Decision-making principles
Article 18
1. The Agency, when considering applications for a single safety certificate in accordance with Article 10(1), and the national safety authorities shall carry out their tasks in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way. In particular, they shall allow all interested parties to be heard and give reasons for their decisions. They shall promptly respond to requests and applications and communicate their requests for information without delay and adopt all their decisions within 4 months after all relevant information has been provided by the applicant. They may at any time request the technical assistance of infrastructure managers and railway undertakings or other qualified bodies when they are carrying out the tasks referred to in Article 16. In the process of developing the national regulatory framework, the national safety authorities shall consult all actors and interested parties, including infrastructure managers, railway undertakings, manufacturers and maintenance providers, users and staff representatives. 2. The national safety authorities shall be free to carry out all inspections, audits and investigations that are needed for the accomplishment of their tasks, and they shall be granted access to all relevant documents and to premises, installations and equipment of infrastructure managers and railway undertakings and, where necessary, of any actor referred to in Article 4. The Agency shall have the same rights in relation to railway undertakings when it carries out its safety certification tasks in accordance with Article 10(5). 3. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that decisions taken by the national safety authorities are subject to judicial review. 4. The national safety authorities shall conduct an active exchange of views and experience, in particular within the network established by the Agency in order to harmonise their decision-making criteria across the Union.