26(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
The Administrative Board shall be composed of one
representative of each Member State and four representatives
of the Commission, as well as of six representatives, without
the right to vote, the latter representing at European level the
following groups:

(a)

railway undertakings;

(b)

infrastructure managers;

(d) worker unions;

(e) passengers;

(f)

freight customers.

For each of these groups, the Commission shall appoint a
representative and an alternate from a shortlist of four names
submitted by their respective European organisations with a
view to ensuring appropriate representation of all interests.

Board members and their alternates shall be appointed on the
basis of their relevant experience and expertise.’;

25) Article 33(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
In order to perform the tasks entrusted to it by
Articles 9, 9a, 10, 13 and 15, the Agency may carry out vis-
its to the Member States in accordance with the policy
defined by the Administrative Board. The national authori-
ties of the Member States shall facilitate the work of the
Agency’s staff.’;

26) Article 36(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
The Agency shall be open to participation by European
countries and countries within the scope of the European
Neighbourhood Policy which have concluded agreements
with the European Community under which the countries
concerned have adopted and are applying Community legis-
lation in the field covered by this Regulation.’.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Strasbourg, 16 December 2008.

For the European Parliament
The President
H.-G. PÖTTERING

For the Council
The President
B. LE MAIRE