Brussels, 28/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Despite a double reminder from the European Commission in September 2014 and October 2015, the Dutch legislation continues to be out of line with the directives on rail safety and on the interoperability of railway systems. For this reason, the European Commission referred the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the EU on Thursday 28 April.
Rail safety. Directive 2004/49/EC requires the member states to establish an independent safety authority and an independent railway incident investigation body. Furthermore, member states are required to define common principles for the management, regulation and supervision of railway safety. In the Netherlands, the national legislation does not, in the view of the Commission, comply with this Directive - for two reasons. Firstly, it does not set out the decision-making criteria of the safety authority and secondly, it does not require a four-month deadline to be respected when issuing decisions on safety certificates or safety authorisations.
Interoperability. Directive 2008/57/EEC, laying down the conditions to achieve rail interoperability in Europe and guarantee the compatibility of infrastructure, rolling stock, signalling and other rail sub-systems, is also being flouted by the Netherlands. The Dutch legislation has still not transposed the rules on the authorisation to place vehicles into service. (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion)