Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

Article 21 Authorisation for placing in service of vehicles

1. Before being used on a network, a vehicle shall be authorised to be placed in service by the national safety authority which is competent for this network, unless otherwise provided for in this Chapter.

2. A TSI conform vehicle shall be authorised in accordance with Articles 22 or 23.

3. A non-TSI conform vehicle shall be authorised in accordance with Articles 24 or 25.

4. A vehicle which conforms to an authorised type shall be authorised in accordance with Article 26.

5. An authorisation granted by one Member State shall be valid in all Member States, without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 23 and 25 concerning additional authorisations. Member States shall clarify, by adopting specific national rules or through national provisions implementing this Directive, whether additional authorisations are needed in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article 23 in the case of TSI conform vehicles or Article 25 in the case of non-TSI conform vehicles.

6. All applications for an authorisation to place in service shall be the subject of a decision by the competent national safety authority, pursuant to Articles 22 and 23 or Articles 24 and 25. The authorisation to place in service may stipulate conditions of use and other restrictions.

7. Any decision by a competent national safety authority refusing the placing in service of a vehicle shall be duly substantiated. The applicant may within a period of one month from receipt of the negative decision request that the competent national safety authority reviewed the decision for duly justified reasons. The national safety authority shall then have two months starting from receipt of the appeal to confirm or reverse its decision. If the negative decision is confirmed, the applicant may request that the appeal body designated by the competent Member State under Article 17(3) of Directive 2004/49/EC review the decision for duly justified reasons. Member States may designate the regulatory body set up in accordance with Article 30 of Directive 2001/14/EC for the purpose of this appeal procedure.

8. In the absence of a decision of the competent national safety authority as referred to in Articles 23(7) and 25(5) within the prescribed time limits, the placing in service of the vehicle in question shall be deemed to have been authorised after a period of three months starting at the end of these time limits. The authorisations granted pursuant to this paragraph are only valid on the network for which the competent national safety authority did not react within the prescribed limits.

9. A national safety authority which intends to revoke an authorisation to place in service granted by itself or an authorisation granted to the applicant pursuant to paragraph 8 shall use the procedure for revision of safety certificates referred to in Article 10(5) of Directive 2004/49/EC or, where applicable, the procedure for revision of safety authorisations referred to in Article 11(2) of that Directive.

10. In the case of an appeal procedure, the competent appeal body referred to in paragraph 7 may request from the Agency an opinion which, in that case, shall be issued within one month of the request being filed and notified to the applicant, to the competent appeal body and to the competent national safety authority which refuses to grant the authorisation.

11. In the case of vehicles running between a Member State and a third country, on a network whose track gauge is different from that of the main rail network within the Community and for which a derogation may be granted in accordance with Article 9(5) or which are subject to specific cases, the national rules referred to in Articles 22 and 24 may include international agreements in so far as they are compatible with Community legislation.

12. Authorisations for placing in service which have been granted before 19 July 2008, including authorisations delivered under international agreements, in particular RIC (Regolamento Internazionale Carrozze) and RIV (Regolamento Internazionale Veicoli), shall remain valid in accordance with the conditions under which the authorisations have been granted. This provision takes precedence over Articles 22 to 25.

13. Member States may grant authorisations to place in service a series of vehicles. To that end, the national safety authorities shall notify the applicant of the procedure to be followed.

14. Authorisations for placing in service granted in accordance with this Article shall be without prejudice to other conditions imposed on railway undertakings and infrastructure managers for operating such vehicles on the relevant network, pursuant to Articles 9, 10 and 11 of Directive 2004/49/EC.