Independence of essential functions of an infrastructure manager
Article 7
1. Member States shall ensure that the essential functions determining equitable and non-discriminatory access to infrastructure, are entrusted to bodies or firms that do not themselves provide any rail transport services. Regardless of organisational structures, this objective shall be shown to have been achieved. The essential functions shall be: (a) decision-making on train path allocation, including both the definition and the assessment of availability and the allocation of individual train paths; and (b) decision-making on infrastructure charging, including determination and collection of the charges, without prejudice to Article 29(1). Member States may, however, assign to railway undertakings or any other body the responsibility for contributing to the development of the railway infrastructure, for example through investment, maintenance and funding. 2. Where the infrastructure manager, in its legal form, organisation or decision-making functions, is not independent of any railway undertaking, the functions referred to in Sections 2 and 3 of Chapter IV shall be performed respectively by a charging body and by an allocation body that are independent in their legal form, organisation and decision-making from any railway undertaking. 3. When the provisions of Sections 2 and 3 of Chapter IV refer to the essential functions of an infrastructure manager, they shall be understood as applying to the charging body or the allocation body for their respective powers.