European Union Agency for Railways

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Opinions

An Opinion is a non-binding formal act of the Agency, providing specialized expertise on railway issues to decision-makers, be it the European Commission, National Regulatory Bodies or Member States. The Agency’s Opinions do not represent the view of any other EU institution or body and are without prejudice to the decision-making processes foreseen by the applicable EU legislation.

Opinions are published in a version from which all commercially confidential material has been removed, together with the outcomes of their impact assessments.

According to Art. 6 of Directive (EU) 2016/797, at the request of the Commission, some opinions shall constitute an acceptable means of compliance (AMOC) and may therefore be used for the assessment of projects, pending the adoption of a revised TSI. The Commission shall inform the RISC committee, referred to in Art. 51 of Directive (EU) 2016/797, of its conclusions over the opinion. Outcomes of the discussion can be found in the minutes of meetings of the RISC committee (please check CIRCA). A similar rule applied in the past under Art. 7 of Directive 2008/57/EC.

Disclaimer for the opinions related to the evaluation of national rules:

The content of each technical opinion published on the Agency’s website contains the Agency’s assessment at the time when the rule was notified and assessed. The State-recipient of each technical opinion might have amended or withdrawn the rule/draft rule referred in the Agency’s assessment.

Technical Advices

A Technical Advice is a non-binding formal act of the Agency, covering any issue linked to the implementation of the Union legislation on railway interoperability and safety. It has non-binding, consultative value, but can only be issued to the European Commission, upon its request.

Technical Advices to the European Commission are made available, upon request, following a case-by-case assessment based on Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.