CHAPTER V

Before being used on a network, a vehicle shall be authorised to be placed in service by the national safety authority which is competent for this network, unless otherwise provided for in this Chapter. A TSI conform vehicle shall be authorised in accordance with Articles 22 or 23. A non-TSI conform vehicle shall be authorised in accordance with Articles 24 or 25. A vehicle which conforms to an authorised type shall be authorised in accordance with Article 26. An authorisation granted by one Member State shall be valid in all Member States, without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 23 and 25 concerning additional authorisations. Member States shall clarify, by adopting specific national rules or through national provisions implementing this Directive, whether additional authorisations are needed in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article 23 in the case of TSI conform vehicles or Article 25 in the case of non-TSI conform vehicles. All applications for an authorisation to place in service shall be the subject of a decision by the competent national safety authority, pursuant to Articles 22 and 23 or Articles 24 and 25. The authorisation to place in service may stipulate conditions of use and other restrictions. Any decision by a competent national safety authority refusing the placing in service of a vehicle shall be duly substantiated. The applicant may within a period of one month from receipt of the negative decision request that the competent national safety authority reviewed the decision for duly justified reasons. The national safety authority shall then have two months starting from receipt of the appeal to confirm or reverse its decision. If the negative decision is confirmed, the applicant may request that the appeal body designated by the competent Member State under Article 17(3) of Directive 2004/49/EC review the decision for duly justified reasons. Member States may designate the regulatory body set up in accordance with Article 30 of Directive 2001/14/EC for the purpose of this appeal procedure. In the absence of a decision of the competent national safety authority as referred to in Articles 23(7) and 25(5) within the prescribed time limits, the placing in service of the vehicle in question shall be deemed to have been authorised after a period of three months starting at the end of these time limits. The authorisations granted pursuant to this paragraph are only valid on the network for which the competent national safety authority did not react within the prescribed limits. A national safety authority which intends to revoke an authorisation to place in service granted by itself or an authorisation granted to the applicant pursuant to paragraph 8 shall use the procedure for revision of safety certificates referred to in Article 10(5) of Directive 2004/49/EC or, where applicable, the procedure for revision of safety authorisations referred to in Article 11(2) of that Directive. In the case of an appeal procedure, the competent appeal body referred to in paragraph 7 may request from the Agency an opinion which, in that case, shall be issued within one month of the request being filed and notified to the applicant, to the competent appeal body and to the competent national safety authority which refuses to grant the authorisation. In the case of vehicles running between a Member State and a third country, on a network whose track gauge is different from that of the main rail network within the Community and for which a derogation may be granted in accordance with Article 9(5) or which are subject to specific cases, the national rules referred to in Articles 22 and 24 may include international agreements in so far as they are compatible with Community legislation. Authorisations for placing in service which have been granted before 19 July 2008, including authorisations delivered under international agreements, in particular RIC (Regolamento Internazionale Carrozze) and RIV (Regolamento Internazionale Veicoli), shall remain valid in accordance with the conditions under which the authorisations have been granted. This provision takes precedence over Articles 22 to 25. Member States may grant authorisations to place in service a series of vehicles. To that end, the national safety authorities shall notify the applicant of the procedure to be followed. Authorisations for placing in service granted in accordance with this Article shall be without prejudice to other conditions imposed on railway undertakings and infrastructure managers for operating such vehicles on the relevant network, pursuant to Articles 9, 10 and 11 of Directive 2004/49/EC. This Article shall apply to vehicles which are in conformity with all the relevant TSIs which are in force at the moment of placing in service, provided that a significant part of the essential requirements is laid down in these TSIs and that the relevant TSI on rolling stock has entered into force and is applicable. The first authorisation shall be granted by a national safety authority as follows: where all the structural subsystems of a vehicle have been authorised in conformity with the provisions of Chapter IV, the authorisation shall be granted without further checks; in the case of vehicles bearing all necessary ‘EC’ declarations of verification as provided for in Article 18, the criteria which a national safety authority may check with a view to granting an authorisation for placing in service may concern only: technical compatibility between the vehicle's relevant subsystems and their safe integration in accordance with Article 15(1), technical compatibility between the vehicle and the network concerned, national rules applicable to the open points, national rules applicable to the specific cases duly identified in the relevant TSIs. Vehicles in complete conformity with TSIs covering all aspects of the relevant subsystems without specific cases and without open points strictly related to technical compatibility between vehicle and network, shall not be subject to any additional authorisation for placing in service as long as they run on TSI conform networks in the other Member States or under the conditions specified in the corresponding TSIs. In the case of vehicles placed in service in accordance with Article 22 but not covered by paragraph 1, Member States shall decide if additional authorisations are necessary on their territory. In this case, paragraphs 3 to 7 shall apply. The applicant shall submit to the national safety authority a file on the vehicle or type of vehicle and the intended use thereof on the network. The file shall contain the following information: documentary evidence that the placing in service of the vehicle has been authorised in another Member State in accordance with Article 22; a copy of the technical file as referred to in Annex VI. This shall include, in the case of vehicles equipped with data recorders, information on the data collection procedure, permitting read out and evaluation, as long as this information is not harmonised by the corresponding TSI; records showing the vehicle's maintenance history and, where applicable, technical modifications undertaken after the authorisation; evidence on technical and operational characteristics that shows that the vehicle is compatible with the infrastructures and fixed installations, including climate conditions, energy supply system, control-command and signalling system, track gauge and infrastructure gauges, maximum permitted axle load and other constraints of the network. The criteria checked by a national safety authority may concern only: technical compatibility between the vehicle and the network concerned, including the national rules applicable to the open points needed to ensure such compatibility, the national rules applicable to the specific cases duly identified in the relevant TSIs. The national safety authority may request additional information to be supplied, risk analyses to be carried out in accordance with Article 6(3)(a) of Directive 2004/49/EC or tests to be conducted on the network in order to verify the criteria referred to in paragraph 4. However, after the adoption of the reference document referred to in Article 27 of this Directive, the national safety authority may only carry out such verification on the basis of the national rules relating to Group B or C featuring in that document. The national safety authority shall define, after consultation with the applicant, the scope and content of the additional information, the risk analyses and the tests requested. The infrastructure manager, in consultation with the applicant, shall make every effort to ensure that any tests take place within three months of the applicant's request. Where appropriate, the national safety authority shall take measures to ensure that the tests take place. All applications for an authorisation to place in service submitted in accordance with this Article shall be the subject of a decision by the national safety authority, to be taken as soon as possible and not later than: two months after submission of the file referred to in paragraph 3; where applicable, one month after provision of any additional information requested by the national safety authority; where applicable, one month after provision of the results of any tests requested by the national safety authority. This Article shall apply to vehicles which are not in conformity with all the relevant TSIs in force at the moment of placing in service, including vehicles subject to derogations, or where a significant part of the essential requirements is not laid down in one or more TSIs. The first authorisation shall be granted by a national safety authority as follows: for the technical aspects covered by a TSI, if any, the ‘EC’ verification procedure shall apply, for the other technical aspects, national rules as notified under Article 17(3) of this Directive and under Article 8 of Directive 2004/49/EC shall apply. This first authorisation shall be valid only on the network of the Member State granting it. In the case of vehicles that have been authorised to be placed in service in one Member State in accordance with Article 21(12) or Article 24, other Member States may decide in accordance with this Article whether additional authorisations to place in service are necessary on their territory. The applicant shall submit to the national safety authority a technical file on the vehicle or type of vehicle, together with details of planned use on the network. The file shall contain the following information: documentary evidence that the placing in service of the vehicle has been authorised in another Member State together with documentation on the procedure followed in order to show that the vehicle complied with the safety requirements in force, including, where applicable, information on derogations enjoyed or granted in accordance with Article 9; the technical data, the maintenance programme and the operational characteristics. This shall include, in the case of vehicles equipped with data recorders, information on the data collection procedure, permitting read out and evaluation as provided for in Article 20(2)(c) of Directive 2004/49/EC; records showing the vehicle's history of operation, maintenance and, where applicable, technical modifications undertaken after the authorisation; evidence on technical and operational characteristics that shows that the vehicle is compatible with the infrastructures and fixed installations, including climate conditions, energy supply system, control-command and signalling system, track gauge and infrastructure gauges, maximum permitted axle load and other constraints of the network. The information referred to in paragraph 2(a) and (b) may not be called into question by the national safety authority, save where the latter is able to demonstrate without prejudice to Article 16 the existence of a substantial safety risk. After the adoption of the reference document referred to in Article 27, the national safety authority may not invoke in this regard any Group A rule listed in that document. The national safety authority may request additional information to be supplied, risk analyses to be carried out in accordance with Article 6(3)(a) of Directive 2004/49/EC or tests to be conducted on the network in order to verify that the information referred to in paragraph 2(c) and (d) of this Article complies with the national rules in force as notified to the Commission pursuant to Article 8 of Directive 2004/49/EC or to Article 17 of this Directive. However, after the adoption of the reference document referred to in Article 27 of this Directive, the national safety authority may only carry out such verification on the basis of the national rules relating to Group B or C listed in that document. The national safety authority shall define, after consultation with the applicant, the scope and content of the additional information, the risk analyses or the tests requested. The infrastructure manager, in consultation with the applicant, shall make every effort to ensure that any tests take place within three months of the applicant's request. Where appropriate, the national safety authority shall take measures to ensure that the tests take place. All applications for an authorisation to place in service submitted in accordance with this Article shall be the subject of a decision by the national safety authority, to be taken as soon as possible and not later than: four months after submission of the technical file referred to in paragraph 2; where applicable, two months after provision of the additional information or risk analyses requested by the national safety authority pursuant to paragraph 4; where applicable, two months after provision of the results of the tests requested by the national safety authority pursuant to paragraph 4. Member States may grant authorisations for types of vehicles. However, if Member States authorise a vehicle, they shall at the same time authorise the type of vehicle. A vehicle which conforms to a type already authorised in a Member State shall be authorised by that Member State on the basis of a declaration of conformity to this type submitted by the applicant without further checks. However, where the relevant provisions in TSIs and national rules on the basis of which a type of vehicle was authorised have changed, Member States shall decide if authorisations of type already granted remain valid or need to be renewed. The criteria which a national safety authority checks in the case of a renewed authorisation of type may only concern the changed rules. The renewal of the type authorisation does not affect authorisations of vehicles already granted on the basis of previously authorised types. The model of declaration of conformity to type shall be adopted by the Commission by 19 July 2009 on the basis of a draft prepared by the Agency and in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 29(3). The declaration of conformity to type shall be established in accordance with: for TSI conform vehicles, the verification procedures of the relevant TSIs; for non-TSI conform vehicles, the verification procedures as defined in modules D or E of Decision 93/465/EEC. Where appropriate, the Commission may adopt an ad hoc verification procedure in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 29(3). The applicant may request a type authorisation in several Member States at the same time. In this case, national safety authorities shall cooperate with a view to simplifying the procedure and minimising administrative efforts. Type authorisations shall be registered in the European register of authorised types of vehicles referred to in Article 34. This register shall specify the Member State or Member States in which a type of vehicle is authorised. In order to facilitate the procedure for authorising the placing in service of vehicles referred to in Article 25, national rules shall be classified pursuant to Annex VII. Without prejudice to Article 30(3), the Agency shall, by 19 January 2009, review the parameters set out in section 1 of Annex VII and make the recommendations it considers appropriate to the Commission. The Agency shall draw up a recommendation for a reference document cross-referencing all the national rules applied by the Member States for placing vehicles in service. The national safety authorities shall cooperate with the Agency in this task. The Commission shall adopt the reference document, as well as any decision to update it, on the basis of the Agency's recommendation and in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 29(3).

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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.