REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of delegation of powers to the Commission to adopt delegated acts, pursuant to Article 6(6), 7(6) and 27 of Directive 2016/798
Date: 2022-01-17
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: coronavirus disease, delegated legislation, epidemic, intra-EU transport, national implementing measure, powers of the institutions (EU), rail transport, safety standard, transfer of competence, transport safety

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 17.1.2022  COM(2022) 12 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of delegation of powers to the Commission to adopt delegated acts, pursuant to Article 6(6), 7(6) and 27 of Directive 2016/798  
 
 
1. Introduction 

Articles  6(6)  and  7(6)  of  Directive  (EU)  2016/798  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  11  May  2016  on  railway  safety1  confer  powers  on  the  Commission  to  adopt 
delegated acts in accordance with the conditions laid down in Art. 27, for a period of 5 years, 
starting from 15 June 2016, tacitly extended for periods of identical duration.  

Due to the extraordinary and unforeseeable situation caused by the COVID‐19 outbreak, EU 
Member  States  were  given  an  additional  period  to  complete  the  transposition  of  Directive 
(EU) 2016/798 through the adoption of Directive (EU) 2020/700 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council of 25 May 2020 amending Directives (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2016/798, 
as  regards  the  extension  of  their  transposition  periods2.  The  latter  amending  Directive  also 
introduced two new provisions, Article 6a and Article 27a, in Directive (EU) 2016/798. 

Article 6a of Directive (EU) 2016/798 enables the Commission to align the application dates 
of delegated acts  adopted under Article 6(6) of  Directive (EU) 2016/798 with  the extended 
transposition  deadline  (time-limited  delegation).  The  power  to  adopt  such  acts  is  conferred 
from 28 May 2020 to 31 October 2020. Article 27a of Directive (EU) 2016/798 sets a special 
urgent procedure for the adoption of those acts.  

This report concerns the above described delegated powers and lists the acts adopted by the 
Commission in their exercise. 

2. Legal basis for the report 

Pursuant to Article 27(2) of Directive (EU) 2016/798, the Commission was required to draw 
up a report in respect of the delegation of powers by 15 September 2020. 

However, as explained above, due to COVID-19  outbreak, measures were taken to broaden 
the Commission’s delegated powers. Thus, although belated, this report is more exhaustive in 
that it covers the exercise of the full set of delegated powers. 

3. Exercise of the delegation 

The following table shows the relevant empowerments:  

Empowerments in  
Directive (EU) 2016/798 

Delegated act empowerment description 

Article 6(6) in conjunction 
with Article 6(1) 

The Commission  is empowered to  adopt  delegated acts  in 
accordance with  Article  27 concerning the contents  of the 
Common Safety Methods in: 

 

 

the risk evaluation and assessment methods; 

for  assessing  conformity  with 
the  methods 
requirements 
in  safety  certificates  and  safety 
authorisations issued in accordance with Articles 10 
and 12; 

 

the  methods  for  supervision  to  be  applied  by 
national  safety  authorities  and  the  methods  for 

1    OJ L 138, 26.5.2016, p. 102 
2   OJ L 165, 27.5.2020, p. 27 

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monitoring  to  be  applied  by  railway  undertakings, 
infrastructure  managers  and  entities  in  charge  of 
maintenance; 

 

 

the  methods  for  assessing  the  safety  level  and  the 
safety performance of railway operators at national 
and Union level; 

the methods for assessing the achievement of safety 
targets at national and Union level; and 

  any other methods covering a process of the safety 
management  system  which  need  to  be  harmonised 
at Union level. 

Alignment  of  Common  Safety  Methods  with  revised 
Directive (EU) 2016/798 transposition deadlines. 

The Commission  is  empowered to  adopt  delegated acts  in 
accordance with Article 27 to align the application dates of 
delegated  acts  adopted  under  Article  6(6)  with  the 
transposition  deadline  set  out  in  Article  33(2a).  The 
procedure provided for in Article 27a  applies to  delegated 
acts adopted pursuant to this Article. 

The Commission  is empowered to  adopt  delegated acts  in 
accordance  with  Article  27  concerning  the  content  of  the 
Common Safety Targets in particular : 

Article 6a  

(from 28 May 2020 to 31 
October 2020) 

Article 7(6)in in conjunction 
with Article 7(1) 

 

risks 

relating 

individual 
to  passengers,  staff 
including  employees  or  contractors,  level  crossing 
users and others, and, without prejudice to existing 
national  and  international  liability  rules,  individual 
risks relating to trespassers; 

  societal risks. 

The  Commission  has  exercised  its  empowerment  under  Article  6(6)  of  Directive  (EU) 
2016/798 by adopting: 

a)  Commission Delegated Regulation  (EU) 2018/761 of 16 February 2018 establishing 
common safety methods for supervision by national safety authorities after the issue 
of  a  single  safety  certificate  or  a  safety  authorisation  pursuant  to  Directive  (EU) 
2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council and  repealing Commission 
Regulation3, and 

b)  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2018/762  of  8  March  2018  establishing 
common  safety  methods  on  safety  management  system  requirements  pursuant  to 

3   OJ L 129, 25.5.2018, p. 16 

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Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing 
Commission Regulations (EU) No 1158/2010 and (EU) No 1169/20104.  

These Delegated Regulations set out a coherent set methods which should be integrated in the 
Common Safety Methods to guarantee and to improve safety via the supervision exercised by 
the  national  safety  authorities  and  the  setting  of  safety  management  system  requirements. 
This is done while making it possible to facilitate, improve and develop rail transport services 
within  the  Union  and  with  third  countries  and  contribute  to  the  completion  of  the  single 
European railway area and the progressive achievement of the internal market. 

The  Commission  has  exercised  its  empowerment  under  Article  6a  of  Directive  (EU) 
2016/798 by adopting the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/782 of 12 June 2020 
amending Delegated Regulations (EU) 2018/761 and (EU) 2018/762 as regards their dates of 
application following the extension of the transposition deadline of Directive (EU) 2016/798 
of the European Parliament and of the Council5. 

This Delegated Regulation gave Member States the possibility to extend the deadline to apply  
certain provisions of Commission Delegated Regulations (EU) 2018/761 and (EU) 2018/762 
due to the extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19 outbreak. 

The  Commission  has  not  exercised  its  empowerment  under  Article  7(6)  of  Directive  (EU) 
2016/798.    

4. Conclusion 

With  this  report  the  Commission  complies  with  the  reporting  obligation  pursuant  to 
Article 27(2) of Directive (EU) 2016/798.  

The Commission invites the Council and the European Parliament to take note of this report. 

4 OJ L 129, 25.5.2018, p. 26 
5 OJ L 188, 15.6.2020, p. 14 

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