CHAPTER II

DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF RAILWAY SAFETY

Common safety methods (‘CSMs’)
Article 6
1
The CSMs shall describe how the safety levels, the achievement of safety targets and compliance with other safety requirements are assessed, including, where appropriate, through an independent assessment body, by elaborating and defining:
a
the risk evaluation and assessment methods;
b
the methods for assessing conformity with requirements in safety certificates and safety authorisations issued in accordance with Articles 10 and 12;
c
the methods for supervision to be applied by national safety authorities and the methods for monitoring to be applied by railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and entities in charge of maintenance;
d
the methods for assessing the safety level and the safety performance of railway operators at national and Union level;
e
the methods for assessing the achievement of safety targets at national and Union level; and
f
any other methods covering a process of the safety management system which need to be harmonised at Union level.
2
The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, give a mandate to the Agency to draft CSMs and amendments thereto and to make the relevant recommendations to the Commission, on the basis of a clear justification of the need for a new or amended CSM and its impact on existing rules and on the level of safety of the Union rail system. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 28(3). Where the committee referred to in Article 28 (‘the committee’) delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft implementing act, and the third subparagraph of Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
The drafting, adoption and review of CSMs shall take account of the opinions of users, the national safety authorities and stakeholders, including social partners, where appropriate. The recommendations shall enclose a report on the results of that consultation and a report assessing the impact of the new or amended CSM to be adopted.
3
During the exercise of the mandate referred to in paragraph 2, the committee shall be kept systematically and regularly informed by the Agency or by the Commission of the preparatory work on the CSMs. During that work, the Commission may address to the Agency any useful recommendations concerning the CSMs and a cost-benefit analysis. In particular, the Commission may require that alternative solutions be examined by the Agency and that the assessment of the costs and benefits of those alternative solutions be set out in the report annexed to the draft CSMs.
The Commission shall be assisted by the committee for the tasks mentioned in the first subparagraph.
4
The Commission shall examine the recommendation issued by the Agency with a view to verifying that the mandate referred to in paragraph 2 is fulfilled. Where the mandate is not fulfilled, the Commission shall request the Agency to review its recommendation by indicating the points of the mandate which were not fulfilled. For justified reasons, the Commission may decide to modify the mandate given to the Agency in accordance with the procedure set out in paragraph 2.
The Commission shall be assisted by the committee for the tasks mentioned in the first subparagraph.
5
The CSMs shall be revised at regular intervals, taking into account the experience gained from their application and the global development of railway safety and with the objective of generally maintaining and, where reasonably practicable, continuously improving safety.
6
On the basis of the recommendation issued by the Agency and after the examination referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 27 concerning the content of CSMs, and of any amendments thereto.
7
Member States shall make any necessary amendments to their national rules in the light of the adoption of CSMs and amendments thereto without delay.