S.I. No. 477/2020 - European Union (Interoperability of the Rail System) Regulations 2020

The safety authority and other competent national safety authorities shall also be informed of any refusal, restriction, suspension or withdrawal of a certificate under subparagraph (a).

• (2) Notified bodies shall provide the other bodies notified under these Regulations carrying out similar conformity assessment activities covering the same products with relevant information on issues relating to negative and, on request, positive conformity assessment results.

• (3) Notified bodies shall provide the Agency with ‘EC’ certificates of verification of subsystems, ‘EC’ certificates of conformity of interoperability constituents and ‘EC’ certificates of suitability of use of interoperability constituents.

Coordination of notified bodies

41.

Designated bodies

42.

• (a) in the case of skills required by its personnel under Regulation 31(1), where the designated body shall have appropriate knowledge and understanding of the law relating to railway safety;

• (b) in the case of documents to be kept at the disposal of the notifying authority under Regulation 33(4), where the designated body shall include documents relating to work carried out by subsidiaries or subcontractors under the relevant national rules.

• (2) The operational obligations laid down in Regulation 38 shall also apply to bodies designated under Regulation 16(3), except that those obligations refer to national rules instead of TSIs.

• (3) The information obligation laid down in Regulation 40(1) shall also apply to designated bodies, which shall inform the safety authority accordingly.

Part 7 Vehicle Registers

Vehicle register

43.

• (2) The vehicle register shall:

• (a) comply with the common specifications as adopted by the European Commission under Article 47(2);

• (b) be kept updated by the safety authority;

• (c) be accessible to the other national safety authorities and investigating bodies designated in Articles 16 and 22 of Directive (EU) 2016/798 and in response to any legitimate request, to the safety authority and to the Agency, the railway undertakings and the infrastructure managers, as well as those persons or organisations registering vehicles or identified in the register.

• (3) The vehicle register shall contain at least the following elements:

• (a) the EVN;

• (b) references to the ‘EC’ declaration of verification and the issuing body;

• (c) references to the European register of authorised vehicle types as referred to in Article 48;

• (d) identification of the owner of the vehicle and the keeper;

• (e) restrictions on how the vehicle may be used;

• (f) references to the entity in charge of maintenance.

• (4) As long as the vehicle register is not linked with the national vehicle registers of other Member States in accordance with the specification adopted by the European Commission as referred to in Article 47(2), the safety authority shall update the vehicle register, as regards the data with which it is concerned, with the modifications made by another Member State in its own register.

Registration of vehicles authorised to be placed on market

44.

• (2) When the area of use of the vehicle –

• (a) is restricted to the territory of the State, it shall be registered in the State, or

• (b) covers the territory of the State and another Member State or other Member States, it shall be registered in the State or one of the other Member States concerned.

• (3) The keeper shall immediately declare any modification to the data entered in the vehicle registers, the destruction of a vehicle or its decision to no longer register a vehicle, to the safety authority.

• (4) In the case of vehicles authorised for the first time in a third country and subsequently used in the State, the safety authority shall ensure that the vehicle data, including at least data relating to the keeper of the vehicle concerned, the entity in charge of its maintenance and the restrictions on how the vehicle may be used, can be retrieved through a vehicle register or are otherwise made available without delay in an easily readable format and in accordance with the same non-discriminatory principles that apply to similar data from a vehicle register.

• (5) A keeper of a vehicle who fails to comply with paragraph (1) or (3) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class A fine.

Vehicle numbering

45.

• (2) Each vehicle shall be assigned an EVN only once, unless otherwise specified in the measures referred to in Article 47(2), in accordance with the relevant TSI.

• (3) A person shall not place a vehicle on the market in the State unless the vehicle carries an EVN assigned by the national safety authority in the Member State of registration.

• (4) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in the case of vehicles operated or meant to be operated from or to third countries the track gauge of which is different from that of the main rail network within the European Union, the safety authority may accept vehicles clearly identified in accordance with a different coding system.

• (5) A person who fails to comply with paragraph (3) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class A fine.

Register of infrastructure

46.

• (2) The infrastructure manager shall update the register of infrastructure in accordance with the common specifications for the register of infrastructure as adopted by the European Commission.

• (3) The values of the parameters recorded in the register of infrastructure shall be used in combination with the values of the parameters recorded in the vehicle authorisation for placing on the market to check the technical compatibility between vehicle and network.

• (4) The register of infrastructure may stipulate conditions for the use of fixed installations and other restrictions.

• (5) Where the safety authority considers an infrastructure manager is not complying with this Regulation, it may by notice direct compliance. The manager may within 7 days of service of the notice make representations to the safety authority, who shall consider them and inform the infrastructure manager of its decision.

• (6) An infrastructure manager who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a notice under paragraph (6) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a class A fine.

• (7) The register of infrastructure maintained under Regulation 31 of the European Communities (Interoperability of the Rail System) Regulations 2011 ( S.I. No. 419 of 2011 ) continues in being.

Part 8 Enforcement

Inspectors

47.

• (a) are deemed to be inspectors to carry out any inspections, audits and investigations that are needed for the accomplishment of the tasks of the safety authority under these Regulations and to enforce these Regulations,

• (b) have the right of access to all relevant documents and to premises, installations and equipment of infrastructure managers and railway undertakings, and

• (c) have the powers of inspectors under Part 7 (other than sections 76 to 79) of the Act of 2005 to perform those functions and, accordingly, a reference in that Part to the Act of 2005 includes a reference to these Regulations.

Compliance orders

48.

• (2) An application to the High Court for an order under paragraph (1) shall be by motion and the Court, when considering the matter, may make such interim or interlocutory order (if any) as it considers appropriate and the order by which an application under paragraph (1) is determined may contain such terms and conditions (if any) as to the payment of costs as the Court considers appropriate.

Proceedings – summary offences

49.

Offences by bodies corporate

50.

• (2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (1) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his or her functions of management as if he or she were a director or manager of a body corporate.

Service of notices, etc.

51.

• (a) by delivering it to the person;

• (b) by leaving it at the address at which the person carries on business or ordinarily resides or, in case an address has for service been given, at that address;

• (c) by sending it by pre-paid post to the address at which the person carries on business or ordinarily resides or, in case an address has for service been given, to that address;

• (d) where there is a facility for receiving the notice, notification or other document by electronic means at the address at which the person carries on business or ordinarily resides or, in case an address has for service been given, at that address; by transmitting it by such means to that address, provided the notice, notification or other document is also delivered in any of the other ways referred to in this paragraph.

• (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1), a company formed and registered under the Companies Act 2014 (No. 38 of 2014) or an existing company within the meaning of that Act is deemed to be ordinarily resident as its registered office and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body of persons is deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principle office or place of business.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

29 October, 2020.

EAMON RYAN,

Minister for Transport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The purpose of these Regulations is to give effect to Directive (EU) 2016/797 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union. The Directive is part of the Technical Pillar of the EU Fourth Railway Package and sets out the conditions to be met to achieve technical interoperability and overall compatibility of the rail system throughout the European Union. In Ireland, these transposition Regulations apply to the Iarnród Éireann rail network.

These Regulations replace and revoke the European Communities (Interoperability of the Rail System) Regulations 2011 ( S.I. No. 419 of 2011 ).

Footnotes