2011/155/EU: Commission Decision of 9 March 2011 on the publication and management of the reference document referred to in Article 27(4) of Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community (notified under document C(2011) 1536) Text with EEA relevance

1 The content of the reference document referred to in Article 27(4) of Directive 2008/57/EC is specified in the Annex to this Decision.

2 The Agency shall publish and maintain the reference document. Free access to it shall be made available via the website of the Agency. The Agency shall publish the first version of the reference document within 4 months of entry into force of this Decision.

3 At least once per year, the Agency shall make a report to the Commission and the Committee referred to in Article 29 of Directive 2008/57/EC on progress made with the publication and management of the reference document.

4 The Commission may at any time, upon request of the Agency, a Member State, or on its own initiative, adopt any decision to modify the reference document published by the Agency, in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 27(4) of Directive 2008/57/EC.

For the purpose of the reference document: (a) ‘rule’ shall mean a requirement applicable in a Member State and to be complied with by the applicant for the authorisation of placing in service of vehicles, where the requirement is related to: a parameter of the list set out in the Annex to Decision 2009/965/EC, and/or verification and testing requirements, and/or a process to be used to gain authorisation for placing in service of vehicles; (b) ‘classification’ means the attribution given by one Member State to another Member State’s national rule covering a particular parameter according to one of the three groups A, B or C, which are defined in Section 2 of Annex VII to Directive 2008/57/EC.

1 For each Member State the national reference document shall contain, for each parameter of the list provided in the Annex to Decision 2009/965/EC: (a) a reference to the relevant national rules applied in that Member State for authorising placing vehicles in service or a statement that there is no requirement in respect of this parameter; (b) the classification, in accordance with Section 2 of Annex VII to Directive 2008/57/EC, of the rules applied in other Member States.

2 The Agency shall facilitate the classification of national vehicle authorisation rules by the respective National Safety Authorities (NSAs) through, where appropriate, arranging meetings.

1 Each NSA shall supply the Agency with the information necessary to compile the national reference document. In particular the NSA shall: (a) supply the Agency with references to national rules for each parameter and their classification; (b) advise the Agency of changes to the rules at the time of publication of the change of rule; (c) nominate a person or a department which will be responsible for the supply of this information to the Agency; (d) conduct an active exchange of views and experiences with other NSAs in order to be able to classify the rules in accordance with Article 3(1)(b). NSAs shall cooperate with a view to eliminating unnecessary requirements and redundant verifications.

2 Each Member State shall approve its national reference document.

3 Within 1 year of the publication of the relevant national reference document, Member States shall ensure consistency between the requirements contained in the reference document and the requirements contained in rules notified pursuant to Article 17 of Directive 2008/57/EC. Once a single data entry for the notification of national rules and for the reference document is available, the deadline to ensure consistency between them shall be 6 months. The Commission shall inform Member States of the date by which the single data entry for notification of national rules is available. After this period if the Agency becomes aware of an inconsistency it shall advise the relevant Member State. Where a rule of the reference document is not yet notified either that rule shall be notified or the reference document shall be updated.

4 Member States shall notify to the Commission within 2 months of entry into force of this Decision the competent department which will be in charge of validating and approving their national reference document and changes thereto.

1 Further to Article 4(1)(b), if a change to a rule may affect the classification of this rule in any other Member State, the Agency shall advise the NSAs of the affected Member States so that they may review the classification.

2 If the Agency becomes aware of a rule proposed to be classified under group B or C by a Member State that in its opinion shall be classified under group A, it shall raise and discuss the matter with the relevant NSA in order that an agreement may be reached on the correct classification.

3 If after discussion with the relevant NSAs the Agency considers that a classification under group B or C by an NSA is not justified according to the provisions of Directive 2008/57/EC and that the classification under group B or C represents an unnecessary requirement or unnecessary verification that has a disproportionate impact upon the cost or timescale for authorisation for placing in service of vehicles, the Agency shall inform the Commission thereof and provide a technical opinion to the Commission and the relevant Member State.

4 Where appropriate, the Commission shall adopt a decision in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 27(4) of Directive 2008/57/EC. That decision is addressed to the Agency in order to update the reference document and to the relevant Member State with a view to approve the national reference document as provided in Article 4(2).

This Decision shall not apply to the Republic of Cyprus and the Republic of Malta for as long as no railway system is established within their territory.

This Decision shall apply from 1 April 2011.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States and to the European Railway Agency.