Brussels, 23/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to the Netherlands on Thursday 22 October calling on it to comply with the rail safety directive (2004/49/EC) which, inter alia, requires member states to establish an independent accident and incident investigation body.
Under the provisions of the directive (Article 16), each member state had, by 30 April 2006, to establish an independent national safety authority, whose responsibilities include bringing into service the trans-European high-speed and conventional rail systems, supervising that interoperability complies with European legislation, managing safety certificates and safety authorisations, and enforcing and, where necessary, amending the rail safety regulatory framework. Under the provisions contained in Article 21, an independent investigating body, able to carry out in-depth investigations into rail accidents and incidents was to have been put in place by that date.
The Netherlands has failed so far to transpose rules concerning the decision-making principles of the safety authority and the criteria for the investigation body to decide whether or not to undertake an investigation of an accident or incident. It also needs to address the reporting obligations of the safety authority and investigation body.
The directive was to have been incorporated into national law by 30 April 2006. The Netherlands now has two months to notify the Commission of the measures taken to apply the directive correctly, otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the EU. The Czech Republic has already been referred for failure to comply with the same directive (see EUROPE 11416). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)