Subject matter and scope
Article 1
1
This Regulation establishes a common safety method (CSM) of supervision of the safety performance after issuing a safety certificate for railway undertakings or a safety authorisation for infrastructure managers as referred to in Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 1158/2010 and Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2010 respectively.
2
National safety authorities shall apply the common safety method to oversee compliance with the legal obligation on a railway undertaking or infrastructure manager to use a safety management system to ensure the control of all risks associated with their activities including the supply of maintenance and material and the use of contractors and, where appropriate, to check the application of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1078/2012 of 16 November 2012 on a common safety method for monitoring to be applied by railway undertakings, infrastructure managers after receiving a safety certificate or safety authorisation and by entities in charge of maintenance .
3
National safety authorities shall use this Regulation to perform their supervision activities under Article 16(2)(f) of Directive 2004/49/EC and to advise the Member States on the effectiveness of the safety regulatory framework.

Definitions
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation, ‘supervision’ has the meaning provided for by Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1158/2010 and Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2010.

Supervision strategy and plan(s)
Article 3
1
The national safety authority shall develop and implement a supervision strategy and plan(s) outlining how it targets its activities and sets its priorities for supervision as set out in the Annex.
2
The national safety authority shall collect and analyse information from a variety of sources. It shall use the information collected and the outcomes of supervision for the purposes set out in Article 1.
3
The national safety authority shall regularly review the strategy and plan or plans in the light of experience, using the information collected and the outcomes of supervision.

Techniques for conducting supervision
Article 4
1
The national safety authority shall adopt techniques for supervision activities. These techniques commonly include interviews with people at various levels in an organisation, reviewing documents and records related to the safety management system and examining the safety outcomes of the management system revealed by inspections or related activities.
2
The national safety authority shall ensure that its supervision activities include checking
a
the effectiveness of the safety management system;
b
the effectiveness of individual or partial elements of the safety management system, including operational activities.

Links between assessment and supervision
Article 5
1
The national safety authority shall use information gathered during the assessment of a railway undertaking’s or infrastructure manager’s safety management system for the purposes of its supervision of the continued application of their safety management system after issuing the safety certificate or the safety authorisation.
2
The national safety authority shall also use information gathered during its supervision activities for reassessing a railway undertaking’s or an infrastructure manager’s safety management system prior to the renewal of a safety certificate or safety authorisation.

Competence of the persons involved in supervision activities
Article 6
The national safety authority shall have a system in place to ensure that supervision activities are undertaken by competent persons.

Decision-making criteria
Article 7
1
The national safety authority shall establish and publish decision-making criteria on how it monitors, promotes and where appropriate enforces compliance with the safety regulatory framework. These criteria shall also include non-compliance issues related to the continued application of a safety management system by a railway undertaking or infrastructure manager and to the safety regulatory framework.
2
The national safety authority shall adopt and publish a procedure to enable railway undertakings and infrastructure managers to submit a complaint on decisions taken during supervision activities, without prejudice to the requirement for a judicial review of those decisions.

Coordination and cooperation
Article 8
1
National safety authorities involved in the supervision of a railway undertaking operating in more than one Member State shall coordinate their approach to supervision to ensure that the safety management system of the railway undertaking is effective and covers all relevant activities. The coordination activities shall involve agreement on what information to share between national safety authorities in order to ensure a common approach to supervision of the relevant railway undertaking. It shall also include sharing information on the supervision strategy and plan or plans of the national safety authorities concerned, including any relevant outcomes, to enable a joint approach to dealing with non-compliance.
2
National safety authorities shall develop cooperation arrangements with national investigation bodies, certification bodies for entities in charge of maintenance and other competent authorities in order to share information and to coordinate their response to any failure to comply with the safety-related regulatory framework.

Entry into force and application
Article 9
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 7 June 2013.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 16 November 2012.
For the Commission
The President
José Manuel Barroso
See page 8 of this Official Journal.