Railway safety and interoperability rules within the Channel Fixed Link

The Treaty between France and the United Kingdom concerning the construction and operation by private concessionaires of a Channel Fixed Link, signed at Canterbury on 12 February 1986 established an Intergovernmental Commission to supervise all matters concerning the construction and operation of the Channel Fixed Link. Until the end of the transition period put in place by the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the Intergovernmental Commission is the national safety authority within the meaning of Article 3(7) of Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and the Council[1], which is competent for the Channel Fixed Link.

However, after the end of the aforementioned transition period, the Intergovernmental Commission will be a body established by a Member State and a third country. Directive (EU) 2016/798 does not foresee the possibility of a national safety authority as a body entrusted by a Member State and a third country. Therefore, unless otherwise provided, after the end of the transition period, Union law will no longer be applicable to the part of the Channel Fixed Link under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

In order to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the Channel Fixed Link, it is necessary to have a single safety authority responsible for the whole of this infrastructure, which should remain the Intergovernmental Commission. This requires amending Directive (EU) 2016/798.

The proposal aims at amending Article 3(7) of Directive (EU) 2016/798, which defines the notion of “national safety authority”, both for the purposes of railway safety under that Directive and railway interoperability under Directive (EU) 2016/797. The objective is to allow a body entrusted by a Member State and a third country with the tasks regarding railway safety and interoperability on the basis of an international agreement concluded or authorised by the EU to be considered as a national safety authority under Union law.

[1]            Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on railway safety, (OJ L 138, 26.5.2016, p. 102).