THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community(1), and in particular Article 34(4) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) In accordance with Article 34(1) of Directive 2008/57/EC, the European Railway Agency (the Agency) should set up and keep a register of types of vehicles authorised by the Member States for placing in service on the Union rail network.
(2) For some existing vehicles it is not possible to establish a correspondence to a type of vehicle that is authorised in accordance with Article 26 of Directive 2008/57/EC. A possibility to include the technical characteristics of all the vehicles in service in one single register may, however, be beneficial for the railway sector.
(3) Restrictions on how the vehicle may be used as mentioned in Article 33(2)(e) of Directive 2008/57/EC are in most cases subject to a specific code. Those restriction codes should be harmonised. The use of national restriction codes should be limited to those restrictions that reflect particular characteristics of the existing railway system of a Member State and are unlikely to be applied with the same meaning in other Member States. The Agency should keep up-to-date the list of harmonised restriction codes and of national codes and publish them on its web site.
(4) In accordance with Article 34(3) of Directive 2008/57/EC, when an authorisation of type is granted, modified, suspended or withdrawn in a Member State, national safety authorities should inform the Agency so that the latter may update the register. The register should include types of vehicle authorised in accordance with Article 26 of Directive 2008/57/EC. Therefore, when informing the Agency, national safety authorities should indicate which parameters of the given type were checked according to the notified national rules. This indication should be established in accordance with the reference document referred to in Article 27(4) of Directive 2008/57/EC.
(5) The European Railway Agency submitted its recommendation ERA/REC/07-2010/INT to the Commission on 20 December 2010.
(6) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee set up under Article 29 of Directive 2008/57/EC,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: