Legislation

European Directives on Interoperability and on Railway Safety provide a supporting legal base for implementation of the rail elements of the European transport strategy, which also covers access and licensing.  Directives are binding upon Member States, each of which must transpose them into national law.

In harmony with the European strategy is GB's own Strategy for Rail and its supporting Rail Technical Strategy.  The interoperability (RIR) and safety (ROGS) regimes will be key vehicles for the delivery of these domestic strategies.

UK Interoperability Regulations

Currently in force for the whole UK are:

Interoperability and railway safety are closely allied.  Interoperability deals with the standards to which railway assets must be designed and built, and later renewed or upgraded, and establishes a system of independent verification of compliance with these standards, followed by authorisation by the Safety Authority before it can be placed in service.

EC Interoperability Directives

There are currently two principal Interoperability Directives, each of which has been amended by a further Directive. View and download the consolidated versions of these Directives below:

In addition, Directive 2007/32/EC has replaced Annex VI to both Directives, and has been transposed into UK law by the Railways (Interoperability) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (PDF, 59kb).

EC and UK Safety Legistation

The Railway Safety Directive (PDF, 134KB) has been transposed into GB law by the Railways and other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 [SI 2006/599] (PDF, 206KB), and in Northern Ireland by the Railway Safety Management Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 No 237 (PDF, 132KB).

The Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2008

The Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2008 No 1746 came into force on 7 July 2008. These Regulations prevent RVAR-compliant heavy rail vehicles from being subject to regulation under both RVAR and the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2006, by exempting them from RVAR and deeming them to be authorised, for the purposes of the PRM TSI only, under the Interoperability Regulations.

Other European Legislation

Decisions and Regulations concerning interoperability, made by the European Commission, are published in the Official Journal of the European Union and can also be found via the Commission's Interoperability webpages.

How European law relates to UK law

European law has supremacy over national law.  A directive, as a piece of European Community legislation, is binding on individual Member States, whose governments must generally give it effect by transposing them into national law (also known as domestic law).  The UK is accountable as a Member State for any failure or fault in transposition or failure to give effect to requirements in practice, as, for example, in ensuring their enforcement, for which the Member State may be subject to infraction proceedings brought by the European Commission and which can lead to the Member State being fined.

The first Interoperability Directive related only to the High Speed rail system.  It was transposed into UK law by the Railways (Interoperability) (High Speed) Regulations 2002 (PDF, 146KB) (the High Speed Regulations) .

Subsequently, when the Conventional Directive and the Amendment Directive (which amended both the High Speed and Conventional Directives) came into force, DfT took the opportunity in transposing those Directives to rationalise the High Speed requirements into a single interoperability system.  This was achieved by the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations), which had the effect of revoking and replacing the earlier High Speed Regulations.  This means that, with the exception of any provisions for specific projects that had already requested or obtained staged works decisions under the High Speed Regulations, those Regulations ceased to have any effect.  Authorisations and NoBo appointments made under them of course remain valid.

Other European secondary legislation can take the form of EC Regulations and Decisions, and much Interoperability legislation has been issued in one of these forms.  For example, TSIs are generally notified to Member States as Decisions.  The domestic UK Interoperability Regulations do not have to be amended each time the Commission notifies us of a new TSI, because such routine notification was expected when the Regulations were drafted and they apply to new TSIs as made from time to time. Regulation 2(3) provides that a TSI is a "technical specification for interoperability which is published in the Official Journal of the European Union … and is in force".  If however the Commission notifies us of a Decision that the Interoperability Regulations do not already accommodate, then DfT will arrange for the Regulations to be amended.

Just as Directives bind Member States, so national measures transposing Directives (such as the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2006), bind UK industry.  As with other domestic law, national measures are binding on those to whom they apply in the UK, except where domestic law is in conflict with European Community law, in which case Community law should prevail.

For related documents, pages and internet links, see the column on the right.