Examination of draft national rules
1. The Agency shall, within 2 months of receipt thereof, examine the draft national rules submitted to it in accordance with Article 8(4) of Directive (EU) 2016/798 and Article 14(5) of Directive (EU) 2016/797. If translation is necessary or the draft national rule is long or complex the Agency may extend this time period by up to 3 additional months, subject to the consent of the Member State. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Agency and the Member State concerned may mutually agree to further extend that period.
Within that period, the Agency shall exchange relevant information with the Member State concerned, consult the relevant stakeholders where appropriate, and subsequently inform the Member State of the outcome of the examination.
2. Where, after the examination referred to in paragraph 1, the Agency considers that the draft national rules enable the essential requirements for railway interoperability to be fulfilled, the CSMs and TSIs in force to be respected and the CSTs to be achieved, and that they would not result in arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on rail transport operations between Member States, the Agency shall inform the Commission and the Member State concerned of its positive assessment. In that case, the Commission may validate the rules in the IT system referred to in Article 27. Where the Agency within 2 months of receipt of the draft national rule or within the extended time period agreed in accordance with paragraph 1 does not inform the Commission and the Member State concerned of its assessment, the Member State may proceed with the introduction of the rule without prejudice to Article 26.
3. Where the examination referred to in paragraph 1 leads to a negative assessment, the Agency shall inform the Member State concerned and ask it to state its position regarding that assessment. If, following that exchange of views with the Member State concerned, the Agency maintains its negative assessment, the Agency shall within a maximum period of 1 month:
(a)
issue an opinion addressed to the Member State concerned, stating the reasons why the national rule or rules in question should not enter into force and/or be applied; and
(b)
inform the Commission of its negative assessment, stating the reasons why the national rule or rules in question should not enter into force and/or be applied.
This shall not prejudice the right of a Member State to adopt a new national rule in accordance with point (c) of Article 8(3) of Directive (EU) 2016/798 or with point (b) of Article 14(4) of Directive (EU) 2016/797.
4. The Member State concerned shall inform the Commission of its position on the opinion referred to in paragraph 3 within 2 months, including its reasons in the event of disagreement.
Where the reasons provided are deemed not to be sufficient, or in the absence of such information, and the Member State adopts the national rule in question without paying sufficient heed to the opinion referred to in paragraph 3, the Commission may adopt, by way of implementing acts, a decision addressed to the Member State concerned, requesting it to modify or repeal that rule. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 81(2).
Examination of existing national rules
1. The Agency shall, within 2 months of receipt thereof, examine the national rules notified in accordance with Article 14(6) of Directive (EU) 2016/798 and Article 8(6) of Directive (EU) 2016/797. If translation is necessary or the national rule is long or complex the Agency may extend this time period by up to 3 additional months, subject to the consent of the Member State. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Agency and the Member State concerned may mutually agree to further extend that time period.
Within that period, the Agency shall exchange relevant information with the Member State concerned and subsequently inform it of the outcome of the examination.
2. Where, after the examination referred to in paragraph 1, the Agency considers that the national rules enable the essential requirements for railway interoperability to be fulfilled, the CSMs and TSIs in force to be respected and the CSTs to be achieved, and that they would not result in arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on rail transport operations between Member States, the Agency shall inform the Commission and the Member State concerned of its positive assessment. In that case, the Commission may validate the rules in the IT system referred to in Article 27. Where the Agency does not inform the Commission and the Member State concerned within 2 months of receipt of the national rules, or within the extended time period agreed in accordance with paragraph 1, the rule shall remain valid.
3. Where the examination referred to in paragraph 1 leads to a negative assessment, the Agency shall inform the Member State concerned and ask it to state its position regarding that assessment. If, following that exchange of views with the Member State concerned, the Agency maintains its negative assessment, the Agency shall within a maximum period of 1 month:
(a)
issue an opinion addressed to the Member State concerned, stating that the national rule or rules in question has or have been the subject of a negative assessment and the reasons why the rule or rules in question should be modified or repealed; and
(b)
inform the Commission of its negative assessment, stating the reasons why the national rule or rules in question should be modified or repealed.
4. The Member State concerned shall inform the Commission of its position on the opinion referred to in paragraph 3 within 2 months, including its reasons in the event of disagreement. Where the reasons provided are deemed not to be sufficient, or in the absence of such information, the Commission may adopt, by way of implementing acts, a decision addressed to the Member State concerned, requesting it to modify or repeal the national rule in question. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 81(2).
5. By way of derogation from paragraphs 3 and 4, in the case of urgent preventive measures, where the examination referred to in paragraph 1 leads to a negative assessment and if the Member State concerned has not amended or repealed the national rule in question within 2 months of receipt of the opinion of the Agency, the Commission may adopt a decision, by way of implementing acts, requesting the Member State to amend or repeal that rule. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 81(2).
In the case of a positive assessment by the Agency and if the national rule in question has an impact on more than one Member State, the Commission, working in cooperation with the Agency and Member States, shall take the appropriate measures, including the revision of CSMs and TSIs where necessary.
6. The procedure referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 shall apply, mutatis mutandis , in cases where the Agency becomes aware of any national rule, whether or not notified, that is redundant, in conflict with the CSMs, CSTs, TSIs or any other Union legislation in the railway field or creates an unjustified barrier to the single railway market.
IT system to be used for notification purposes and classification of national rules
1. The Agency shall manage a dedicated IT system containing national rules as referred to in Articles 25 and 26 and acceptable national means of compliance referred to in point 34 of Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2016/797. The Agency shall make them accessible to stakeholders for the purposes of consultation, where appropriate.
2. Member States shall notify national rules as referred to in Articles 25(1) and 26(1) to the Agency and to the Commission through the IT system referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. The Agency shall publish those rules in that IT system, including the status of their examination and, when completed, the positive or negative outcome of the assessment, and use that IT system for the purposes of informing the Commission in accordance with Articles 25 and 26.
3. The Agency shall carry out a technical examination of the existing national rules referred to in the available national legislation, which, as of 15 June 2016 are listed in its reference document database. The Agency shall classify notified national rules in accordance with Article 14(10) of Directive (EU) 2016/797. To that end, it shall use the system referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
4. The Agency shall classify notified national rules in accordance with Article 8 of, and Annex I to, Directive (EU) 2016/798, taking into account the development of Union legislation. To that end, the Agency shall develop a rule management tool to be used by Member States for simplifying their systems of national rules. The Agency shall use the system referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article to publish the rule management tool.
