National Implementation Plans
Article 8
1. Member States shall adopt national implementation plans, including at least the information listed in Appendix C of the Annex, with a view to progressively eliminating all identified barriers to accessibility. 2. The national implementation plans shall be based on existing national plans and, subject to availability, on the inventory of assets referred to in Article 7, or on any other relevant and reliable source of information. The scope and speed of implementing national plans shall be decided by Member States. 3. The national implementation plans shall run over a period of at least 10 years and shall be updated regularly, at least every five years. 4. The national implementation plans shall contain a strategy, including a prioritisation rule laying down the criteria and priorities for stations and units of rolling stock to be designated for renewal or upgrading. This strategy shall be formulated in cooperation with infrastructure manager(s), station manager(s), railway undertaking(s) and, if needed, other local authorities (including local transport authorities). Representative associations of users including disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility shall be consulted. 5. In each Member State, the prioritisation rule referred to in paragraph 4 shall replace the rule set out in Appendix B of the Annex which shall apply until the adoption of the national implementation plan in that Member State. 6. Member States shall notify their national implementation plans to the Commission no later than 1 January 2017. The Commission shall publish the national implementation plans, and any subsequent revisions notified according to paragraph 9, on its website and inform Member States about them through the Committee established by Directive 2008/57/EC. 7. Within six months of completion of the notification process, the Commission shall draw up a comparative overview of the strategies contained in the national implementation plans. On the basis of this overview, and in cooperation with the advisory body referred to in Article 9, it shall identify common priorities and criteria to further the implementation of the TSI. These priorities shall be integrated in chapter 7 of the Annex during the revision process pursuant to Article 6 of Directive 2008/57/EC. 8. Member States shall revise their national implementation plans in accordance with the priorities referred to in paragraph 7 within 12 months of the adoption of the revised TSI. 9. Member States shall notify the revised national implementation plans referred to in paragraph 8 and any other updates of the national implementation plans referred to in paragraph 3 to the Commission not later than four weeks after their approval.