Infrastructure: Romania in danger of infringement unless it cleanses railroad laws

Romania is in danger of infringement unless it cleanses railroad laws, according to Directive 798/2016 on railway safety. Authorities in the field estimate that could happen in 2025. The deadline for ending the cleansing process, foreseen by the directive, was December 2018, a date which has been postponed.   The European Commission sent 54 questions to Romania about applying Directive 798/2016 on railroad safety. Question 11 reads: Please supply evidence showing the way in which Romania has fulfilled its obligation, according to article 8, paragraph 2, that national norms according to criteria stipulated in article 9, paragraph 2 of the directive.   At the same time, at the end of the document, the Commission points out that it invites Romanian authorities to answer all questions. In the absence of a satisfactory answer, the Commission can decide upon initiating a procedure for not fulfilling obligations according to article 258 of the treaty, for not communicating the nonconformity of national measures with Directive 798.   The cleansing process started from here. There is no other deadline granted by ERA or the European Commission. There could be technical opinions, the infringement procedure could be reactivated and the European Commission might say: abrogate all national norms and apply European legislation. The risk is great. Together we should establish regulations, so that railroad safety should not be jeoperdized and we should decide on the moment when the project would be sent to ERA and the European Commission, said Petru Bogdan, the general manager of the Romanian Railway Safety Authority (ASFR).   ASFR has recently organized a consulting meeting between decision makers involved and parties interested in the railway system in Romania, in order to offer clarifications about the cleansing of national law in the railroad field, the present stage of the process and the draft Order of the transport minister (OMTI) on the exploitation and management of railway traffic which is being consulted by the people.   “We need cleanisng first of all for one of the two main EU objectives of transport policy, which is inter-operability. That means it is not enough to count on the safety offered by norms at national level, but we must correlate all norms of EU member states, so as not to meet obstacles when entering a certain national railroad market, which is also valid for Romanian operators. There are not many operators which could leave Romania, but there is the Romanian Railroad Group. Then the accessibility to other markets, to other networks, is a mutual advantage. In the same way, specific national norms are admitted through European laws – for instance the fact that low speed is used in certain areas, for specific signaling conditions or if the exceptional character of certain local or national conditions are proved,” Mihai Rosca showed.   The “cleansing”list sent to ERA includes 40 such laws, of which 8 were accepted, and 4 were partially accepted andcould be reviwed and then accepted, while 28 were rejected and some even abrogated.   The latest draft law undergoing public consultation, was the one concerning the exploitation and management of railway traffic.   Last year, ASFR promoted other draft laws which had in view the cleansing, upgrading and harmonization of the national regulation frame with EU railway laws.   “The draft Government Decision (HG) on the new regulation investigating railway accidents and incidents – which has in view the upgrading of HG 117 – is going to be approved. Another draft HG to be approved, has in view checking and sanctioning alcohol and drugs consumption. It will replace an outdated order of 1986 which has no connection with the present situation of the railway system. Another order is 815/2010. A draft reviewing and approving norms for the implementation and development of the system maintaining professional competences of employees in charge of traffic safety and the staff carrying out specific activities in railway transport in Romania is under way”, Rosca said.   He also said the cleansing process is estimated to be completed by the end of the year. The meeting was also attended by representatives of MTI, ASFR, AGIFER and those of railway operators for goods and passengers, of CFR SA, union federations and press representatives.