European Union Agency for Railways. 4th Railway Package

The Council took note of progress on a draft regulation aimed at giving new tasks to the European Railway Agency (ERA) and streamlining its existing processes.

While good progress has been made on this proposal, some questions still need further clarification, such as:

• the potential costs of this transfer of competences to the Agency;
• a clear and precise distribution of tasks between the Agency and the national authorities, while keeping sufficient flexibility to take into account the specificities of the railway sector;
• obtaining additional guarantees on the principles governing the calculation of the fees that the ERA will charge for issuing and renewing certificates and authorisations; these fees should be set in a transparent manner in cooperation with member states, taking into account the principle that they should not place any unnecessary burden on companies;
• the need to specify further that the Agency would be held accountable when carrying out tasks related to safety certifications and vehicle authorisations.

In addition, a majority of delegations have underlined the importance of reinforcing the provisions on the Board of Appeal, in particular to ensure that national safety authorities can appeal against decisions taken by the Agency.