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 the new Regulation on the European Union Agency for Railways and repealing Regulation (EC) No 881/2004
Date: 2016-01-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: European Union Agency for Railways, harmonisation of standards, intra-EU transport, operation of the Institutions, rail transport, technical standard, trans-European network, transport safety

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 26.1.2016  COM(2016) 36 final 2013/0014 (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 the new Regulation on the European Union Agency for Railways and repealing Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
 
2013/0014 (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 the new Regulation on the European Union 
Agency for Railways and repealing Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 

(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) 27 final — 2013/0014 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 Regulation on the European Union Agency for Railways and repealing Regulation (EC) 
No  881/2004  is  one  of  six  legislative  proposals  adopted  on  30 January 2013  by  the 
Commission in the Fourth Railway Package,  

The  main  objective  of  revising  Regulation  establishing the  European Railway  Agency  ("the 
Agency")1 is to strengthen the role of the Agency and 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. The revised Regulation would also enhance the Agency’s role in the 
supervision of national rules, give it the right to request the removal of unnecessary rules and 
to  monitor  national  safety  authorities  (NSAs),  and  give  it  a  more  prominent  role  as  the 
‘system  authority’  for  the  European  Rail  Traffic  Management  System  (ERTMS)  and 
telematics applications. 

The Commission also proposed amending the founding act of the Agency to align it with the 
Joint Statement and the Common Approach of the Parliament, Council and the Commission 
on  decentralised  agencies  2(covering  governance  structure,  multi-annual  work  programming 
and the simplification of staff procedures). 

Due  to  a  substantial  amount  of  changes  to  the  tasks  of  the  Agency  and  its  internal 
organisation, the Commission proposed to replace Regulation 881/2004/EU by a new act. 

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  to  strengthen  the  role  of  the  Agency. 
However,  it  deviates  on  some  aspects,  in  particular that  railway  undertakings/manufacturers 
operating in only one Member State would be given the choice to apply for a safety certificate 
or vehicle authorisation either to the Agency or to the domestic NSA. 

In addition, the Council position: 

 

 

sets out detailed provisions on the functioning of the Agency’s working group;  

It  indicates  in  particular  a  procedure  in  order  to  adopt  transparency  rules  to  be 
applied in such a context. 

provides  the  Agency  with  the  tools  needed  to  act  as  an  one  stop  shop  via  an 
information and communication system;  

This  tool  will  keep  the  Agency  and  national  safety  authorities  informed  about  all 
applications for authorisations/safety certifications,  stage of the procedure and their 
outcome. 

 

clarifies the Agency’s role in progressive reduction of national rules; 

The  text  provides  for  examination  of  national  measures  from  the  point  of  view  of 
railway safety and interoperability and compatibility with competition rules in order 
to  achieve  a  gradual  reduction  of  national  rules.  An  opinion  based  on  independent 
and neutral expertise is essential at Union level. In this context, it frames the role of 
Agency when issuing such opinion. 

1 
2 

Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2005 
Joint  Statement  and  the  Common  Approach  of  the  Parliament,  Council  and  the  Commission  on 
decentralised agencies signed on 19 July 2012 

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 

lists  the  Agency’s  additional  tasks  related  to  the  monitoring  of  NSAs  and  notified 
bodies; 

The Agency will monitor the performance and decision making of those bodies with 
a view to a greater harmonisation at Union level. 

 

specifies how the board of appeal will function;  

In particular, it lays down detailed rules concerning the functioning of the board of 
appeal, including rules on the independence of its members from the parties involved 
in  an  appeal  or  arbitration,  on  the  prevention  and  management  of  conflicts  of 
interests of the Agency staff at all levels and on the inclusion of a 3-month time limit 
for an appeal procedure in order to ensure that appeal cases do not create obstacles or 
delays.  

 

defines  the  conditions  for  adopting  an  implementing  act  on  fees  payable  to  the 
Agency. 

It  sitpulates  that  fees  and  charges  shall  be  established  in  a  transparent,  fair  and 
uniform  manner  and  not  jeopardize  the  competitiveness  of  the  European  railway 
sector.  

The Commission regrets the fact that compared to the original proposal which it presented the 
Council position deviates from some key provisions agreed under the Common Approach on 
EU decentralised agencies, by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission in 
2012. This concerns in particular: 

 

 

 

the  appointment  of  two  Commission  representatives  to  the  Management  Board 
instead of four; 

granting the power to propose the dismissal of the Executive Director to one third of 
the  members  of  the  Management  Board,  when  under  the  Common  Approach  the 
procedure  for  dismissing  the  Executive  Director  should  mirror  the  appointment 
procedure; 

The  Commission  also  emphasises  that  appointing  an  observer  from  among  the 
members  of  the  Management  Board  to  follow  the  Commission’s  procedure  for 
selecting  the  Executive  Director  should  not  lead  to  any  duplication  of  roles  in  the 
selection and appointment procedures. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission considers that revising the  Agency's Regulation is crucial to achieving the 
objective of introducing a simplified and unified framework for the railway industry. 

That is why, 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  second  reading, 
together  with  the  other  five  proposals  of  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 railway industry. 

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