COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union (Recast)
Date: 2016-01-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: common transport policy, harmonisation of standards, market access, rail network, technical standard, trans-European network

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 26.1.2016  COM(2016) 35 final 2013/0015 (COD)   COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union (Recast) (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
 
2013/0015 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of 
the Council on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union 
(Recast) 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

On  30  January  2013,  the  Commission  adopted  a  comprehensive  package  of  six  legislative 
proposals to deliver better quality and more choice in rail services in Europe. 

Improvements  in  service  quality  and  efficiency  are  needed  to  make  rail  a  more  attractive 
choice for passengers and to encourage modal shift. Better value for money and sustainability 
can be achieved for scarce public funds. 

The Package also aims to encourage innovation in EU railways to meet user expectations. It 
does this in three different and interrelated ways: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

opening  domestic  passenger  markets  to  competition  and  making  it  mandatory  to 
tender for public service contracts; 

strengthening the independence of infrastructure managers so that they control all the 
core functions of the rail network and ensuring fair access for all to the railway; 

strengthening  the  role  of  the  Agency  to  make  it  a  ‘one  stop  shop’  for  issuing  EU-
wide  vehicle  authorisations  for  placing  on  the  market  as  well  as  EU-wide  safety 
certificates for operators. 

Date the proposal was sent to the European Parliament and to the 
Council 
(document COM(2013) 30 final — 2013/0015 COD): 

31 January 2013 

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

10 July 2013 

Date of the opinion of the Committee of Regions:  

8 October 2013 

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

26 February 2014 

Date of adoption of the Council position: 

10 December 2015 

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2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  Commission  proposed  recasting  the  Interoperability  Directive  (2008/57/EC)  to  resolve 
major shortcomings. Despite the changes introduced by the previous railway packages, a wide 
array of national technical rules remain in force throughout the EU, and vehicle authorisation 
procedures differ greatly between Member States. Maintaining strong market access barriers 
for  new  entrants  and  rail  vehicle  manufacturers  in  this  way  prevents  the  completion  of  a 
genuine single European rail area. 

The  Commission  proposed  introducing  a  simplified  and  unified  vehicle  authorisation 
framework,  and  also  proposed  extending  the  scope  of  Technical  Specifications  for 
Interoperability  (TSI)  and  clarifying  their  link  with  national  rules.  To  achieve  these 
objectives,  the  Commission  proposed  further  empowering  the  European  Railway  Agency 
("the Agency"). 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COUNCIL POSITION 

The position at first reading adopted by the Transport Council on 10 December 2015 supports 
the  main  objectives  of  the  Commission  proposal  of  introducing  a  Single  Vehicle 
Authorisation. 

The Council position also includes new provisions addressing specific cases and the concerns 
of some Member States: 

 

 

 

Placing  in  service  of  trackside  control-command  and  signalling  subsystem.  The 
Council  position  maintains  the  competence  of  placing  this  subsystem  in  service  in 
the hands of the national safety authorities; 

a transitional period of three years for Chapter V of Directive 2008/57/EC instead of 
the proposed two years; and 

the  deadlines  for  implementing  the  TSIs.  The  Council  position  has  diluted  the 
proposed  text  which  allowed  a  clear  indication  of  deadlines  for  the  application  of 
TSIs to existing subsystems. . 

The Commission welcomes that the Council position added: 

 

 

a one stop shop for vehicle authorisations, because this will facilitate the exchange of 
information between the applicants, the Agency and the national safety authorities. 

a new provision requesting the Agency to set up a new European Vehicle Register, 
because  this  will  simplify  the  current  situation  with  26  National  Vehicle  Registers 
and is consistent with the new role of the Agency in terms of vehicle authorisation. 

However, the Commission regrets:  

 

 

all  modifications  introduced  in  relation  to  delegated  and  implementing  powers, 
including the systematic recourse to the non-opinion clause, which is contrary to the 
letter  and  to  the  spirit  of  Article  5§4  second  subparagraph,  point  b)  of  Regulation 
(EU) No 182/2011; 

the suppression of the obligation of the Member State to supply to the Commission 
information  which  is  clear  and  precise  as  regards  the  transposition  of  Directives  in 
national  law,  as  acknowledged  by  the  European  parliament,  the  Council  and  the 
Commission  in  their Joint  Political Declaration of  27  October  2011  on explanatory 
documents. 

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4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  considers  that  updating  legislation  on  the  interoperability  of  the  railway 
system  is  crucial  to  introducing  a  simplified  and  unified  vehicle  authorisation  framework. 
Updated legislation would reduce significantly the wide array of national technical rules in the 
EU and, equally importantly, the major discrepancies in Member States’ vehicle authorisation 
procedures. 

In a spirit of compromise, the Commission accepts the position adopted by the Council thus 
allowing the European Parliament to adopt the final text in a second reading, together with the 
other  five  proposals  under  the  Fourth  Railway  Package.  Indeed,  the  Commission  considers 
that  simultaneously  adopting  both  the  market  and  technical  pillars  would  maximise  the 
benefits  in  terms  of  the  quality  of  service,  efficiency  and  the  competitiveness  of  the  rail 
industry. 

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