Safety certificate (SC)

The document in which safety requirements are laid down, in order to be granted access to the railway infrastructure, a Railway Undertaking must hold a safety certificate. This safety certificate may cover the whole railway network of a Member State or only a defined part thereof. 'For international transport services it should be enough to approve the safety management system in one Member State and give the approval Community validity. Adherence to national rules on the other hand should be subject to additional certification in each Member State. The ultimate aim should be to establish a common safety certificate with Community validity.' DIRECTIVE 2016/798/EU: ‘The purpose of the safety certificate is to provide evidence that the railway undertaking has established its safety management system and is able to operate safely in the intended area of operation.’ Also, EU legislation has introduced the mutual recognition of safety certificates delivered in the Member States. OTIF definition: 'document attesting, in accordance with the laws and prescriptions in force in the State in which the infrastructure is located, that so far as concerns the carrier, - the internal organisation of the undertaking as well as - the personnel to be employed and the vehicles to be used on the infrastructure, meet the requirements imposed in respect of safety in order to ensure a service without danger on that infrastructure'.