Regulation (EU) 2016/796 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

CHAPTER 2 WORKING METHODS

Article 5 Creation and composition of the working parties and groups

1. The Agency shall set up a limited number of working parties for the purpose of drawing up recommendations and, where relevant, guidelines, in particular relating to technical specifications for interoperability (‘TSIs’), common safety targets (‘CSTs’), common safety methods (‘CSMs’) and the use of common safety indicators (‘CSIs’).

The Agency may set up working parties in other duly justified cases at the request of the Commission or the Committee referred to in Article 81 (‘the committee’) or on its own initiative, after consulting the Commission.

The working parties shall be chaired by a representative of the Agency.

2. The working parties shall be composed of:

• representatives nominated by the competent national authorities to participate in the working parties,

• professionals from the railway sector selected by the Agency from the list referred to in paragraph 3. The Agency shall ensure adequate representation of those sectors of the industry and of those users which could be affected by measures the Commission may propose on the basis of the recommendations addressed to it by the Agency. The Agency shall strive, where possible, for a balanced geographical representation.

The Agency may, if necessary, appoint to the working parties independent experts and representatives of international organisations recognised as competent in the field concerned. Members of the staff of the Agency may not be appointed to the working parties, except for the chair of the working parties, who shall be a representative of the Agency.

3. Each representative body referred to in Article 38(4) shall forward to the Agency a list of the most qualified experts mandated to represent it in each working party and shall update that list whenever changes occur.

4. Whenever the work of such working parties has a direct impact on the working conditions, health and safety of workers in the industry, representatives designated by the trade-union organisations acting at European level shall participate in the relevant working parties as full members.

5. Travel and subsistence expenses of the members of the working parties, based on rules and scales adopted by the Management Board, shall be met by the Agency.

6. The Agency shall take due account of the outcome of the work done by the working parties when drawing up the recommendations and guidelines referred to in paragraph 1.

7. The Agency shall set up groups for the purposes of Articles 24, 29 and Article 38(1).

8. The Agency may set up groups in accordance with Article 38(4) and in duly justified cases at the request of the Commission or of the committee, or on its own initiative.

9. The work of the working parties and of the groups shall be transparent. The Management Board shall adopt the rules of procedure of the working parties and of the groups, including transparency rules.

Article 6 Consultation of the social partners

Whenever the tasks provided for in Articles 13, 15, 19, and 36 have a direct impact on the social environment or working conditions of workers in the industry, the Agency shall consult the social partners within the framework of the sectoral dialogue committee set up pursuant to Commission Decision 98/500/EC(1). In such cases, the social partners may react to those consultations, provided that they do so within 3 months.

Those consultations shall be held before the Agency addresses its recommendations to the Commission. The Agency shall take due account of those consultations, and shall, at all times, be available to expound on its recommendations. The opinions expressed by the sectoral dialogue committee shall be forwarded by the Agency, together with the recommendation by the Agency, to the Commission and by the Commission to the committee.

Article 7 Consultation of rail freight customers and passengers

Whenever the tasks provided for in Articles 13 and 19 have a direct impact on rail freight customers and passengers, the Agency shall consult the organisations representing them, including representatives of persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility. In such cases, those organisations may react to those consultations, provided that they do so within 3 months.

The list of organisations to be consulted shall be drawn up by the Commission with the assistance of the committee.

Those consultations shall be held before the Agency addresses its recommendations to the Commission. The Agency shall take due account of those consultations, and shall, at all times, be available to expound on its recommendations. The opinions expressed by the organisations concerned shall be forwarded by the Agency, together with the recommendation by the Agency, to the Commission and by the Commission to the committee.

Article 8 Impact assessment

1. The Agency shall conduct an impact assessment of its recommendations and opinions. The Management Board shall adopt an impact-assessment methodology based on the methodology of the Commission. The Agency shall liaise with the Commission to ensure that relevant work at the Commission is duly taken into account. The Agency shall clearly identify the assumptions used as the basis for the impact assessment and the data sources used in the report accompanying each recommendation.

2. Before including an activity in the programming document adopted by the Management Board, in accordance with Article 51(1), the Agency shall conduct an early impact assessment in relation to which it shall state:

(a) the issue to be solved and the possible solutions;

(b) the extent to which a specific action, including addressing a recommendation or issuing an opinion of the Agency, would be required;

(c) the expected Agency contribution to the solution of the problem.

Before any activities or projects are included in the programming document, they shall be made subject to an efficiency analysis individually and in conjunction with each other, in order to make best use of the budget and resources of the Agency.

3. The Agency may conduct an ex post assessment of the legislation based on its recommendations.

4. Member States shall provide the Agency with the data necessary for an impact assessment, where available.

At the request of the Agency, the representative bodies shall provide the Agency with non-confidential data necessary for the impact assessment.

Article 9 Studies

Where required for the implementation of its tasks, the Agency shall order studies, involving, where appropriate, the working parties and groups referred to in Article 5, and shall finance those studies from its budget.

Article 10 Opinions

1. The Agency shall issue opinions at the request of one or more national regulatory bodies referred to in Article 55 of Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(2), in particular concerning safety-related and interoperability-related aspects of matters drawn to their attention.

2. The Agency shall issue opinions at the request of the Commission on amendments to any act adopted on the basis of Directive (EU) 2016/797 or Directive (EU) 2016/798, especially where any alleged deficiency is signalled.

3. All opinions of the Agency, and in particular those referred to in paragraph 2, shall be issued by the Agency as soon as possible and at the latest within 2 months of receipt of the request therefor, unless otherwise agreed with the requesting party. Those opinions shall be made public by the Agency within 1 month after they are issued, in a version from which all commercially confidential material has been removed.

Article 11 Visits to Member States

1. In order to perform the tasks entrusted to it, in particular those referred to in Articles 14, 20, 21, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 42, and to assist the Commission in fulfilling its duties under the Treaty on the Functioning of European Union (TFEU), including, in particular the assessment of the effective implementation of relevant Union legislation, the Agency may carry out visits to the Member States, in accordance with the policy, working methods and procedures adopted by the Management Board.

2. Following consultation with the Member State concerned, the Agency shall inform the latter in good time of the planned visit, the names of the Agency officials delegated to carry out the visit, the date on which the visit is to start and its expected duration. The Agency officials delegated to carry out such visits shall do so on presentation of a decision in writing by the Executive Director specifying the purpose and the aims of their visit.

3. The national authorities of the Member States concerned shall facilitate the work of the Agency's staff.

4. The Agency shall draw up a report on each visit referred to in paragraph 1 and send it to the Commission and to the Member State concerned.

5. This Article is without prejudice to the inspections referred to in Articles 33(7) and 34(6).

6. Travel, accommodation, subsistence and other expenses incurred by the Agency's staff shall be met by the Agency.

Article 12 One-stop shop

1. The Agency shall establish and manage an information and communications system with at least the following one-stop-shop functions:

(a) a single entry point through which the applicant shall submit its application files for type authorisation, vehicle authorisations for placing on the market and single safety certificates. Where the area of use or operation is limited to a network or networks within one Member State only, the single entry point shall be developed so as to ensure that the applicant selects the authority it wishes to process the application for issuing authorisations or single safety certificates for the whole procedure;

(b) a common information-exchange platform, providing the Agency and national safety authorities with information about all applications for authorisations and single safety certificates, the stages of these procedures and their outcome, and, where applicable, the requests and decisions of the Board of Appeal;

(c) a common information-exchange platform, providing the Agency and national safety authorities with information about requests for approvals by the Agency in accordance with Article 19 of Directive (EU) 2016/797 and applications for authorisations of trackside control-command and signalling subsystems involving European Train Control System (ETCS) and/or Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway (GSM-R) equipment, the stages of these procedures and their outcome, and, where applicable, the requests and decisions of the Board of Appeal;

(d) an early-warning system able to identify at an early stage the needs for coordination between decisions to be taken by national safety authorities and the Agency in the case of different applications requesting similar authorisations or single safety certificates.

2. The technical and functional specifications of the one-stop shop referred to in paragraph 1 shall be developed in cooperation with the network of national safety authorities referred to in Article 38 on the basis of a draft prepared by the Agency taking into account the results of a cost-benefit analysis. On this basis, the Management Board shall adopt the technical and functional specifications and a plan to establish the one-stop shop. The one-stop shop shall be developed without prejudice to the intellectual property rights and the required confidentiality level, and taking into consideration, if appropriate, the IT applications and registers already set up by the Agency, such as those referred to in Article 37.

3. The one-stop shop shall be operational by 16 June 2019.

4. The Agency shall monitor the applications submitted through the one-stop shop, in particular by using the early-warning system referred to in point (d) of paragraph 1. If different applications requesting similar authorisations or single safety certificates are detected, the Agency shall ensure appropriate follow-up, such as:

(a) informing applicant(s) that there is another or similar request for authorisation or certification;

(b) coordinating with the relevant national safety authority in order to ensure consistency of decisions to be taken by national safety authorities and the Agency. If no mutually acceptable solution can be found within 1 month of the beginning of the coordination process, the matter shall be referred for arbitration to the Board of Appeal referred to in Articles 55, 61 and 62.

(1)

Commission Decision 98/500/EC of 20 May 1998 on the establishment of Sectoral Dialogue Committees promoting the dialogue between the social partners at European level (OJ L 225, 12.8.1998, p. 27).

(2)

Directive 2012/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 establishing a single European railway area (OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 32).