Europe: EC Refers Poland to EU Court of Justice on Rail Safety Failure

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The European Commission is referring Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to fully transpose and implement Directive 2004/49/EC, relating to Community’s railway safety.

The Directive obliges Member States to create an “independent safety authority, an independent accident and incident investigation body, and to define common principles for the management, regulation and supervision of railway safety. Poland has failed to do so by not establishing legislation which would guarantee that serious accidents and incidents are investigated by an independent body. Poland is also being referred for not ensuring the independence of the safety authority.

The Directive relates to the safety of Europe’s railways by homogenising the regulatory structure in Member States, setting out common principles for the “management, regulation and supervision of railway safety and requiring the establishment, in every Member State, of a safety authority and an accident and incident investigating body”.

Poland should have transposed the Directive by April 2006, and have failed to do so despite requests from the EC in 2015. To date, Poland has not complied with its obligation to enshrine the regulations into its domestic law.