Article 17

The safety authority shall carry out its tasks in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way. In particular it shall allow all parties to be heard and give reasons for its decisions. It shall promptly respond to requests and applications and communicate its requests for information without delay and adopt all its decisions within four months after all requested information has been provided. It may at any time request the technical assistance of infrastructure managers and railway undertakings or other qualified bodies when it is carrying out the tasks referred to in Article 16. In the process of developing the national regulatory framework, the safety authority shall consult all persons involved and interested parties, including infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, manufacturers and maintenance providers, users and staff representatives. The safety authority shall be free to carry out all inspections and investigations that are needed for accomplishment of its tasks and it shall be granted access to all relevant documents and to premises, installations and equipment of infrastructure managers and railway undertakings. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that decisions taken by the safety authority are subject to judicial review. The safely authorities shall conduct an active exchange of views and experience for the purpose of harmonising their decision-making criteria across the Community. Their cooperation shall in particular aim at facilitating and coordinating the safety certification of railway undertakings which have been granted international train paths in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 15 of Directive 2001/14/EC. The Agency shall support the safety authorities in these tasks.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-29 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.