Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/572 of 24 April 2020 on the reporting structure to be followed for railway accident and incident investigation reports (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on railway safety (1), and in particular Article 24(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Directive (EU) 2016/798 provides a framework to ensure that the results of accident and incident investigations are disseminated by the national investigating bodies (NIBs) in charge of reporting on rail accident and incident investigation across the Union, in accordance with its Article 22.

(2) The reports on investigations and any findings and subsequent recommendations provide crucial information for the future improvement of rail safety in the Single European Rail Area. In accordance with Article 26 of the Directive (EU) 2016/798, safety recommendations have to be acted upon by the addressees and actions reported back to the investigating body.

(3) A common structure of the investigation report should facilitate sharing the reports. To this end a public database managed under the responsibility of the European Union Agency for Railways was established in accordance with Article 37(3)(e) of Regulation (EU) 2016/796 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), and is accessible through the Agency.

(4) To facilitate the access to useful information and its application to other European stakeholders, some parts of the report are requested in two European languages.

(5) The structure should protect the NIB from external interferences, guarantee that the investigation has been carried in an independent manner in accordance with Article 21(4) of the Directive (EU) 2016/798.

(6) Safety accident and incident investigation reports should ensure that lessons are learned from past accidents and incidents. They should facilitate the identification of safety hazards and elimination of similar safety risk in the future and allow actors in the rail sector to review their assessment of the risks related to their operations and update their safety management systems where necessary, including where applicable to adopt corrective measures, pursuant to point 7.1.3 of Annex I and point 7.1.3 of Annex II to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/762 (3). For this purpose the information contained in such reports should be structured to be easily accessible.

(7) The European Union Agency for Railways (the ‘Agency’), which collects the reports, should maintain the appropriate informatics tool providing an easy retrieval, tailored on the specific needs of the user (e.g. using keywords).

(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 28(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/798,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Subject matter and scope

This Regulation lays down a common reporting structure for the accident and incident investigations referred to in Article 20(1) and (2) of Directive (EU) 2016/798.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘causal factor’ means any action, omission, event or condition, or a combination thereof that if corrected, eliminated, or avoided would have prevented the occurrence, in all likelihood;

(2) ‘contributing factor’ means any action, omission, event or condition that affects an occurrence by increasing its likelihood, accelerating the effect in time or increasing the severity of the consequences, but the elimination of which would not have prevented the occurrence;

(3) ‘systemic factor’ means any causal or contributing factor of an organisational, managerial, societal or regulatory nature that is likely to affect similar and related occurrences in the future, including, in particular the regulatory framework conditions, the design and application of the safety management system, skills of the staff, procedures and maintenance.

Article 3

Reporting structure

Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 20, 24(1) and (2) of Directive (EU) 2016/798, the investigation reports shall be issued following the structure, as closely as possible, as set out in Annex I.

Points 1, 5 and 6 of the Annex I shall be written in a second official European language. This translation should be available no later than 3 months after the delivery of the report.

The reports shall be made available to the Agency in a digital format allowing access to it, its digital indexation and analysis.

Article 4

Transition

With regard to accidents and incidents for which a decision to launch the investigations has already been taken in accordance with Article 22(3) of Directive (EU) 2016/798 at the time of entry into force of this Regulation, the investigation body may decide whether to follow the reporting structure as set out in Annex I, or to follow that of Annex V to Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4).

Article 5

Entry into force and application

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 24 April 2020.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 138, 26.5.2016, p. 102.

(2) Regulation (EU) 2016/796 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Railways and repealing Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 (OJ L 138, 26.5.2016, p. 1).

(3) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/762 of 8 March 2018 establishing common safety methods on safety management system requirements pursuant to directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Commission Regulation (EU) No 1158/2010 and (EU) No 1169/2010 (OJ L 129, 25.5.2018, p. 26).

(4) Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on safety on the Community's railways and amending Council Directive 95/18/EC on the licensing of railway undertakings and Directive 2001/14/EC on the allocation of railway infrastructure capacity and the levying of charges for the use of railway infrastructure and safety certification (Railway Safety Directive) (OJ L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 44).