The Railways Infrastructure (Access, Management and Licensing of Railway Undertakings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

Co-operation between regulatory bodies

37.—(1) The Office of Rail and Road must exchange information about its work, decision making principles, and practice with the national regulatory bodies of other Member States, and in particular it must exchange information on the main issues of its procedures and on the problems of interpreting transposed European Union railway law.

(2) The Office of Rail and Road must cooperate with such bodies for the purpose of coordinating their decision-making across the European Union, and for this purpose it must participate and work together with them in a network, to be coordinated and supported by the Commission, that convenes at regular intervals.

(3) The Office of Rail and Road must cooperate closely with such bodies, including through working arrangements, for the purpose of mutual assistance in their market monitoring tasks and handling appeals or investigations.

(4) In the case of an appeal or an own-initiative investigation on issues of access or charging relating to an international train path, as well as in the framework of monitoring competition on the market related to international rail transport services, the Office of Rail and Road must consult the national regulatory bodies of all other Member States through which the international train path concerned runs and, where appropriate, the European Commission, and must request all necessary information from them before taking its decision.

(5) The Office of Rail and Road must use any information it receives pursuant to paragraph (4) only for the purpose of handling the appeal or investigation.

(6) If the Office of Rail and Road receives a request for information from the regulatory body of another Member State in relation to an appeal or investigation of a type described in paragraph (4) for which that regulatory body is responsible, the Office of Rail and Road must use its best endeavours to provide all such information that it has the right to request under these regulations.

(7) If the Office of Rail and Road receives an appeal, or conducts an investigation on its own initiative in relation to an issue for which another regulatory body is responsible, it must transfer relevant information to that regulatory body in order for that body to take measures regarding the parties concerned.

(8) Infrastructure managers required to co-operate in the allocation of infrastructure capacity crossing more than one network, as referred to in regulation 20(2)(a), must provide, without delay, all the information requested by the Office of Rail and Road, which is necessary for the purpose of handling the appeal or investigation referred to in paragraph (4).

(9) The Office of Rail and Road may transfer such information regarding the international train path concerned to the regulatory bodies referred to in paragraph (4).

(10) The Office of Rail and Road must work with the regulatory bodies of other Member States to develop common principles and practices for making the decisions for which they are empowered under these regulations.

(11) The Office of Rail and Road must review decisions and practices of infrastructure managers required to co-operate over train services which cross more than one network, as referred to in paragraph (8) and regulation 20, that implement provisions in these regulations or which otherwise facilitate international rail transport.