European Railway Agency · 2014-09-03 · Financial repor ng 64 ... ensure the eventual delivery of a cost-e ﬀ ec ve Single European Railway Area. ... to the future as well as inclusive

European Railway Agency

Annual Report

2013


Annual Report

2013

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Annual Report 2013

3

Foreword by the Chairperson of the Administra ve Board 5

Introduc on 7

A. Key Achievements of 2013 per strategic priority 9

Ac vity 1. Developing and promo ng a common understanding of Safety Management Systems (SMS) 12

Ac vity 2. Developing and promo ng harmonised principles for accident inves ga on bodies 15

Ac vity 3. Developing and promo ng a harmonised safety regulatory framework 17

Ac vity 4. Monitoring of railway safety performance — processes and outcome 23

Ac vity 5. Facilita on of Vehicle Authorisa on 28

Ac vity 6. ERTMS System Authority 34

Ac vity 7. Technical Specifi ca ons 38

Ac vity 8. Railway Staff 42

Ac vity 9. Shared Databases and Registers 44

Ac vity 10. Monitoring Interoperability 48

Ac vity 11. Economic Evalua on of Agency products 50

Ac vity 12. Support to Agency opera ons 53

Ac vity 13. Agency Management 59

B. Governance, Management and Internal Control Systems 63

Administra ve Board 63Summary of Board Decisions 63Sub-Commi ee 64Financial repor ng 64Risk Management 65Internal Control Standards 68Materiality Criteria 69

Table of Contents

4

C. Building Blocks Towards the Declara on of Assurance 70

Assessment by management 70Data protec on 71Results from audits and evalua ons during the repor ng year 72Follow up of reserva ons and ac on plans for audits from previous years 73Follow up of observa ons from the discharge authority 74Conclusions 74

D. Declara on of Assurance 76

Annexes 77

Annex I Sta s cs on fi nancial management (provisional accounts) 77Annex II Organisa onal chart 82Annex III a Establishment plan 83Annex III b Staff composi on 84Annex IV Human and fi nancial resources by ac vity (planned vs actual) 87Annex V a Composi on of the Administra ve Board 2009-2014* 89Annex V b Composi on of the Sub-Commi ee as of 31 January 2014 91Annex VI Implementa on of the roadmap on the follow-up to the Common Approach on EU

decentralised Agencies 91

Glossary 96

5

This is a signifi cant me in the Agency’s development as the European railway authority for safety and in-teroperability, as envisaged by the Fourth Railway Package. With the Agency’s 10th anniversary coming up in 2014 Marcel Verslype, the Agency’s founding Execu ve Director, has achieved much to facilitate a common European approach in 2013. This will help ensure the eventual delivery of a cost-eff ec ve Single European Railway Area. But Mr Verslype’s term of of-fi ce fi nishes at the end of the year and, notwithstand-ing his Herculean achievements, there is yet more to be done. The European railway sector remains hampered by technical and administra ve barriers. A more aff ordable, reliable and seamless European rail-way area will require these cumbersome and o en discriminatory obstacles to be overcome.

Delivery will place extra demands on the Agency for which adequate and effi ciently managed com-petences and resources will be needed. The Agency has major new responsibili es in prospect: if it is to meet the expecta ons placed on it by the EU ins -tu ons the budgetary authori es must refl ect this in future budget provisions. Only then, and with the un-derstanding and ac ve support of the sector’s stake-holders, will the Agency emerge as the truly European Railway Authority of the sort foreseen by the archi-tects of the Fourth Railway Package.

While the new ERA Regula on and the recast of Direc ve 2008/57/EC (Railway Interoperability Di-rec ve) and Direc ve 2004/49/EC (Railway Safety Direc ve) will assist it in its new tasks, the effi cient internal organisa on of the Agency is of con nuing importance. This is the bread-and-bu er work of the exis ng Administra ve Board and of its sub-commit-tee on fi nancial, budgetary and staff -related issues. This sub-commi ee can be seen as the fore-runner of the Execu ve Board an cipated by the new ERA Regula on.

During the course of 2013 the Agency’s Administra ve Board made good progress on a number of key ini -a ves. First, consistent with the posi ons adopted by Hinne Groot and me at the me of our elec on to the vice-chair and chair respec vely of the Administra ve Board in November 2012, the Board adopted a com-munica on and dissemina on strategy. This refl ect-ed our joint desire to ensure that the wider railway sector, par cularly those represented in the Group of Representa ve Bodies as well as the na onal safety

authori es, are closely involved in its development. The inten on was that the external visibility of the Agency should be magnifi ed and that dissemina on and communica on should form an integral part of the Agency’s Work Programme 2014.

This focus on eff ec ve and par cipatory dissemina- on and communica on was also refl ected in the

Agency’s commitment to some of the special stake-holder events convened during the course of the year. These included a conference on ERTMS that provided a mee ng ground with railway organisa ons, vendors and users in order to establish ERTMS requirements and ensure a smooth transi on from the present era to the future as well as inclusive workshops to help prepare the Agency’s Mul -Annual Plan 2014-2017 and its Work Programme 2014.

Both the eventual Mul -Annual Plan and the Annu-al Work Programme elicited a strongly posi ve re-sponse from Member States’ representa ves in the Administra ve Board members and stakeholders. It was clear that many stakeholders appreciated wider engagement in the prepara on process. But it was also apparent that the Administra ve Board needs to ensure that in future exercises there is suffi cient me for eff ec ve consulta on within Member States

and stakeholder networks, a point reinforced by the value of the contribu ons received in the context of preparing the Work Programme 2014. In the annual Work Programme, the management team were able to build eff ec vely on progress made by the Agency, following the fi rm encouragement of the sub-com-mi ee, in developing ac vity-based budge ng and impact appraisal techniques. The next phase of work planning should refl ect the integra on of robust key performance indicators.

Scru ny of the Agency’s internal management and control processes was maintained throughout the year. The sub-commi ee paid par cular a en on to the reports of the Court of Auditors and to the con-clusions of the European Parliament’s Budget Control Commi ee. The Administra ve Board was reassured by the year-on-year progress made by the Agency’s management team, no ng a small number of out-standing issues. The ques on of carry-over was the most vexed: members expressed con nuing concern about historic structural imbalances in the appor on-ment of funds between diff erent budget tles but noted that procedural improvements were thought

Foreword by the Chairperson of the Administra ve Board

6

possible following revision of EU rules concerning fi -nancial and human resources.

One improvement in the arrangements deriving from those rules is of special note. For some me members of the Administra ve Board had expressed growing concern that the Agency’s business con nuity was being jeopardised by the way in which it was being obliged to apply EU rules rela ng to the use and en-gagement of temporary agents. This was also a mat-ter of concern to the staff and the cause of signifi cant personal hardship. It was therefore with par cular sa sfac on that we were advised that the Commis-sion had reviewed the interpreta on of the rules. The eff ect was to enable a much-needed degree of fl exibility in the dura on of staff contracts and their renewal. This safeguards the intellectual assets being built up for the sector by the Agency.

Another issue of par cular note was the concern of members of the Administra ve Board arising from an instance where the Commission had required the Agency to undertake unscheduled addi onal tasks without the provision of concomitant addi onal funding. Whilst acknowledging the budgetary pres-

sures facing all the EU ins tu ons and the right of the Commission under the ERA Regula on to require ad-di onal assistance from the Agency, members were concerned that such un-resourced requirements should not impact on the delivery of work an cipat-ed in the relevant Work Programme, itself the subject of careful delibera on. Following a robust exchange the Commission acquiesced that, in general terms, addi onal funds should be made available when ad-di onal tasks are requested. It is to the credit to the rela onship between the Administra ve Board, the Agency’s direc on team and to those responsible within the Commission that such ma ers can be de-bated without undermining the collabora ve good-will of all concerned.

In conclusion I would like to express thanks to my col-leagues on the Administra ve Board and par cularly to members of the sub-commi ee, the Execu ve Di-rector and his direc on team and the Board secretar-iat, for their collec ve commitment to the success of the Agency and the eff ec veness of the Administra- ve Board itself. This refl ects the willingness of many

of those involved to commit signifi cant extra me and energy to the Agency’s business.

Christopher IrwinChairperson of the Administra ve Board

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Our objec ve and roleThe Agency’s core objec ve and role is strictly de-fi ned in Ar cle 1 of Regula on (EC) No 881/2004 as amended by Regula on No 1335/2008. It is:

‘To contribute, on technical ma ers, to the implementa on of the Community legisla on aimed at improving the compe ve posi on of the railway sector by enhancing the level of interoperability of railway systems and at developing a common approach to safety on the European railway system, in order to contribute to crea ng a European railway area without fron ers and guaranteeing a high level of safety.’

This is refl ected in our vision and mission statements.

Our visionWe contribute to the crea on of an integrated Euro-pean railway area where Railway Undertakings can run trains and organise their transport services freely, safely, eff ec vely, and without interrup on, where Manufacturers, Railway Undertakings and Infrastruc-ture Managers can benefi t from an internal market for equipment and services, ensuring an economi-cally sustainable railway sector. The objec ve is to allow the rail transport sector to realise its inherent compe ve advantages in rela on to other transport modes.

Our missionThe Agency’s mission is, expressed in short words and in a simple manner, to make the railway system work be er for society.

Our strategic priori es (expected outcomes)The achievement of the mission can be expressed by the achievement of the four strategic priori es of the Agency.

These priori es are to shape the base in the European Union for:

1. a Harmonised Safety Regulatory Framework for Railway Undertakings;

2. a Simplifi ed Vehicle Authorisa on;

3. a Single European Train Control System (ERTMS);

4. be er mee ng European customer’s needs.

In addi on, an Agency’s objec ve is to support the European Commission in its promo on for the cre-a on of an EU external market for the provision of railway equipment and services.

The Agency strives to achieve these objec ves by its ac vi es and the products delivered within them.

Agency ac vi esTo achieve this, we prepare new and updated legis-la ve acts for adop on by the European Commission (‘the Commission’), a er a posi ve opinion from the Railway Interoperability and Safety Commi ee of Member States (1) (the RISC Commi ee), and give other technical support to the Commission.

This work can be grouped according to three logic components that form the basis for controlling any system:

• Development (se ng the standards for the de-sired state of the system);

• Monitoring (knowing the actual state of the sys-tem);

• Facilita on (managing the change from the ac-tual to the desired state).

Refl ec ng this logic, the Agency’s work can be grouped into its generic ac vi es:

– Developing, promo ng and monitoring harmo-nised approaches towards risk control across its diff erent stakeholders;

– Developing, promo ng and monitoring the in-teroperability of the European rail system by developing condi ons for the free and uninter-

(1) Established by Ar cle 21 of Direc ve 96/48/EC.

Introduc on

8

rupted movement of trains through technical and opera onal harmonisa on, including con-di ons for the mutual acceptance of railway vehicles;

– Facilita ng the exchange of informa on within the railway sector by networking with railway actors, providing registers and databases, issu-ing reports and giving guidance on the imple-menta on of the regulatory framework;

– Evalua ng ex-ante and ex-post the impact on the railway system of the intended and imple-mented Agency’s ac vi es;

– Suppor ng the progressive crea on of an inter-nal and EU external market for the provision of railway equipment and services.

To be er describe the substance of the work carried out to achieve our objec ve, this generic framework is summarised in our 13 ac vi es (the Agency’s Ac v-ity Based Structure):

1. Developing and promo ng a common under-standing of Safety Management Systems (SMS);

2. Developing and promo ng harmonised princi-ples for accident inves ga on bodies;

3. Developing and promo ng a harmonised safety regulatory framework;

4. Monitoring of railway safety performance — processes and outcome;

5. Facilita on of Vehicle Authorisa on;

6. ERTMS System Authority;

7. Technical Specifi ca ons;

8. Railway Staff ;

9. Shared Databases and registers;

10. Monitoring Interoperability;

11. Economic Evalua on of Agency products;

12. Support to Agency opera ons;

13. Agency Management;

Agency outputsWithin these tasks and ac vi es, the Agency provides its products (outputs):

• The Agency carries out the Management of Specifi ca ons. This takes the form of recom-menda ons for secondary European legisla on such as Technical Specifi ca ons for Interopera-bility (TSIs), including ERTMS, or Common Safety

Methods (CSM) /or the ongoing maintenance of these specifi ca ons (e.g. closing of open points). The Agency normally produces applica on guid-ance to accompany the formal text.

• The Agency has a constantly growing role in Dissemina on and Training. The scope of this product covers both the broad European legal framework of the Interoperability, Train Drivers and Safety Direc ves and the specifi c texts pro-duced by the Agency.

• The Agency has a key role as Facilitator and Coordinator. It is a neutral venue and ‘the only place where all the railway actors meet’. In this context it is the ideal forum for development of the understanding of common problems aff ect-ing the compe veness of the railway sector and the building of consensus solu ons and a common understanding of priori es.

• The Agency provides Assistance to the Commis-sion and Member States in the development, implementa on, and monitoring of the frame-work put in place by the Interoperability, Safety and Train Drivers direc ves

• The Agency also delivers Impact Assessments and Economic Evalua on for each of its recom-menda ons and applies and enforces the princi-ple of pre-assessment of task requests to estab-lish a joint understanding of the eff ec veness of the intended measures and the administra ve burdens they may generate.

• The Agency is charged with the Development and Management of Databases and Registers related to railway Interoperability and Safety and mainly des ned for use by all railway ac-tors. These include such things as the register of vehicle types, the reference document of na- onal rules used for vehicle authorisa on and

the databases of safety cer fi cates and author-isa ons. The Agency also provides support and advice to the Commission in respect of the data-bases of no fi ed na onal rules managed by the Commission.

• Finally, as an independent and neutral body of exper se, the Agency may be called upon to Compile Reports and Provide Opinions upon ma ers within its competence such as na onal technical or safety rules and refusals by Na on-al Safety Authori es to authorise placing railway sub-systems or vehicles in service or proposals for new measures to manage dangerous goods.

These products (outputs of the ac vi es and pro-jects) can be found in the Agency’s ac vi es to a dif-ferent extent and amount, depending on the progress already achieved in each ac vity in the ‘life cycle’ of the system control.

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• Strategic objec ve ‘Single Safety Cer fi cate’:

In regards to the legisla ve programme ini ated by the direc ves of 2004 and 2008 and completed in 2012 (development phase), the Agency proceeded further in follow-up ac vi es, modifi ca ons of the texts and dissemina on ac vi es to have the system working. Monitoring of ‘where the system is’ has been undertaken to iden fy the progress made.

The Joint Network Secretariat (established in 2012), con nued to act as a tool for the Agency to evaluate the eff ec veness and prac cal implementa on of these measures together with the stakeholders, to iden fy the most cri cal safety issues.

In June 2013, the Member States have accepted the principle of having a dedicated Task Force under the RISC auspices for facilita ng the advent of a Single Safety Cer fi cate Regime. In 2014 and onwards, this task force should be promo ng and paving the path towards the Single Safety Cer fi cate in driving and monitoring the developments of the necessary legis-la ve revisions.

The need for a migra on to a Single Safety Cer fi cate for Railway Undertakings has been reinforced in the RSD recast proposal as part of the 4th Railway Pack-age. This RISC Task Force for Single Safety Cer fi cate is working in this direc on.

• Strategic objec ve ‘Simplifi ed Vehicle Authorisa on’:

2013 has been a key year for making transparent and simplifying the processes and rules used for authoris-ing railway vehicles and subsystems.

By the end of 2013 all Member States with the ex-cep on of France, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Poland and the UK had published their Na onal Legal Frameworks for vehicle authorisa on (NLF) on the Agency Website. These NLF document the authorisa- on process applied in the respec ve Member State

using a common template in form of a fl ow chart based on the Direc ves and Commission Recommen-

da on 2011/217/EC (known as DV29). This makes the process for future authorisa ons much more transparent than it has been in the past and brings the Member States much closer to a common imple-menta on of the direc ves which facilitates mutual recogni on. It also enables Member States, facilitat-ed by the Agency, to iden fy and hopefully rec fy di-versi es of approach and non-conformi es with the European framework.

To pave the way for the future, the Agency has now completed the dra ing of almost all the Technical Specifi ca ons for Interoperability (TSIs) applicable to the en re EU railway network including the 1520 mm network in the Bal c States. Most of the cri cal open points in the TSIs have been closed at this occasion. The respec ve Agency Recommenda ons have been submi ed to the Commission.

This reduces the needs to prove simultaneously con-formity with TSIs and na onal rules except for cases where na onal rules remain applicable (e.g. exist-ing non TSI conform vehicles to be authorised in another country or vehicles to be operated on non TSI conform networks). The ‘Reference Document Database¨(RDD) cross referencing Na onal Rules for vehicle authorisa on and their equivalencies came into use in 2013 and facilitates further the mutual rec-ogni on of na onal rules. So far by the end of 2013 Sweden, Finland, Norway, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Slovak Republic had formally published their Na onal Rules for vehicle authorisa on in the RDD and tak-en responsibility for keeping it up to date. Belgium, Netherlands Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy (and also Switzerland) are expected to publish their NRD in the RDD in the fi rst quarter of 2014

Nevertheless although the legal framework necessary for the effi cient opera on of the shared railway sys-tem, including the opening of the internal market in equipment and services for the construc on, renew-al, upgrading and opera on of the rail system is now in place at European level, in prac ce, the Railway Undertakings and their suppliers s ll face numerous problems and obstacles to compe veness, arising from the following causes:

• The European framework being interpreted and implemented diff erently in each Member State;

• The exis ng na onal regimes not being re-moved and replaced by the European frame-

A. Key Achievements of 2013 per strategic priority

10

work but being allowed to remain as overlays or opera ng in parallel with the European frame-work. This o en leads to confusion over roles and responsibili es and duplica on of rules, checks and verifi ca ons;

• The responsible actors are not actually fully ap-plying or fully conforming to the rules.

These problems of transi on primarily arise from the need to restructure rules, roles and responsibili es to take account of the migra on from a single ‘closed’ system managed by one en ty to a regime more like that of the avia on and road sectors where the system is ‘shared’. Such systems are managed by many actors, each responsible for their part of the system accord-ing to rules, roles and responsibili es laid down by EU law, and implemented by na onal law.

During 2013 to further clarify these roles and respon-sibili es and the common authorisa on process, fol-lowing several dra s and three workshops an updat-ed Recommenda on (known as DV29bis) was dra ed by the Commission and the Agency and will be sub-mi ed to the RISC of June 2014.

• Strategic objec ve ‘Single European Train Control System’:

With the delivery of the ETCS Baseline 3 in 2012, the focus in the ERTMS fi eld moved to the follow-up of the development, tes ng and implementa ons, with targeted dissemina on and monitoring ac vi es to favour harmonised applica on of the standard sys-tem, with dedicated a en on to early implementa- ons to ensure mely examina on of the return of

experience.

Those ac vi es are in line with the new Memoran-dum of Understanding on ERTMS signed in April 2012 by the Commission, the Agency and the Sector Or-ganisa ons spells out the priori es and respec ve commitments to progress successfully with the de-ployment of the system, entrus ng a signifi cant role to the Agency.

The harmonisa on of the specifi ca ons cannot bear fruit without a common approach to the verifi ca on and authorisa on processes: in this respect specifi c ac vi es with the No fi ed Bodies and coopera on with NSAs have been progressively strengthened. In the fi eld of railways communica on, the Agency has started to defi ne the roadmap to enable ETCS com-munica ons on packet-switched radio technologies, and to consolidate the requirements for the evolu- on of voice radio in view of the planned GSM-R life

expectancy. With the help of the sector, the Agency developed guidelines to simplify and standarise the

engineering, and to support harmonised opera ons with the ERTMS system.

The coopera on with the TEN-T Execu ve Agency in evalua ng specifi c ERTMS projects has been pur-sued and strengthened in the limits of the available resources, with the aim to help ensuring that ERTMS projects receiving EU money are in conformity with the essen al requirements and indeed contribute to the progressive deployment of a single harmonised system.

• Strategic objec ve ‘Mee ng EU customers’ needs’

Several TSIs are addressing issues related to railway customers:

• For passengers, the TAP TSI regula on linked to the Ar cle 10 of the Passenger rights regula on is addressed to Railway Undertakings, Infra-structure Managers and Ticket Vendors and aims at harmonising the exchange of informa on be-tween actors. The text has been completed by the recommenda on of Phase 1 of Chapter 7 (IT specs, Governance, Master Plan and retail architecture). The recommenda on has been submi ed at the end of 2012 and has been vot-ed in the early 2013. Further work is needed to close the open point on electronic cke ng, which makes the purchase of ckets across bor-ders easier.

• For freight, the revision of TAF TSI (to extend its scope to the en re network) has been complet-ed. The dra Decision is expected to be submit-ted to RISC in spring 2014.

In order to establish the Agency as the ‘Telema cs Applica ons System Authority’ our task is to keep on-going the WPs in CCM both for TAP and TAF. The task in 2013 consisted in guiding, suppor ng and advising the rail sector and MSs when implemen ng the tele-ma cs TSIs. In this work ERA con nues taking part in the Steering Commi ee works both in TAP and TAF and in addi on observes, advises and monitors the work done in MSs and among other rail actors; main task is to guarantee that everything is done in line with legisla on and all the actors are involved into it including the small and medium sized companies.

In a mul modal context ERA has to guarantee that all the ac ons taken do not make addi onal obstacles for mul modal environment.

To fulfi l these tasks there is a big need for mee ngs both on EC level and also mutual mee ngs with MSs and railway actors.

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Access to railways by all poten al customers has been addressed in the context of the revision of the PRM TSI., Following the conclusion by the EU of the UN Conven on on the Rights of Persons with Disabili es, the EU is required to take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabili es access, on an equal basis with others, including to transporta on. These measures must include the iden fi ca on and elimina- on of obstacles and barriers to accessibility.

Ge ng informa on about the detailed level of ac-cessibility off ered by sta ons and rolling stock has

been iden fi ed as a benefi t for PRMs and people with disabili es. Such informa on is to be collected by stakeholders through inventories of assets, and made available to passengers (‘how’ is to be defi ned). In 2013, a dedicated ERA working party started iden fy-ing the format of such a tool and clarifying the exact informa on required from stakeholders. This work will con nue in 2014.

The detailed achievements of the diff erent outputs in the diff erent Agency’s ac vi es are presented in the following chapters.

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Ac vity 1. Developing and promo ng a common understanding of Safety Management Systems (SMS)The concept of SMS is a key element in the legisla ve framework to improve the safety performance in an open railway market, as set out by Direc ve 2004/49/EC (RSD). There is clear evidence that, three to four years a er the RSD should have been implemented, diff erent RUs and IMs are s ll failing to grasp the basic concepts of a good working SMS, showing diff erent levels of understanding and applica on of its require-ments. A prime ac vity for the Agency is therefore to con nue the development on the understanding of the basic concepts, elements and processes that are part of an adequate SMS within the railway sector, con nuously taking into account the evolving knowl-edge on this topic in science and relevant other safety related sectors, and to promote this common under-standing throughout Europe. The Agency aims to con-tribute to a be er understanding by all stakeholders on the func oning of an adequate safety manage-ment system and how this can help to give assurance that the risks related to opera ng the railway are un-der control. In recogni on of the vital role of humans in achieving the safe transport of goods and people on the European Railways, the Agency con nued to develop a common approach to integrate human fac-tors into some of its work streams.

1.1 Developing and promo ng SMS overall principles

The SMS Applica on Guide and the web applica on developed in 2012 aimed at providing a knowledge building basis to be used by RUs/IMs to design and implement their SMS in conformity with aforemen- oned requirements of the Direc ve 2004/49/EC,

based on the best prac ces adopted in the railway sector and in other high reliability industries, also allowing the integra on with other management systems. It has been gradually complemented with papers on safety culture and human factors. Before going further in the development of this guideline by developing other papers on e.g. SMS Maturity and Monitoring of SMS, the Agency focused in 2013 main-ly on the dissemina on of the already available infor-ma on by organising 10 workshops covering SMS, ECMs and the CSMs. The Agency also analysed some of its work stream, e.g. on the CSM on risk assess-ment how human factor should be integrated. Those workshops were found to be important and respond-ing to the needs by the railway industry as the a end-ance per workshop was between 60 and 120 persons and returns are posi ve.

This analysis revealed to be more complex than ex-pected because of a rela ve lack of exper se and ex-perience regarding Human Factors. The Agency con-sidered than that the raising of exper se of its own staff is necessary before going further. To achieve this, the Agency decided to concentrate in 2014 on two areas: maintenance staff and opera onal staff other than drivers.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedUpdate of SMS guidelines depending on return of experience and needs expressed by stakeholders

Agency Regula on Ar cle 6, Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 6

End 2013 NoNo specifi c update has been considered as useful. The Agency preferred to concentrate on the dissemina on workshops and to add several documents to the web applica on.

Combined workshops in Member States (SMS, ECM and CSMs) within overall dissemina on concept


Ongoing Yes10 workshops were organised. Each of them covered at least 3 of the 4 subjects, mainly ECM cer fi ca on CSM on Risk assessment and CSM on monitoring.

IT-Service (Web-SMS): incorpora on of CSM processes


End 2013 Par allyThe project of integra ng elements of guidelines of CSM on risk assessment and CSM on monitoring has been started and will be fi nalised in 2014.

Report on the integra on of human factor within specifi c work stream like the CSM on RA


End 2013 YesThe Agency developed in collabora on with a consultant a systema c approach to iden fy human func ons. The Agency has started the integra on of human factors in the scope of maintenance of vehicles (collabora on with the freight focus group) and other staff than drivers.

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1.2 Developing and promo ng CSM on Risk Assessment

The Agency revised CSM and its guidelines vs. results of further developments on Assessment Bodies (AB), and organises addi onal dissemina on workshops, as integrated part of the dissemina on of the SMS principles, to help the sector in applying the CSM. This enabled the Agency to collect from stakeholders their experience and diffi cul es with the applica on of CSM on risk assessment. In addi on the Agency strongly supported the EU Commission by address-ing the last comments and developing the last min-ute amendments to the revised regula on on CSM on risk assessment for ge ng the favourable opinion of the RISC beginning 2013. The revised Regula on referenced as 402/2013/EU has been adopted and published in the fi rst semester of 2013. Moreover the Agency made a lot of eff orts to support OTIF in the revision of the PTU risk assessment in order to have this revised PTU in force in the same me as the Reg-ula on 402/2013/EU.

The work performed by the Agency in 2012 on the Risk Acceptance Criteria did not allow the Agency to

recommend any fi gures to be applied for the tech-nical func ons to the EC as part of the revision of Regula on 352/2009/EC and has demonstrated that more me is needed for all the stakeholders to pro-pose and validate these. In 2013, the Agency made a technical note proposing a way forward with this de-velopment which should lead in 2014 to some agreed fi gures. The Agency organised several presenta ons in the relevant networks: NSA Network and Network of Representa ve Bodies and one workshop in June 2013 with several NSAs and the Representa ve Bod-ies. The Agency had also several mee ngs with CER, EIM and UNIFE to progress in the delivery of valida- on elements jus fying the RAC fi gures proposed. A

second workshop has been organised in January 2013 where the Agency hopes to get valida on elements and a common view between stakeholders and NSAs suffi cient to be able to develop a recommenda on for revising the CSM on risk assessment.

In addi on, the project of adap ng the ERADIS data-base has been started. To reduce IT development, the Agency decided to re-use the ECM module of ERADIS as this module proved to be successful to record 32 cer fi ca on bodies and more than 350 cer fi cates of ECM and cer fi cates of maintenance workshops in one year.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTechnical note on a way to proceed for RAC for technical systems

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 6 Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 6

May 2013 YesThis note was delivered in January 2013. It contains a set of RAC fi gures for technical systems.

Updated guidance documents following return of experience and needs expressed by stakeholders

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 6, Regula on 352/2009 Ar cle 9

End 2013 YesThe Agency concentrated in the development of examples and dissemina on materials to be used in dissemina on workshops. Those materials validated through dissemina on workshops will be used in 2014 to update the formal guidance documents.

Combined workshops in Member States (SMS, ECM and CSMs) within overall dissemina on concept

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 6

Ongoing YesSee sec on 1.1.In addi on the Agency par cipated to several mee ngs or conferences organised by representa ve bodies and NSAs where the Agency could get some elements regarding the implementa on of the CSM on risk assessment.

Assessment Bodies module in ERADIS


End 2013 Par allyA er the success of the module ECM, it has been decided to re-use this module for registering the assessment bodies. That reduces the necessary IT developments. ERADIS will be ready in 2014 largely before the end of the transi onal period of Regula on 402/2013

14

1.3 Developing and promo ng CSM on Monitoring

As an integrated part of the dissemina on of the SMS principles, the Agency started the dissemina on of the CSM on monitoring.

A be er understanding of how CSM for monitoring was applied and thus increased the experience/com-petence use of a common and harmonised method for monitoring, increasing mutual trust and facili-

ta ng the mutual recogni on of the safety manage-ment system. This was an important building block in achieving fulfi lment of the precondi ons for migra- on towards a single safety cer fi cate.

To support the implementa on of the CSM on mon-itoring the Agency developed several examples that were used in the dissemina on workshops and that will be included in the specifi c guidelines that should be published by beginning of 2014. These guidelines are also to be introduced in the web applica on on SMS men oned in sec on 1.1 of this document.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCombined workshops in Member States (SMS, ECM and CSMs) within overall dissemina on concept


Ongoing Yes See sec on 1.1

15

Ac vity 2. Developing and promo ng harmonised principles for accident inves ga on bodiesAr cle 1 (Purpose), (23) to (25) and Ar cle 19 to 25 of the Railway Safety Direc ve (RSD) require na onal accident inves ga on bodies (NIB) to be established, to inves gate serious accidents (and accidents that under diff erent circumstances might have led to serious accidents), and to make recommenda ons where appropriate in order to maintain or improve European railway safety. The ul mate objec ve of these inves ga ons is the improvement of railway safety and the preven on of accidents.

2.1 Developing and promo ng overall NIB principles

Working closely with the NIBs, and covering the scope of accident inves ga on as laid down in the RSD, the Agency is facilita ng a Task Force on NIB independence. In coopera on with the network of NIBs, the Agency also con nued to develop modules for the training of accident inves gators in Europe and also has delivered several training sessions.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTF to assess threats for NIB independence

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 21, Agency Regula on Ar cle 6

3 mee ngs organised

YesDevelopment of a dra risk matrix related to independence; survey carried out

1 training session for accident inves gators


tbd Yes2 training sessions delivered on request of NIBs

List of HF experts in par cipa ng MS established to support NIB in inves ga ons


Ongoing update YesPreliminary list of HF experts made available to par cipa ng NIBs

Ac ons stemming from contact with RailPol


Ongoing YesProgress in the Member States on agreements between police authori es and the NIBs has been monitored

2.2 Promo ng coopera on and providing assistance

16

The Agency carries on organising the Network of NIBs to coordinate and promote the par cipa on of the NIBs in the tasks of Project 2.1. This involves workshops with the NIBs on dedicated topics, the organisa on of the NIB Network, its work program and its mee ngs, including joint mee ng with the NSA network where appropriate, and providing assistance to the NIBs upon request. The Agency also facilitates the exchange of experience be-tween NSA and NIB on how they integrate the human factors within their work.

Principal outputs 2013` Legal Basis Planned Timing Achieved3 NIB network plenary mee ngs; workshops and seminars on specif-ic topics; Human factor network

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 21, Agency Reg-ula on Ar cle 6

Plenary meet-ings

Yes

Sharing of experience and best prac ce by convening

3 plenary mee ngs

3 HF network mee ngs

1 Human Factors seminar

Par cipa on in NIBs lan-guage groups

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 21, Agency Reg-ula on Ar cle 6

Ongoing Yes

Par cipa on in and contribu on to the Nordic and Central-European regional NIB groups

17

Ac vity 3. Developing and promo ng a harmonised safety regulatory frameworkThe implementa on by Member States of the safety regulatory framework as set out by the Railway Safe-ty Direc ve is s ll very diverse. By this ac vity, the Agency aims at harmonising the implementa on of this regulatory framework in order to improve safety in an open European railway market, also taking into account neighbouring countries.

3.1 Developing and promo ng overall principles for cer fi ca on and regula on

The Agency con nued organising the Network of NSAs to coordinate and harmonise the diff erent lev-els of performance among the NSAs, by facilita ng the harmonisa on of NSAs decision-making criteria and processes as described in ar cle 16 of the Safety Direc ve. The issue of the ‘ownership’ of the Network has been addressed so that NSAs feel responsible for a tool which allows them to discuss ma ers corre-

sponding to their interests and needs. The Agency has made it clear that a stronger contribu on from NSAs was essen al. It was possible to verify signifi -cant progress in the maturity of the Network during 2013. This progress should allow a clearer vision on the objec ves of the Network and the op misa on of working methods in the future.

In addi on, a dedicated task force of NSAs (refer also to projects 3.2 and 3.3) provided a forum for NSAs to exchange on, learn from and promote best prac c-es, propose solu ons to overcome issues related to assessment and supervision or use of CSMs no fi ed by NSAs, facilitate and promote harmonisa on of the NSAs decision-making criteria and processes as de-scribed in ar cle 16 of the Safety Direc ve. The work of this task force resulted in guidance documents for NSAs, respec vely on a common approach to super-vision of railway undertakings opera ng in more than one Member State and on issuing a safety cer fi cate or safety authorisa on.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTF Assessment & Supervision to evaluate poten al harmonisa on of NSA processes


4 mee ngs Yes2 mee ngs (following decision made by NSA representa ves)2 guidance documentsWork programme for the harmonisa on of NSA processes

Combined workshops in Member States within overall dissemina on concept (SMS and CSM)


Ongoing Yes2 workshops (Hungary and Slovenia)

4 NSA network plenary mee ngs; workshops and seminars on specifi c topics


4 plenary mee ngs

YesSharing of experience and best prac ce by convening4 plenary mee ngs,1 extraordinary plenary mee ng,2 workshops

3.2 Developing and promo ng CSM on Conformity Assessment

The Common Safety Methods on Conformity Assess-ment (CSM CA) provided a harmonised framework for NSAs to assess the SMS of RUs and IMs prior to the award of a safety cer fi cate/authorisa on and the basic principles for NSA supervision of safety per-

formance a er the award of the award of the cer f-icate/authorisa on, which was developed further in the CSM on Supervision. It also established the hier-archical rela onship between part A and part B safety cer fi cates and fi xed an NSA approach to awarding part B cer fi cates. Informa on on the CSM on super-vision was integrated in the dissemina on workshops (run in combina on with dissemina on on SMS, ECM cer fi ca on and other CSMs).

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCombined workshops in Member States within overall dissemina on concept (SMS and CSM)



18

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTF Assessment & Supervision to evaluate poten al harmonisa on of NSA processes



3.3 Developing and promo ng CSM on Supervision

The Common Safety Methods on Supervision (CSM SU) provided a harmonised framework to be used by the NSAs for overseeing the delivery of safe opera-

ons by RUs and IMs and the effi ciency of their SMS. The tasks of the Agency for this project have been in-tegrated with the project 3.2 and mainly consisted in conduc ng a series of dissemina on workshops (run in combina on with dissemina on on SMS, ECM cer- fi ca on and other CSMs) and in harmonising further

the NSA approaches with the related task force (see project 3.1).

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCombined workshops in Member States within overall dissemina on concept (SMS and CSM)



TF Assessment & Supervision to evaluate poten al harmonisa on of NSA processes



3.4 Developing and promo ng the ECM cer fi ca on scheme

As an integrated part of the dissemina on of the SMS principles the Agency organised dissemina on work-shops on ECM as well as coopera on between cer -fi ca on bodies, in line with Regula on No 445/2011 Ar cle 6. This provided inputs for preparing the revi-sion of the Regula on No 445/2011 and the subse-quent accredita on and cer fi ca on schemes.

Gradually all the MS put in place the structure to get cer fi ca on bodies, accredited, recognised or NSAs ac ng as cer fi ca on bodies. The coopera on is to-day opened to 32 cer fi ca on bodies in EU and in Switzerland. In 2014, the coopera on may be opened to the third countries of OTIF having implemented the ATMF annex A as a result of the coopera on agree-ment signed in 2013 by the DG MOVE, the Agency and OTIF.

The coopera on met three mes in 2013. The main work was to clarify a number of aspects related to the Regula on 445/2011 to the cer fi ca on bodies. In addi on two task forces were fi nalised and produced guidance documents on the gaps between the ECM cer fi ca on and other cer fi ca ons and clarifi ca on on the concepts of release to service and return to opera on. Those guidelines will be published in 2014.

A main concern remains. This is the alloca on of re-sponsibili es between the ECMs, keepers and RUs. The Agency answered in a new version of the ECM guidelines that was published in September 2013 and through the dissemina on workshops. In addi- on OTIF set up a working group for the revision of

the CUV appendix of the COTIF to fi x the contractual rights and obliga ons of ECMs, keepers and RUS. The Agency par cipates ac vely with the DG MOVE to this working group.

Finally the ECM module of ERADIS is a success. In 2013, 32 cer fi ca on bodies are registered with more than 350 cer fi cates of ECMs and maintenance work-shops.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedUpdated guidance documents following return of experience and needs expressed by stakeholders

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 14a, Regula on 445/2011

Ongoing YesA new version of the ECM guidelines was published on the Agency’s website in September 2013.

19

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCombined workshops in Member States (SMS, ECM and CSMs) within overall dissemina on concept


YesSee sec on 1.1.The dissemina on of ECM cer fi ca on through workshops in Member States started in 2012. End of 2013, the Agency considers that the whole EU has been covered.In addi on the Agency organised a seminar in Lille on 21 November where the stakeholders and NSAs were invited to share their experience.

Harmonisa on of the ECM cer fi ca on process; coopera on of cer fi ca on bodies


Ongoing Yes`3 plenary mee ngs and 2 Task forces were organised.The coopera on covers today 32 cer fi ca on bodies from EU and Switzerland.

3.5 Coordina ng the Accredita on framework

The Agency organised dissemina on ac vi es ad-dressed to the Na onal Accredita on Bodies on the specifi ci es of the railway environment including the legal aspects. This included training seminars, guid-ance documents and support to European coopera- on on Accredita on (EA) to ensure the right railway

knowledge for their members.

The above resulted in the implementa on of new/revised legal rules with be er performance (quicker, avoid na onal divergence and therefore endless dis-cussions), and addi onal informa on related to the implementa on of EU legal rules facilita ng moni-toring of implementa on and revision ac vi es and credibility through common way of managing ac v-i es.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedReview of training material

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 14a, Regula on 445/2011 & 352/2001

Ongoing — Development in 2014 regarding the CSM on risk assessment.

Par ally

20

3.6 Promo ng transparency and reduc on of Na onal Safety Rules

The Agency con nued to support the Commission and MS in their eff orts to improve both transparen-cy and gradual reduc on of Na onal Safety Rules. In par cular, the Agency implemented the ac on plan iden fi ed in the fi nal report of the RISC Task Force on Na onal Safety Rules. In par cular this entailed launching a dissemina on campaign. The Rule Man-agement Tool developed by the Task Force cons -tutes a basis for iden fying and evalua ng the rules. A Working Party will be set up in 2014 in order to maintain and to further develop the common use of the rule management tool.

In 2013, the Agency carried out dissemina on work-shops in Hungary, Austria, Portugal and Denmark. This included customised informa on and dialogues, evalua on of the system of Na onal Safety Rules and iden fi ca on of specifi c priori es in each visited Member State. Addi onally, a number of Member States held preparatory mee ngs or entered into dia-logues with the Agency in order to have full dissemi-na on workshops at a later stage.

Early iden fi ca on of dra rules was considered as a cornerstone for improving the transparency and to prevent at an early stage the adop on of rules which

were not in line with the EU legisla ve framework. The evalua on/pre-evalua on of no fi ed Na onal Safety Rules was fi nalised for Austria, Belgium, Den-mark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Nor-way, Poland and Portugal. As a support to this project, the Agency also assisted the Commission in the main-tenance and improvement of the NOTIF-IT tool (see project 9.3).

The Agency also defi ned a method to monitor pro-gress with transparency and reduc on of Na onal Safety Rules and to steer improvements in Member States. This method is composed of the Transparency Barometer addressed to the railway sector and Trans-parency Survey addressed to the Na onal Safety Au-thori es and Member States.

On the request of the Commission, the Agency con- nued to deliver Opinions and Advice on rules which

were suspected to be inconsistent with the EU legis-la on.

Ar cles were also published in a number of railway press and Internet sites about the results of the Eu-ropean Commission’s Task Force on Na onal Safety Rules and about the future of European rulemaking. In 2014, the Agency will promote No f-IT upgrade to allow input by the Sector on Na onal Safety Rules and facilitate monitoring ac vi es.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedNSR Task Force fi nal report results dissemina on and implementa on of the ac on plan

Agency Regula on Ar cle 21b, 30

According to planning

YesDissemina on workshops in 4 MSsFacilita ng the use of the Rule Management ToolTransparency barometer and survey of NSR process in MSs.Ar cles in press and Internet

Check NSR registra on, evalua on of dra rules for EC (ca. 100 NSR)

Agency Regula on Ar cle 9a, 19, 21b, 30

End 2013 YesEvalua on of no fi ed adopted Na onal Safety Rules of 10 MSs in No f-IT and during dissemina on ac vi es

Dra ing of Opinions and Advice on Safety ma ers (cross Agency)

Agency Regula on Ar cle 9a

on request YesAgency’s opinion regarding a dra na onal safety rule in Poland.Agency’s Advice regarding Railway safety in Poland

3.7 Joint Network Secretariat

In September 2012, the NSA and NRB Networks estab-lished a secretariat, supported by the Agency, to en-able be er communica on between them on issues of common interest. The objec ves for the work are that a more mature dialogue between stakeholders

improves understanding of each other’s goals, allows joint problem-solving and supports railway actors in fulfi lling their responsibili es under the European rail framework.

During 2013, the Joint Network Secretariat pro-gressed two issues received in 2012 and received two new issues in 2013.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing Achieved

21

Publica on of agreed posi on on no fi ed issue concerning IM requirements for RU staff training, in order to manage shared opera onal risk

August 2013 YesClear statement of how European framework could be applied to manage the issue, available to all stakeholders to support their decision-making

Summary of the Agency work to harmonise NSA decision-making and enforcement

September 2013

YesImportance of issue highlighted to NSAs and forward plan agreed with support of the sector

Delega on of recommenda ons from Italian NIB recommenda ons following accident at Viareggio: safety cri cal maintenance

Issue no fi ed in April 2013 and work planned to conclude in March 2014

YesWork plan agreed with Freight Focus Group and Task Force on Assessment and Supervision ini ated

Joint Network Secretariat mee ngs

Agency Regula on Ar cle 6, 21b, 30

February, May and September 2013

YesMee ngs held

3.8 The freight focus group

The Agency organised the coordina on and involve-ment of RBs and NSAs on ac vi es of the safety unit related to ECM cer fi ca on and harmonisa on of maintenance that should be risk-based.

This impacted on accelera ng the implementa on of management system approach and risk based ap-

proach. If not, the Agency would risk inconsistencies at the level of authori es to impose new prescrip ve rules tending to make ECM cer fi ca on useless. Con-sequently, an increased risk at the cost of the railway freight transport. The coordina on proposed by the freight focus group facilitated a be er understanding on benefi ts of the ECM cer fi ca on and the risk based approach to develop maintenance rules may bring. At longer term, it par cipated to a be er understanding of the whole railway system.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedOrganisa on of mee ngs with NSAs and RBs to address needs related specifi cally to rail freight transport


Ongoing Yes1 mee ng on 24 September 2013

Due to lack of resources, the Freight Focus Group could only start its ac vi es on 24 September 2013. Only one mee ng has been organised. The second mee ng has been organised at the end of January 2014. In addi on a framework document describing the role and tasks of the Freight focus group is under development.

3.9 Harmonised EU ac on plans a er serious accident and repe ve incidents

The Agency developed a procedure to allow urgent coordinated responses at EU level. This procedure was developed with a Task Force to facilitate EU coordina on in order to elaborate quickly a coordi-nated, targeted and propor onate response to risks when urgent ac on is needed. The objec ve of this procedure coordinated response also allows prevent-ing isolated and inconsistent measures which could impede EU legal rules and standards, interoperability

and safety or effi ciency of rail transport, from being taken, in isola on, by sparse na onal actors.

The Quick Response Procedure establishes a common understanding of the no ons of urgency, of EU level interest and establishes criteria for the coordina on between the responsible stakeholders.

The correct implementa on of the Quick Response Procedure allows the responsible stakeholders estab-lishing EU-wide recognised ac on plans two months a er a request has been submi ed.

The Agency acts as a facilitator for the correct imple-menta on of the QRP by the responsible stakehold-ers.

The Agency is currently fi ne tuning the coordina on of JNS and QRP processes in order to limit the oper-a on costs and to coordinate non-urgent (JNS) and urgent (QRP) work streams. The updated JNS and QRP procedures will be ready for opera on beginning 2014.

22

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing Achieved

Quick response procedure dra ed, fi rst mee ng of the Quick response Task Force organised

Agency Regula on Ar cle 21b

March 2013Mee ng when required

YesThree QR Task Force mee ngs heldDra quick response procedure QRP was fi nalised in July 2013 and approved by the Task Force in July 2013

3.10 Promo ng an integrated approach to the Transport of Dangerous Goods regula ons

In complement to the monitoring of the development of rules at UNECE and OTIF levels mainly concerning requirements on ‘substance safety’ (see project 13.4) the Agency started the promo on of the develop-ment of an integrated approach for key technical, so-cietal and poli cal aspects in collabora on with the European Commission.

A common approach and use of risk-based deci-sion-making for the transport of Dangerous Goods was developed through the organisa on of thema c workshops.

In 2013 the Agency developed the ideas concerning the use of risk-based approach and proposed the UNECE and OTIF Joint Mee ng of the ADR/RID/ADN to start with a series of thema c Workshops. UNECE and OTIF agreed with the objec ves and the Agency organised relevant mee ngs.

As a result of the Workshop organised by the Agency and of the work carried out by the UNECE Joint Meet-ing working group on the database for transport of Dangerous Goods it was agreed that the Agency will undertake the following ac vi es in 2014:

- establish a road map for improving the common use of risk-based decision-making in the fi eld of dangerous goods transport and organise related future workshops;

- start a coopera on with UNECE on coopera- ve databases for the Transport of Dangerous

Goods by rail;

- implement the new Administra ve arrange-ment between DG MOVE, OTIF and the Agency for be er aligning RID and EU legisla on on rail-ways.

These ac vi es allow ‘substance safety’ experts and ‘transport safety’ experts to establish common ap-proach and tools which are to be used as a techni-cal background for the implementa on of risk-based decision-making at EU and Interna onal levels in the fi eld of Transport of Dangerous Goods.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedOrganisa on of two workshops


1st and 2nd semester 2013

YesOctober 2013: a) Agency work-shop on risk assessment in the fi eld of TDGCombined withb) UNECE/OTIF Working Group mee ng on databases.

23

Ac vity 4. Monitoring of railway safety performance — processes and outcomeIn order to develop a complete and consistent safety approach, performance monitoring should combine the analysis of safety results through common safety indicators and common safety targets with the mon-itoring of compliance with and the eff ec veness/effi -ciency of the legisla ve framework that is set out by the European Union. A prime ac vity for the Agency is therefore to ini a ve and develop a framework for monitoring safety performance, not only by looking at safety results but also at the func oning of the core elements and processes that are part of the safety regulatory framework as introduced by the RSD and related EU legisla on.

4.1 Monitoring safety performance outcome

The Agency collected (through ERAIL database), pro-cessed (oversaw data submission, clarifi ed with MSs),

analysed (performs sta s cal tests with data) and published (CSI datasheet, Railway Safety Performance Report) CSI data. It further used CSI data to annually assess safety performance of MS and EU via CSTs and NRVs (2009/460/EC).

The Safety Performance Working Party met twice in 2013 to work on the development of Guidance on CSI data repor ng, on the prepara on of new methods for monitoring the performance of Member States, and to prepare the new safety indicators. The WP no-tably prepared the amendment of the Annex I to the Railway Safety Direc ve and produced an evalua on report on the CSM on CSTs/NRVs.

The Agency also produced an intermediate report on the development of railway safety. The report was de-livered in electronic format only.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedAnalysis of safety informa on like e.g. CSIs accident reports, NSA/NIB annual reports,

Agency Regula on Ar cle 9

End 2013 YesNIB annual reports evaluated intermediate report on the development of railway safety in the EU

Report on the quality of data reported to the Agency


Nov 2013 NoPostponed in 2014

Improvement and management of CSIs


End 2013 YesRecommenda on addressed to EC on the revision on annex I to the RSD

4.2 Monitoring NSA performance

NSA Network established a cross-audit programme in 2011. The objec ves for the Programme are to evaluate NSA performance, share best prac ce and increase trust, and iden fy diffi cul es with imple-

men ng the European legisla on. In 2013, the Pilot project was reviewed and the fi rst full audit cycle be-gan. The Agency con nues to support and develop the programme, supports the Cross Audit Commit-tee, provides tailored training for the auditors and par cipates in the mixed teams that are performing the audits.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedPilot phase audits of NSAs Hungary, Great Britain, Ireland, Estonia and Netherlands completed and reports published to NSA Network

End 2013 YesAudit fi ndings available to all NSAs to support Programme objec ves, pilot audits completed to allow review and improvement of Programme

Review of Pilot phase of Cross Audit Programme


January to March 2013

YesRevised and improved Programme Documents adopted

Follow up audits of Finland, Hungary and Ireland completed and reports published to NSA Network

Final quarter 2013

YesNSA improvement ensured and consolidated

24

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing Achieved22 NSA and Agency auditors assigned to 5 audits, trained and successfully passed auditor test


September 2013

YesNecessary human resource secured for Programme, skills and competences of staff from several organisa ons improved

Audits of Poland, Channel Tunnel and Sweden started

October 2013 YesRevised programme started on me and to plan

4.3 Monitoring NIB performance

In coopera on with volunteering NIBs, an assess-ment programme was developed and maintained. The Agency was developing and maintaining the ap-proach and organised 2 assessments in 2013. In ad-di on, accident inves ga on reports were analysed and feedback given to the concerned NIB.

NIB surveys aimed at collec ng informa on and provided a framework for a communica on around their ac vi es and organisa on. The objec ve of the assessment of NIBs was to help them achieve their objec ve above by developing a standard for accident inves ga on in Europe and by giving the NIBs support in iden fying changes that improved their effi ciency and eff ec veness.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedVoluntary assessments conducted


2 assessments YesTwo NIB assessments have been performed and reports have been delivered and accepted by the assessed NIBs.Another 2 NIB assessments have been started.

Feedback to NIBs, (specifi c topic report)


During NIB network and separate mee ngs with individual NIBs

YesAdvice on request.Four short summaries have been made of the organisa on of four NIBs.

4.4 Monitoring of the progress of the migra on to a Single Safety Cer fi cate

To achieve the delivery of the migra on strategy, the Agency proposed in its recommenda on that a work-ing group chaired by the EC was to be set up. In June 2013, the Member States have accepted the princi-ple of having a dedicated Task Force under the RISC auspices for facilita ng the advent of a Single Safety Cer fi cate Regime (SSC).

The former objec ve to monitor the progress of the harmonised methods (Common Safety Methods) for ensuring delivery of the two precondi ons iden fi ed ini ally in the Agency recommenda ons remains a key objec ve but is not part of the ac vi es strictly necessary for the delivery of the Single Safety Cer- fi cate. In 2014 and onwards, this task force should

be promo ng and paving the path towards the Single Safety Cer fi cate in driving and monitoring the devel-opments of the necessary legisla ve revisions.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedSupport to RISC Single Cer fi cate Working Group


Ongoing YesProgramme Plan for a RISC Single Cer fi cate Task Force submi ed at RISC #68

Feedback from applica on of CSM RA for Programme Board, (specifi c topic report)


Ongoing Par allyNo request addressed to the Agency. Nevertheless the Agency took some ini a ves such as mee ng several stakeholders to iden fy the level of implementa on of the CSM on risk assessment and the CSM on monitoring.The Agency started also to dra a framework document to monitor the implementa on in a more structured way.

25

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedFeedback from applica on of CSM MO for Programme Board, (specifi c topic report)


Ongoing Par allyNo request addressed to the Agency. Nevertheless the Agency took some ini a ves such as mee ng several stakeholders to iden fy the level of implementa on of the CSM on risk assessment and the CSM on monitoring.The Agency started also to dra a framework document to monitor the implementa on in a more structured way.

Feedback from applica on of CSM CA for Programme Board, (specifi c topic report)


Ongoing This task was previous linked with the Agency’s recommenda on in 2012 for the migra on towards the SSC. However, due to the proposed mandate for the review of the CSM on CA and SUP (RISC #69), feedback on the current applica on was mainly managed in 2013 through the NSA cross-audit programme and the dissemina on workshops.

Feedback from applica on of CSM SU for Programme Board, (specifi c topic report)


Ongoing This task was previous linked with the Agency’s recommenda on in 2012 for the migra on towards the SSC. However, due to the proposed mandate for the review of the CSM on CA and SUP (RISC #69), feedback on the current applica on was mainly managed in 2013 through the NSA cross-audit programme and the dissemina on workshops.

4.5 Monitoring safety performance processes (other)

The Agency developed a framework (eventually leg-isla ve) for the collec on, process, analysis and pub-lica on of data on safety performance related to the process. The work was done internally with the assis-tance of the exis ng WP on Safety Performance. Also the coopera on with avia on industry was sought.

In addi on, the Agency developed and suggested a new approach: to monitor the performance of the railway safety regulatory framework on a Member State level. The aim of this approach is to create an overview of how the framework is func oning on a Member State level in order to get a be er under-standing of the mechanisms behind systemic prob-lems but also of where there exists best prac ce in the applica on of the regulatory framework to be shared between Member States. For this purpose the Agency developed a model, the Regulatory Mon-itoring Matrix, which can provide a systema c over-

view of the situa on in the diff erent Member States concerning Ministry, NSA and NIB-level issues. The Matrix mainly uses informa on that is already avail-able to the Agency within its diff erent work streams so as to not create any double work for the Member States. The expected outcomes of the approach are more focused support to the Member States, more informed advice to the EC and be er priori sa on of the Agency’s work. The approach was presented at RISC in June 2013 and a pilot study is currently carried out with voluntary Member States to develop a meth-odology and evaluate the model.

In 2013, the Agency also had a study carried out which analysed and summarised exis ng research in the area of risk regula on regimes. The results of the study were published on the Agency’s website and in-corporated in thetheore cal background of the Regu-latory Monitoring Matrix.

The Agency expected a return from experience on the ECM cer fi ca on and implementa on of SMS by RUs and IMs.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedFeedback from implementa on of SMS by RUs and IMs taking into account the specifi c RUs and IM needs

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 14a, Agency Regula on Ar cle 9

Ongoing Par allyThe Agency started to develop a framework to monitor the implementa- on of SMS and ECM cer fi ca on in a

more structured way.A model for monitoring the overall performance of the railway safety regulatory framework in the Member States.

Agency Regula on Ar cle 6 and 9.

Ongoing Par allyDevelopment of the Regulatory Monitoring Matrix; pilot study with voluntary Member States in progress

26

4.6 Defi ning methods and assessing Common Safety Targets (CST)

The annual assessment of achievements of CSTs/NRVs was prepared by the Agency and delivered to the EC in March 2013. Following this assessment, the Agency issued recommenda on to the EC to revise the second set of CSTs/NRVs in line with Ar cle7 (5) of the Railway Safety Direc ve.

The Agency organised a TF within the Safety Performance WP that prepared an evalua on and a report concerning poten al improvements to be considered for the coming revision of CSM on CSTs/NRVs and of CSTs.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedAnnual assessment of achievements of CSTs/NRVs

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 7Commission Decision 2009/460/EC Ar cle4

End 2013 YesDelivered to EC.

Dra recommenda on on the method for CSTs assessment

Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 7, Commission Decision 2009/460/EC Ar cle 4

2013-2014 YesReport from the SPWP as input to the revision of the CSM on CSTs and on CSTs

4.7 Evalua on of Direc ves transposi on

The Agency provided DG MOVE with an overview of the status of the transposi on of the Direc ves in the European Union. Upon request by DG MOVE, the Agency provided support in the exchanges between MSs and DG MOVE. The aim of these ac vi es was

to assist the Commission and the MSs in achieving a correct transposi on of the European Direc ves.

The improvement of the way the Direc ves were transposed and their prac cal implementa on aim at improving the compe ve posi on of the railway sector by enhancing the level of interoperability of the railway system and at developing a common ap-proach to safety.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedEvalua on of Transposi on of Railway Safety Direc ve

Agency Regula on Ar cle 21b and 30

End 2013 YesEvalua on of the transposi on of RSD in 2 Member StatesAssistance to EC on request

27

Evalua on of Transposi on of Interoperability Direc ve


End 2013 YesEvalua on of the transposi on of the IOD in 2 Member StatesEvalua on report of the transposi on of the IOD in 27 Member StatesAssistance to EC on request

Train Driver’s Direc ve: fi nal report


End 2013 NoIn agreement with the EC, the delivery of the fi nal report was postponed to end of April.

28

Ac vity 5. Facilita on of Vehicle Authorisa onThe complicated, unclear, diff erent and not well doc-umented ‘homologa on’ processes that apply in each Member State have been cited as a major barrier to the compe ve posi on of rail and the opening of the markets for equipment supply and railway oper-a on. Signifi cant savings are expected from the sim-plifi ca on entailed by replacing the diverse na onal homologa on procedures by the common European authorisa on process envisaged in the Interoperabil-ity Direc ve and now the scope extended TSIs have been agreed by reducing the number of na onal technical rules to those strictly necessary to cover open points in the TSIs or for ensuring technical com-pa bility with legacy systems.

The es mated poten al savings may reach at least EUR 500 million per year, compared with Agency costs of less than EUR 2 million per year. Whilst the savings are dependent upon the ac ons of other actors (e.g. Member States) implemen ng and con-forming to Direc ve 2008/57/EC and the Recommen-da on 2011/217/EC (DV29), the Agency’s work is a necessary pre-condi on for the realisa on of these savings.

Progress in 2013 was however slower than planned in some areas due to shortage of staff arising from the termina on of several contracts and diffi cul es in re-crui ng suitable staff to fi ll vacancies. By September 2013 only 12 out of 17 posts in the Cross Acceptance Unit were occupied. Priority was given to the collec- on and publishing of na onal rules in the RDD and

improvements to the database func onality and user friendliness. The new contract arrangements that

came into force in November 2013 have eased the situa on and should also make the Agency more at-trac ve to staff . By mid-January 2014 the staffi ng in the Cross Acceptance Unit have risen to 15 out of an establishment of 18 with further recruitment already under way.

5.1 Promo on and monitoring of harmonised vehicle authorisa on processesThe Agency

• analysed the obstacles and made proposals to improve the situa on based on the report of the Vehicle Authorisa on Task Force published in 2013

• made clear the simplifi ed EC process in the ge-neric fl ow chart for the Na onal Legal Frame-work

• disseminated the simplifi ed process

• collected in one-on-one mee ngs with MS and NSA the informa on on the authorisa on pro-cesses in each MS

• published the process for each Member State in the Reference Document Part 3 — the Na onal Legal Framework (NLF)

• started to analyse commonali es and discrep-ancies in order to be able to recommend further simplifi ca ons

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedDocumenta on of Authorisa on Processes in Member States, publica on of Na onal Legal Framework (fl ow chart) for each MS

Commission Decision 2011/155/EU Ar cle 1

Comple on of NLF fi rst round of documenta on Spring 2013. Review, analysis and comparison un l end of 2013

Yes21 x NLFs published on the ERA website.NLFs for France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland and the UK awai ng sign off by the MS

Update of applica on guide to the reference document


July 2013 YesNew version published 29 October 2013

Training and dissemina on of EU framework for authorisa on including the use of Geographical Interest Groups (GIG’s)


Ongoing Yes30 GIG mee ngs took place in 2013

29

Support to EC in the clarifi ca on and resolu on of problems rela ng to vehicle authorisa on (e.g. Task Force updates to recommenda on 2011/217/EU)

Requests from the Commission

July 2013 YesDG MOVE were assisted the prepara on of an update of Recommenda on 2011/217/EU and amendments of Annexes V and VI of Direc ve 2008/57/ECStudies were launcheda) to inves gate tests required in addi on to TSIsb) to analyse the possibili es for the Agency to set up a One Stop Shop to facilitate vehicle authorisa on requiring authorisa on in more than 1 MS

5.2 Publica on and classifi ca on of rules used for vehicle authorisa on

In 2013 the Agency

- collected and published the rules applied in MS in conjunc on with the authorisa on of railway vehicles

- facilitated the elimina on of redundant rules,

- facilitated the convergence to common rules for groups of MSs,

- facilitated a common approach to na onal rules on diffi cult technical issues which contributed to TSI reviews and amendments.

- started to disseminate a common approach to the management of na onal rules.

The Agency facilitated the comparison, evalua on and classifi ca on of equivalence of the rules by Geo-graphical Interest Groups of MS as follows:

Corridor A RST DE-AT-CH-IT-NL 4 Mee ngs in 2013

Corridor A ERTMS DE-AT-CH-IT-NL 7 Mee ngs in 2013

BeNeFLuCHE BE- NL-FR-LU-CH-E 6 Mee ngs in 2013

Central East North DE- NL-CZ-PL-AT 4 Mee ngs in 2013

Central East South AT-CH-IT-Slo-HU-BG-RO 4 Mee ngs in 2013

NORDIC NO-FI-SE-DK-DE 3 Mee ngs in 2013

BALTIC LT-LV-ES-FI 2 mee ngs in 2013

Total 30 mee ngs, most of them 2-day mee ngs (to-tal 58 mee ng days)

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedRules published in RDD and NOTIF-IT

Direc ve 2008/57/EC Ar cle 27Decision 2011/155/EU Ar cle 1

95 % of rules recorded by end 201375 % rules classifi ed A, B or C by end 2013

Par allyYesNa onal Technical Rules applied in conjunc on with the authorisa on of railway vehicles are published for 27 MS by ERA Work needs next to be done to improve the quality of the publica on and avoid the need for clarifi ca ons and inves ga on.The target of 75 % of rules classifi ed in Geographical Interest Groups was achieved.

List of rules used by MS to cover open pints


80 % of the rules applied checked if they are relevant to close open points or relate to specifi c cases by July 2013

NoDue to lack of resources the check of rules covering open points was postponed to 2014

List of rules that are allowed to be used for checks at addi onal authorisa on of a vehicle already authorised in another MS


95 % of rules iden fi ed for Network compa bility in MS by Oct. 2013

Par ally

30

Separa on of exis ng rules in Na onal Reference Document to iden fy those that are mandatory (same status as TSI) and those that are accepted proof of conformity (A status similar to ENs not referenced in any TSI)


95 % of rules classifi ed as ‘mandatory’ or ‘accepted proof of compliance’ by September 2013

Par allyWork to be done by MS supported by XA, work s ll ongoing

Equivalences iden fi ed in GIGS published in RDD

Decision 2011/155/EU Ar cle 3

Classifi ca on results of two further GIGs to be published by October 2013

Yes2 GIGs (Central East North & BENEFLUCH) fi nished classifi ca on.

List of parameters by MS where TSIs already accepted for OFF-TENs (i.e. no need for specifi c case in TSI)


Ongoing NoPostponed to 2014 due to lack of resources

Maximum use of mutual acceptance, unnecessary rules removed by MS (task force ac on C.1)


Ongoing NoPostponed to 2014 due to lack of resources

Management of up to 32mee ngs p a, par cipa on and facilita ng of another 30 mee ngs p a (VA task force ac on C.3)


Ongoing Yes30 GIG mee ngs took place supported by the Agency comprising 58 mee ng days

Integra on of the results of Geographic Interest Groups to facilitate migra on towards common solu ons


Ongoing NoPostponed due to lack of resources

5.3 Management of Na onal Technical Rules

The Agency supported the EC in developing and ad-ministra on of EC database NOTIF-IT, provided train-ing of users and facilitated the no fi ca on of MS rules by for example providing clarifi ca on on criteria to be complied with for rules to be no fi ed, analysing prob-lems and proposing solu ons and evalua ng Na onal Technical Rules (NTR) submi ed for no fi ca on.

In order to ensure legal certainty and to avoid Mem-ber States pu ng in place rules that confl ict with the EU framework or act as barriers to market entry, a suitable database properly used by the appropriate actors is a necessary prerequisite. 10 % of the EUR 133 million savings in locomo ve authorisa on from cross acceptance were a ributed to this ac vity. For all vehicles and subsystems this equates to a mini-mum of approximately EUR 26 million per year by 2020.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedNTR registra on and database administra on, assistance to MS regarding no fi ca on of Na onal Technical Rules, support to EC in pre-evalua on of NTRs


Evalua on of up to 250 NTR in 1 year (av. me for formal evalua on of 1 NTR: up to 4 hours, incl clarifi ca on with NTR submi er)

YesAssistance provided to EC to resolve problems with NOTIF-ITApprox. 50 evalua ons received but due severe staff shortage only 20 evalua ons were par ally carried out (due to IT problems the evalua on could not be completed)

Elabora on, Contribu on, Co-ordina on of (Technical) Opinions

Agency Regula on Ar cle 2, 9a and 10

On EC request No TOs were requested on NTRs in 2013.

Reports, opinions to MS and EFTA Surveillance authority


On request No reports/opinions on NTRS requested in 2013. Support was given to the Inter-Governmental Commission in ‘cleaning up’ of Channel Tunnel rules following the earlier Agency Technical Opinion.

31

5.4 Monitoring of Member States’ authori es gran ng vehicle authorisa ons (case studies)

The Agency reviewed the progress with the Vehicle Authorisa on Task Force’s ac on plan and held a workshop in February 2013 to discuss/disseminate the progress,

started to collect evidence of progress and problems, including case studies and surveys of Real Authori-sa on Cases and carried out the preparatory work

leading to its par cipa on as observer in real vehi-cle authorisa on projects. The objec ve is to look at both sides of the table (NSA/applicant), and iden fy ‘hidden’ problems which cause delays and addi on-al eff orts. The surveys were carried from September 2013 onwards and the fi ndings and conclusions from them are scheduled to be published in early 2014.

Ten organisa ons (Applicants, RUs and NSAs) have in-vited the Agency to par cipate in their authorisa ons as observer and have off ered up to 20 cases for ERA involvement. In 2014 the Agency expects to involve itself in approx. 16 of these.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedProgress reports against ac on plan for Vehicle Authorisa on Task Force (VATF)Workshops reviewing progress against ac on plan


VATF progress report to be agreed with EC, at least once per yearXA Report on progress in facilita on of vehicle authorisa ons

YesVehicle Authorisa on Workshop and progress review held with the Commission Feb 2013

Development (Elabora on) of addi onal informa on, requirements, processes required by DeBos and organisa ons other than NSA in conjunc on with the authorisa on of railway vehicles


Documenta on of addi onal informa on, processes required via consulta on of up to 10 DeBOs or NoBos

YesStudy on test requirements in addi on to TSIs commissioned. Report expected Spring 2014

Recommenda ons aimed at integra ng iden fi ed addi onal requirements into TSIs, NTRs or other recognised elements of the EU framework


Report how to deal with addi onal informa on required by DeBO’s or NoBos by December 2013

NoAwai ng results of the study above

Monitoring and follow-up of case studies of gran ng real vehicle authorisa ons, surveys and addi onal informa on for iden fying ‘blocking points’ in real implementa on raised by MS and sector which might require an harmonised EU approach


Par cipa on in up to 5 case studies in 2013 with up to 12 mee ngs each with applicants, DeBos, NoBos, NSAsPreference to be given to case studies with diff erent NSAs involved

NoPar cipa on delayed un l 2014. 20 cases suggested by stakeholders approx. 16 cases will be studied in 2014.

At least one addi onal study to facilitate vehicle authorisa on e.g. promo ng the possibility to use ERTMS Stand-alone by implemen ng strategies for trackside ETCS installa on which do not require dynamic transi ons by ERTMS


tbd NoNo ac on due to lack of resources

5.5 Development, promo on and dissemina on of a harmonised European framework for the authorisa on of railway vehicles

The Agency developed documents aiming to facilitate vehicle authorisa on and to clarify the European framework on the authorisa on of railway vehicles. It also provided as far as possible also respec ve support to the EC (EC taskforce, DV 29 follow-up, Future of the Agency, 4th Railway Package…) and to EU MS.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedClarifi ca on documents (e.g. DV29bis)


Oct 2013 YesDG MOVE was assisted in the prepara on of an update of Recommenda on 2011/217/EU and amendments of Annexes V and VI of Direc ve 2008/57/EC

32

Dissemina on of informa on on the applica on of Direc ve 2008/57/EC and the European legal framework in the scope of authorisa on of railway vehicles to MS, NSA and the railway sector (e.g. Dir. 2011/217/EU — Decision 2011/155/EU and others) via Geographic Interest Groups, seminars, workshops…


within overall dissemina on concept

Yes3 x DV29bis workshops held. YesDissemina on carried out at 30 GIGs during 2013

Iden fi ca on of common approach which require an EU answer and development of adequate proposals for EC and further documents


within overall dissemina on concept

YesPart of DV29bis ac vity above

5.6 Tasks from Commission report on vehicle authorisa onVarious tasks for the Agency were iden fi ed in the report. Due to the Agency’s budgetary and subsequent resource situa on in 2013, the Agency could only comply with a restricted extent with the expecta ons raised by EC and the sector.

The necessary steps and changes required the Agency to interact with railway authorisa ons projects (e.g. ONE-STOP-SHOP, maximise the use of common templates to reduce transla on costs, reducing the requirements for addi onal proof of compliances …).

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedA.1 Clarifi ca on documents (e.g. DV29bis)

As the VATF was led by the Commission and they specifi ed the ac ons there is no need for a legal basis other than the TF report itself

Covered by 5.5 YesCovered by 5.5

A.1 DV29bis dissemina on, seminars; distribu on to Sector and NSAs


Within overall dissemina on concept

Yes3 X workshops held in 2013 to review dra DV29bis. Final version of DV29bis to be published in 2014.

A.2 reinforced role in monitoring of Direc ve’s implementa on: annual report


Monitoring par ally covered by 5.4

Par allyPar ally covered by 5.4

33

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedA.6 dissemina on of EU master processes in bilateral mee ngs with NSAs

As the VATF was led by the commission and they specifi ed the ac ons there is no need for a legal basis other than the TF report itself

5 workshops in 2013 within overall dissemina on concept

YesApprox. 10 bi-lateral mee ngs held with NSAs.3x Workshops held in Lille, 2 outside of France.

A.6 Training and seminars on EU master process to sector and NSAs; addi onal publica on and dissemina on to the sector


3 workshops in 2013 within overall dissemina on concept

NoNo ac on due to lack of resources

B.1 Registers users in MS are trained and opera onal


Within overall dissemina on concept

YesAll users received a comprehensive documenta on for use and maintenance. NSAs have been trained on ERATV — 2 workshops were organised.

B.6 roadmap to One-Stop-shop ini a ve (facilita ng quasi-simultaneous authorisa ons in several Member States)


Oct 2013 Par allyOne Stop Shop Study launched October 2013.Final Report expected April 2014

B.7 reinforced coordina on of NoBos (tbd further)


Ongoing YesERA par cipated to NB Rail plenary, strategy and subgroups mee ngs.Ques on & clarifi ca ons requests from NB Rail answered by ERA.

C.1 comparison of rules in GIGs


Covered by 5.2 YesCovered by 5.2

C.3 clarifi ca on of the criteria for evalua on of MS rules


Classifi ca on covered by 5.3

YesClassifi ca on covered by 5.3

C.5 clarifi ca on of ERTMS criteria to avoid network compa bility tests


4Q2013 Yes

D.3 roadmap for the comparison of needs of compa bility tests with requirements in TSIs, iden fi ca on of compa bility tests going beyond TSI requirements, proposal how to deal with these cases


Oct 2013 YesStudy launched October 2013

D.4 technical opinions on complaints


On demand YesNone requested

D.5 5 templates with applica on guide including impact analysis to reduce transla on need; intended enforcement via EC/RISC/MS/NSAs


4Q2013 Par allyTemplates Working Group set up and running.One Master template in dra planned sign-off Feb 2014

34

Ac vity 6. ERTMS System AuthorityThe European Railway Traffi c Management System, ERTMS, is a major industrial project at the forefront of the EU agenda for an interoperable railway system and the progressive establishment of an open mar-ket in the sector. The ERTMS specifi ca ons are refer-enced in the Annex A of the TSI CCS; in addi on to the revision and extension of scope of the CCS TSI, the Regula on Art.21 (a) requests the Agency to carry out a number of specifi c tasks in coordina on with the Commission ensuring a coherent development of the ERTMS and contribu ng to the compliance of ERTMS equipment as with the specifi ca ons in force. The Op-era onal Rules specifi c for ETCS and for GSM-R are defi ned in the Annex A of the TSI OPE. The Agency has provided support to the TEN-T Execu ve Agency as regards projects for which an applica on for Com-munity fi nancial aid has been submi ed. On request by the Commission, the Agency has provided its tech-nical opinions on no fi ca on of ERTMS deployment plans and requests for deroga ons. The Agency fulfi ls the role of System Authority for the specifi ca ons of the system, GSM-R, ETCS and the related opera onal rules. The Agency provided technical support to the ERTMS Coordinator in its work and ini a ves.

6.1 Change Control Management and database of Change Requests

The Agency acted as system Authority for ERTMS. The Change Control Management process was applied to ensure that feedback and requests from the sector were analysed with proper Impact Assessment for the maintenance of exis ng Baselines and the devel-opment of future Baselines, the fi elds of communica- on and train control. The work included guidelines

for implemen ng ERTMS, improved test specifi ca- ons, standard interfaces where appropriate, closing

of open points, simplifi ca on of the specifi ca ons and improvements to their format (e.g. formal language).

Harmonised, interoperable specifi ca ons were main-tained and developed for the European Deployment of ERTMS, enabling interoperability and develop-ment of the market in the fi eld of communica on and train control systems. EU standards were recog-nised worldwide and helped the compe veness of EU railway manufacturing and service industry. The increased quality and performance supported the ac-ceptance of ERTMS, making the railway system more compe ve.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedPeriodic reports on the status of the of Baseline 3 (ETCS) and baseline 0 (GSM-R) CR in the database


Monthly YesDatabase updated

Guideline for GSM-R Agency Regula on Ar cle 21a

End 2013 Par allyNot fi nalised (interference work ongoing)

Update/crea on of documents for baseline 1 (GSM-R) for Annex ARecommenda on to EC


If necessary Not necessary

Recommenda ons to EC on modifi ca on of CCS TSI regarding ETCSUpdate/crea on of documents for Annex A


If needed Par allyWork ongoing- agreed target June 2014

Test specifi ca ons for SRS 3.3.0


July 2013 NoDelayed to June 2014

workshops crea ng jointly with EC and Sector a common solu on for reducing GSM-R interferences to a minimum


End 2013 YesWorkshop held on 11 Nov 2013

6.2 Support to the Commission as per Ar cle 21(a)

In the area of ERTMS, the Agency provided support to the European Commission by:

• assessing the migra on mechanisms for the early implementers of ETCS in consequence

of Decision 2008 on the adop on of 2.3.0d for ETCS;

• developing the system version management strategy separately for ETCS and GSM-R;

• suppor ng the EC in the development of the EU deployment plan for ERTMS and coordina ng the installa ons along Corridors;

35

• organising ac vi es contribu ng to the Steering Commi ee and to the Corridor Group set up by the European Coordinator for ERTMS;

• providing support to other Units in the fi eld of ERTMS;

• helping the EC and the TEN-T EA in the dissem-ina on of the principles of the harmonised approach to all par es involved in the ERTMS

deployment, in par cular to IM, RU, manufac-turers and laboratories;

• Verify compliance with CCS TSI in TEN-T funded projects in collabora on with Commission, TEN-T EA, and external technical experts; provide infor-ma on, guidance and feedback to those actors to help ensure correct and full implementa on of the CCS TSI on such projects.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTechnical support to the ERTMS coordinator


On demand YesSupport and a endance to Steering Commi ee of the MoU

A ending and suppor ng with exper se the EC Corridor mee ngs


On demand YesSupport and a endance to EC Corridors mee ngs

Wri en feedback to TEN-T in regard to correct implementa on of ERTMS


On demand YesFormal follow up of 23 projects; reports delivered

Report to Commission on compliance of ERTMS projects


On demand Yes2 workshops with EC and TEN-T EA

Informa on, guidance, feedback to TEN-T and Cohesion funds project applicants regarding correct and full implementa on of CCS TSI


On demand and in func on of the available resources

Formalised exchange of informa on

6.3 Verifi ca on and authorisa on — evalua on survey

The Agency regularly surveyed with the ad hoc group of No fi ed Bodies any diffi culty or problema c situa on which could arise in the process of cer fi ca on and verifi ca on for ERTMS ICs and subsystems, with the aim to off er guidance and allow harmonised approaches. The Agency addressed those issues also with the NSA in the ERTMS Focus Group, with the aim to iden fy at an early stage possible diffi cul es and allow open discussion and

resolu on among NSAs. The fi ndings and the results of the ac vi es were regularly reported in the ERTMS Report on cer fi ca on and authorisa on Guidelines/Checklists to be elaborated

The above eventually had an impact on promo ng the understanding that also the CCS subsystems were like any other subsystem, and the principles of the Direc ves for cer fi ca on, verifi ca on and authorisa ons applied. It also helped the NoBos and NSA to reach common understanding facilita ng their dialogue and providing technical and process exper se.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedUpdate of report to the EC on ERTMS verifi ca on and authorisa on processesRecommenda ons to EC if needed


End 2013 YesIncluded in the DV29bis ac vity

Reports to EC on network/vehicle incompa bility risk


As necessary YesPart of the TEN-T project follow up

Chairing the NBRail ERTMS ad hoc working group


Ongoing Yes

Report and guidance for cer fi ca on and placing into service of ERTMS equipment


End 2013 YesIncluded in DV29bis ac vity and Corridor A support

Support to DG MOVE, mee ngs with EA and na onal accredita on bodies; analysis and facilita on of the accredita on process of the ERTMS test labs


As necessary Yes

Providing training for authori es and railways


On demand Yes13 workshops1 ERTMS Conference

36

6.4 Support to ERTMS development, implementa on and placing in serviceThe Agency started a survey and collec on of re-quests and experiences for simplifi ca on of ERTMS (with the support of the sector and the involvement of the ERTMS MoU Steering Commi ee) and pro-duced proposals for harmonised guidance where appropriate. A fi rst dra of harmonised engineering guidelines for ETCS had already been released. The Agency played a central role in coordina ng all the diverse ini a ves aimed at the defi ni on of the evo-

lu on of GSM-R; with a clear remit to make ETCS data transmission bearer-independent.

Simplifi ca on of ERTMS decreased the costs and helped to make the system more acceptable, usable and operable. It also supported the EC strategy for the ERTMS Corridors. To have the ERTMS transmission bearer independent made the system applicable everywhere without losing interoperability. It increased the fl exibility and made it future proof.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedHarmonised Guidance for ERTMS (e. g. engineer-ing guidelines)


2Q 2013 YesAddi onal guidelines published

Remit for a WG to support that ETCS data transmission will be bearer independentReport from the WG


1Q 2013End 2013

NoNot needed: an equivalent ac vity funded by TEN-T is ongoing at the ERTMS Users Group

6.5 Requirements for the railway communica on system

The Agency took the lead and coordinated the many ini a ves aimed at defi ning the future of GSM-R.

The Agency organised the discussion on the me plan for the reframing to new technology while preserving the func onal interoperability requirements, generated a Railway communica on roadmap where

the migra on from GSM-R was correctly analysed, and defi ned the basics and guidelines of the future railway telecommunica on system to ensure that railway specifi c func ons were correctly defi ned and implemented at the applica on level.

Management of the obsolescence of GSM-R was possible in parallel with the migra on to the new system while gaining the cost eff ec veness of standard technologies and maintaining the effi ciency of defi ning railway specifi c applica on requirements.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedWG report on— defi ni on of the basic requirements for the new railway communica on system— roadmap for the migra on to the new railway communica on system


End 2013 YesStudy and ques onnaire fi nalisedDra roadmap distributed

37

Survey and defi ni on of the high level requirements for the communica on system; technology independence; long term migra on to cope with GSM-R obsolescence


End 2013 YesPreparatory work fi nished

6.6 Improved opera on with ERTMS

A major achievement is the transfer of rules, ini ally developed for ERTMS only opera ons, to the Annex B of the TSI OPE. This demonstrates the sound principles used in the development of ERTMS rules, and the value of technical harmonisa on as a trigger for the opera onal harmonisa on.

The systema c collec on of feedback from the growing installed base of ERTMS in Europe is a key element to ensure the system authority approach.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedRules for calcula ng the ERTMS train data


End 2013 YesOverarching rules developed for ERTMS generalised into Annex B of TSI OPE

Report on return of experience from railways opera ng ERTMS in commercial service


As necessary YesTemplate and database for opera onal feedback created and collec on started

38

Ac vity 7. Technical Specifi ca onsAccording to the Direc ve 2008/57/EC of the Euro-pean Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community, ‘Technical specifi ca on for interoperabil-ity’ (TSI) means a specifi ca on adopted in accordance with this Direc ve by which each subsystem or part of subsystem is covered in order to meet the essen al requirements and ensure the interoperability of the rail system. The Agency has been mandated to revise the TSIs with an aim at closing open points, merging (where appropriate) the HS and CR TSIs, and extend-ing their scope to the en re European Community rail network. Closing open points are also to include spec-ifying the relevant parameters for the 1 520 mm rail system, as far as possible. As emphasised by the ‘new approach’ to standardisa on, harmonised stand-ards provide a presump on of conformity with the essen al requirements set out in Annex III of Direc- ve 2008/57/EC. In some cases, the TSIs also refer to

(parts of) standards which then become mandatory. It is therefore of utmost importance for the Agency to ensure a close coordina on with the Standardisa on bodies (CEN, Cenelec, ETSI) and the No fi ed Bodies (NoBos) who verify the compliance to the TSI require-ments of sub-systems and the conformity (to the re-quirements of TSIs) of Interoperability Cons tuents. It is expected that the revised TSIs will contribute to the simplifi ca on of the legal framework in the fi eld of railway technology, related to design, construc on, placing in service, renewal and upgrading. The re-vised TSIs should be easier for applica on and should contribute further to the development of the Com-

munity’s rail system, opening the rail market and en-hancing compe veness of rail transport compared with the other means of transport.

7.1 TSIs revision and development

The major tasks of the Agency included:

• Revising the exis ng TSIs aiming at achieving Interoperability within the railway systems in Europe;

• Assis ng the Commission in the legisla on pro-cess for adop ng the TSI dra s, submi ed in 2012, answering the ques ons from the MSs and the Commission related to the dra TSIs;

• Answering the ques ons related to implemen-ta on of the TSIs in force, received from DG MOVE, MSs, NSAs and stakeholders, preparing the Technical Opinions, upda ng the references to the standards, correc on of the errors and closing open points through amendments to the TSI by the “omnibus procedure”, assis ng the Commission in prepara on of the decisions within the “omnibus procedure”;

• Clarifi ca ons, closing of open points and cor-rected errors were the indispensable quality elements for the TSIs implementa on, leading to the required eased and smoothened applica- on that reduces me and costs.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTSI CCS — Closure of the open pointsScope extension

Agency Regula on Ar cle 12, Direc ve 2008/57/EC Ar cle 6, 8

4Q2013 YesPresenta on of dra recommenda on for amendment of CCS TSI in June 2013 RISC mee ng. A er comple on of consulta ons, recommenda on issued to EC in December:— Proposal for scope extension based on the results of economic evalua on.— Solu on for some open points related to compa bility of train detec on.Work has been started with experts and NSAs of countries with wide track gauge rail to include their parameters related to train detec on systems in the CCS TSI.

TSI ENE — Closure of open points — Merging HS and CR TSIs — Extension of scope — fi nal amendments before vote


2Q2013 — original me plan was

modifi ed due to the shi of vote from October 2013 to January 2014

YesThe TSI dra , sent to the Commission in December 2012, was completed with the specifi c cases submi ed by the MSs. Number of ques ons, comments and requests for change from the MSs have been analysed and answered, the fi nal dra was eventually voted in January 2014

TSI INF — Closure of open points — Merging HS and CR TSIs — Extension of scope — fi nal amendments before vote


2Q2013 — original me plan was

modifi ed due to the shi of vote from October 2013 to January 2014

YesThe TSI dra , sent to the Commission in December 2012, was completed with the specifi c cases submi ed by the MSs. Number of ques ons, comments and requests for change from the MSs have been analysed and answered, the fi nal dra was eventually voted in January 2014

39

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTSI Noise — extension of scope, merging HS and CR, revision of noise levels: preliminary dra /fi nal dra recommenda on


February-August 2013

YesA recommenda on was addressed to the Commission in September 2013.

TSI OPE — Recommenda on submi ed


End 2013 YesThe recommenda on and TSI dra together with the accompanying report and the applica on guide sent to the Commission in December 2013.

TSI PRM — Extension of scope — Closure of open points — Implementa on plan: fi nal dra recommenda on


2Q2013 and 4Q2013

YesA recommenda on was addressed to the Commission in May 2013 and was voted in January 2014.

TSI RST — Closure of open points — Extension of scope — fi nal amendments before vote


2Q2013 YesFollowing its recommenda on from December 2012, ERA assisted DG-Move to prepare the regula on, which received a posi ve vote in the RISC of October 2103.

TSI SRT — Closure of the open points, scope extension


2Q2013 YesFollowing its recommenda on from December 2012, ERA assisted DG-Move to prepare the regula on, which received a posi ve vote in the RISC of October 2103.

TSI TAF — Extension of scope — fi nal amendments before vote


2Q2013 YesRecommenda on for the revision of TAF TSI sent to the Commission in December 2013 (with specifi c provisions for Bal c States)Recommenda on for the Change Control baselines of TAF and TAP TSIs sent to the Commission in December 2013

TSI TAP — Closure of open points — Extension of scope — fi nal amendments before vote


1Q2013 YesThe fi nal version of the TAP TSI a er the incorpora on of the results of the TAP TSI phase 1 was voted by the RISC-commi ee in June 2013.For the closing of open point 4.2.22, ERA has fi nalised in 2013 the study about the exchange of fare informa on’s with other modes of transport. For the closing of the open points 4.2.10 and 4.2.11.2, the CEN-standard TS 16406/2013 — based on a Request for Standardisa on by ERA — was published by CEN.

Composite Brake Blocks recommenda on for amending the WAG TSI


Mid 2013 NoFollowing an extension of the deadline, the dra ing of the recommenda on is planned to be completed in 1Q2014

Upda ng the Applica on Guide to the new TSIs


End 2013 YesThe general part of the Applica on Guide has been kept up to date.Upda ng the Applica on Guide has been well advanced. Due to great number of comments and requests for change of the TSI dra s and postponing of the vote of TSI ENE, INF, LOC&PAS and SRT, fi nal update will be completed in 2014

40

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedEMC for train detec on Agency

Regula on Ar cle 12, Direc ve 2008/57/EC Ar cle 6, 8

Ongoing YesContacts established with research projects (EUREMCO) for a coordinated approach to EMC issues related to compa bility of track circuits.Results of a measurement campaign to validate and extend the compa bility requirements for axle counters are delayed and will be available in 2Q2014

7.2 Collabora on with No fi ed Bodies (NoBos)

The Agency coordinated its TSIs related ac vi es with the no fi ed bodies (NoBos). In par cular, the Agen-cy assisted the Commission by ac ng as technical

secretariat of NB-Rail (Network of No fi ed Bodies). The Agency was also represented in the various sub-groups of NB-Rail.

The Agency ensured a proper coordina on among the no fi ed bodies and keeps a con nuous feedback on the implementa on of the TSIs.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedAssis ng the NB-Rail in prepara on and convening the mee ngs

Agency Regula on Ar cle 12, 13

Ongoing YesERA assisted NB Rail in three plenary and three strategy mee ngs.ERA assisted NB Rail in migra on to the new document management pla orm (CIRCABC)

7.3 Collabora on with European Standardisa on Organisa ons

In order to support the development of the TSIs and ensure their effi cient implementa on, the Agency co-ordinated its TSIs related ac vi es with the European standardisa on organisa ons (ESOs). The Agency is-sued a number of requests for standards when this

was needed for the TSIs. The Agency was represented in the two Technical Commi ees for rail (TC256 and TC9X) that coordinated the development of the ENs related to rail.

The TSI revision by the Agency has been done in con-sistency with the EN standards; the list of ENs refer-enced in the TSIs is up to date. Relevant requests for standards were issued by the Agency.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedEnsuring consistency of the TSIs with standards, issuing requests for standards


Ongoing YesCoordina on of the TSI revision process and dra ing of European Standards has been ensured, so that references to standards in the TSI are up to date.

41

7.4 Telema cs Applica ons System Authority

The Agency helped the railway sector fi nalising the specifi ca ons, with a dual purpose:

• Introducing a change control management sim-ilar to the successful one applying to ERTMS, using the same tools;

• Ensuring full compliance of technical develop-ments with the TSIs, or preparing TSI updates whenever these prove to be absolutely neces-sary for a successful implementa on.

In addi on, the Agency is to monitor the actual de-ployment of the Telema cs TSIs and report about iden fi ed obstacles.

The expected impact was, reaping the full benefi ts of those TSIs that have direct eff ect on customers. Also, the Agency was in the best posi on to ensure that small and medium sized companies are equal-ly able to use harmonised telema cs applica ons. Past experience with the even more complex ERTMS specifi ca on seemed to off er a guarantee that the specifi ca ons were managed effi ciently, reducing ad-ministra ve burdens to a minimum.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedUpdated and published TAF and TAP TSI master plans

Commission Regula on (EC) 62/2006 Ar cle 4b

Ongoing YesBoth masterplans received from the European Rail Sector and are published at the public ERA website

Par cipa on in TAF/TAP implementa on governance (TAF SteCo, TAP SteCo and TAP governance en ty)


Ongoing YesERA has followed up closely and contributed to the work of these Steering Commi ees. TAP governance en ty set-up is s ll in progress

New TAP baseline version


3Q2013 YesRecommenda on for the Change Control baselines of TAF and TAP TSIs sent to the Commission in December 2013

One merged ERA TAP TD B.30 and TAF data catalogue


3Q2013 YesThis was achieved for above baselines and was sent to the Commission in December 2013

Monitoring reports about implementa on of TAF system (against master plan)


Ongoing YesIt has been done on a permanent basis within the works for above TAF Steering Commi ee and TAP Steering Commi ee

Monitoring reports about the development of TAP system (against master plan)


Ongoing YesIt has been done on a permanent basis within the works for above TAF Steering Commi ee and TAP Steering Commi ee

Promo on of Telema cs Applica on in a mul modal context


Ongoing YesFor the closing of open point 4.2.22 of TAP TSI ERA has fi nalised in 2013 the study about the exchange of fare informa on’s with other modes of transport.

Establishment of a ‘Railway IT Architecture Board’ including registers


Ongoing Yes

42

Ac vity 8. Railway Staff Railway staff is one of the key elements for eff ec ve interoperability. Vehicles authorised in all EU-MS s ll need competent staff to operate them in cross-border traffi c. ERA shall support the opening of the market by looking into the various requirements for recogni- on between the MS. The recogni on of the various

competencies shall also support the free movement of workers, another policy area of the European Un-ion.

8.1 Cer fi ca on of Train Drivers

The Agency developed the single drivers’ license mod-el, according to the Direc ve on the cer fi ca on of train drivers opera ng locomo ves and trains on the railway system in the Community. The Agency accom-panies the process of step-by-step implementa on in the Member State and coordinates the exchange on

fi rst experiences and best prac ce between them. In 2013 a fi rst in-depth evalua on of the provisions of the Train Drivers Direc ve itself as well as of the four non-legisla ve acts that where adopted in context of the train driver cer fi ca on scheme, was carried out. By end of 2013 the Agency delivered a report to the Commission with some 25 proposals for improve-ment of current provisions. These proposals were based on the feedback of a ques onnaire survey and

on discussions in workshops, working groups or with the social partners in context of the Sectoral Europe-an Social Dialogue Commi ee for railways. It will be for the coming years to develop with the sector the appropriate amendments aiming to realise the envis-aged improvements. The Agency was also in charge of developing the assessment schemes to be used for accredita on of training centres and examiners of train drivers. This task will con nue in 2014.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedReport on the evalua on of the development of the cer fi ca on of train drivers in accordance with the TDD


October 2013 YesDelivered in 4Q2013 to the Commission

Dra assessment scheme for the accredita on of training centres and examiners


End 2013 Par allyWork in progress 2013

Pilot applica on of IT-system to facilitate the exchange of data between NLRs and CCRs It was decided to choose the IMI informa on system of DG Internal Market. The required implemen ng act was developed to be adopted by the competent commi ee end of November 2013. The pilot implementa on will be prepared and tested in 2014.

EC Decision 2010/17/EC Art 3

End 2013 Par allyWork in progress, coopera on with DG Internal Market and sector. Pilot tes ng will start in 2014

43

8.2 Other on-board staff

Following the mandate of the Commission, the Agency developed, with support of a dedicated working party, recommenda ons to amend TSI OPE. The dra ing was fi nished at the beginning of 2014. A er social-partner consulta on (three months), recommenda on and accompanying report should be submi ed by mid-2014 to the Commission. Once the recommended amendments will be approved and implemented, the competence and health requirements specifi ed in part 4.6 and 4.7 of TSI OPE as well as in related annexes will be applicable to all ‘other train crew members’ ( = train crew members not driving the train). Applica on now is limited to staff opera ng train in cross-border services.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCommon approach on competence and fi tness requirements for other train crew members in safety cri cal tasks within TSI OPE. The Commission Report in addi on mandates the Agency to develop a ‘training a esta on’ scheme for this staff group.


End 2013 Par allyERA Working Party has been set up in 3Q2013and three mee ngs have been held. Delivery of report rescheduled for mid-2014.

8.3 Professional competences and health and safety

The Agency made an analysis of requirements of health and safety in exis ng TSIs. The next step was to develop common approach process and to apply this approach in the revision of all TSIs, while achieving a common set of requirements in all the TSIs and harmonised requirements in chapters 4.6 and 4.7 of TSIs. These tasks were given low priority and postponed to 2014 due to lack of resources.

44

Ac vity 9. Shared Databases and RegistersIn order to ensure the greatest possible transparency and equal access for all par es to relevant informa- on, the public documents envisaged for the inter-

operability process and for ma ers related to safety should be accessible to the users and to the public. The Agency is required to provide an effi cient means of exchanging this informa on by developing and maintaining several databases and registers. To de-velop and maintain transparency of informa on the Agency will con nue to develop the legisla on and specifi ca ons on registers, put in place and maintain the databases and registers, agree with the relevant par es on the data transmission and validate the data.

9.1 ERADIS (ERA Database of Interoperability and Safety)

The Agency maintained the computerised system, through which all the important informa on are made

available for any interested party, either through di-rect access to the data stored in ERA, or via common interface to the local (na onal) data bases. The sys-tem also included EU templates aiming to harmonise the format of some documents.

All the data submi ed by the relevant organisa ons and bodies was available. This contributed to the opening of the railway transport and railway related products and services, increasing the compe ve-ness of the railway transport towards other modes of transport.

In 2013, the fi rst version of ERADIS module to regis-ter accredited Independent Safety Assessment Bod-ies has been developed based on the proposed dra Regula on (EU) 402/2013, some substan al chang-es to the fi nal version of the Regula on resulted in updates to the originally developed module. For this reason, the new module will be put in opera on in 2014.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedECM cer fi cates registered Commission Regula on (EU)

445/2011 Ar cle 10, Agency Regula on Ar cle 19

Ongoing Yes32 cer fi ca on bodies, 350 cer fi cates of ECMs and maintenance workshops registered.

Registered licenses Direc ve 95/18/EC, as amended by Direc ve 2001/13/EC, Agency Regula on Ar cle 19

Ongoing Yes1878 licences registered

Registered safety cer fi cates


Ongoing Yes2748 safety cer fi cates registered

Data base being func onal and accessible with updated informa on

Commission Regula on (EU) 445/2011 Ar cle 10, Direc ve 2004/49/EC Ar cle 10, Direc ve 95/18/EC, as amended by Direc ve 2001/13/EC, Agency Regula on Ar cle 19

Ongoing YesDatabase was func onal and accessible with the registered informa on.

Registered ISA data Commission Implemen ng Regula on (EU) No 402/2013 Ar cle 13, Agency Regula on Ar cle 19

Ongoing NoNot being registered yet; new module for Assessment Bodies is scheduled to be opera onal in 2014

ERADIS module to register accredited Independent Safety Assessment Bodies (CSM RA)

Commission Implemen ng Regula on (EU) No 402/2013 Ar cle 13, Agency Regula on Ar cle 19

Ongoing NoOpera on will start in 2014

9.2 Reference Document Database

The Agency specifi ed, implemented and put in place a single European database based upon a single Euro-pean list of parameters.

Without a database the savings from 5.1 and 5.2 (es- mated EUR 250 million) per year could not be re-

alised. A central database is therefore an essen al pre-requisite.

45

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedMaintenance of RDD, upda ng and improvements of func onali es. Management and maintenance of database


Ongoing Yes2 new versions installed in 2013, facilita ng access to informa on on rules New element added to cover processes for Na onal Legal Frameworks based on template fl ow chart

Checking of data consistencies, support to NSA, public and sector, special reports on demand, management and maintenance of data

Commission Decision 2011/155/EU Ar cle 1, 3, 4

Ongoing Par allyOngoing

9.3 Database of Na onal Safety and Na onal Technical Rules

Databases and NOTIF-IT are essen al pre-requisites for performing the projects 3.6 and 5.4.

As the Commission’s own resources to implement and to manage these databases are limited, the Agen-cy assisted the Commission in the se ng up, opera- on, administra on and management of the databas-

es, in the maintenance and the improvement of the NOTIF-IT tool and provided assistance to the users.

Early review of dra na onal rules is considered as a key development to improve the transparency and to prevent the adop on of rules by MS that are not in line with the EU legisla ve framework. To this end the Agency con nued its assistance to the Commission for the development of a new module of NOTIF-IT al-lowing the no fi ca on of dra rules, at an early stage. Tests started in November 2013 with the view of de-livering the module for use by the end of March 2014. In 2014, the Agency will start using an upgrade of No- f-IT which will facilitate rules reduc on and monitor-

ing, and will make prepara ons for the transfer of the database from the Commission to Agency in 2015.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedAssistance to EC for maintaining and improving NOTIF-IT for na onal rules Support to the development of the workfl ow on no fi ca on of dra rules.


Ongoing Par allyNew No f-IT module for dra rules under test phase. Opera on foreseen by the EC in March 2014. Assistance provided to EC. NOTIF-IT RDD link established for NTR, expected to go live February 2014

46

Support to EC, administra on of NOTIF-IT, improvement and further development of NOTIF-IT, feedback to EC services regarding user needs.


Ongoing Par allyOngoing

9.4 Registers for Interoperability

The Agency developed and maintained the RINF (reg-ister of infrastructure), ERATV (European register of authorised type of vehicles) and NVR (na onal vehi-cle register)/ECVVR (European central virtual vehicle register) in order to solve the described issue. The

possibility of interfacing the various registers to each other was also analysed.

The Agency developed and maintained RINF, ERATV and ECVVR for proper usability by the Sector, main-tained the specifi ca on for the NVRs and coordinated their development in the diff erent Member States.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedERATV Register being func onal and accessible with updated informa on

Direc ve 2008/57/EC Ar cle 34, Agency Regula on Ar cle 18, 19

Ongoing YesERATV has been hosted by ERA according to the specifi ca ons.Data submi ed by NSAs has been published.

ECVVR register being func onal and accessible with updated informa on


Ongoing YesVVR has been hosted by ERA according to the specifi ca ons.The following MS connected their NVRs in 2013: PL, IT, LT, SK, EE and NO, plus OTIF Contrac ng States RS and CH. This adds to MS that connected their NVR in 2012 (DK, PT, FR, LU, RO, NL, AT, CZ, SI and BE).

Coordina on and monitoring the implementa on of RINF by MSs, reports to the EC


Ongoing YesRecommenda on for amendment of the RINF decision has been sent to the Commission.Network of na onal en es in charge of the RINF has been set up.

Guidance on the status of registers under the ID and kind of source for authorisa on informa on


YesApplica on Guides for ERATV and ECVVR have been kept up to date.

Guidance on use of registers in prac ce (e. g. comparison of data in diff erent registers)


tbd YesApplica on Guides for ERATV and ECVVR have been kept up to date. The ERATV Guide includes an annex describing the rela onship between ERATV and RINF data.

Report on fulfi lment of sector needs by opera onal databases and poten al interac on of registers


tbd YesStudy on consistency of registers has been submi ed to the Commission.As result of the study a new WP for ra onalisa on of vehicle related registers has been set up.

Defi ned structure, detail level of informa on required, func onal specifi ca on for an accessibility register related to TSI PRM


Q42013 YesThe ini al plan was to submit the recommenda on in- me for incorpora on into the revised PRM TSI. Due to the requirement of MSs for an evalua on of the best way to ensure the availability of accessibility informa on (try to avoid se ng an addi onal register), ERA had to postpone this task. The WP is ac ve and the new deadline is end-2015.

9.5 Safety performance and accident data

The ERAIL system has been upgraded in 2013 with the improvements to all parts: inves ga on, CSIs and user management and with correc ons to the fi rst part of bugs and issues reported by the users.

47

The informa on on inves ga ons submi ed by NIBs was processed and validated by the Agency and made publicly available through the ERADIS/ERAIL data-base. This valida on process included verifi ca on of accuracy and correctness of informa on, adminis-tra on of transla ons of reports and communica on with the inves ga on bodies. The work was con n-uously ongoing. The data on CSIs was submi ed an-nually by NSAs and the Agency performed checks of

data quality and validated the submi ed informa on before the data was made publicly available through the ERADIS/ERAIL database.

By doing this, the Agency added to the transparen-cy and equal access for all interested par es and the public to the safety performance related data: inves- ga on reports and CSIs, and to the analysis of safety

performance in the EU countries.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedDevelopment and management of ERAIL database


Ongoing YesSafety-Informa on System integrated and tested (ongoing) Upgraded system put in opera on in July 2013

Ongoing management of the system


Ongoing YesImproved use and access to informa on published by the AgencyDatabase up to date.

48

Ac vity 10. Monitoring InteroperabilityThe Agency produces report on progress with inter-operability every two years which provides the basis for the analysis of the trends of implementa on of interoperability across the European Union. The legal basis for this report is provided by Ar cle 14(2) of the Agency Regula on. Without prejudice to the respon-sibility of Member States, the Agency may also, at the request of the Commission, monitor the quality or coordinate the work of No fi ed Bodies. For the me being, the availability of interoperability related data in the Agency is rather limited because databases and registers are s ll being defi ned or populated. There-fore, the Agency collects data from other sources, the primary source being the ques onnaires distributed to the na onal safety authori es. Any reports and opinions requested by the Commission have an im-pact on the workload of the Agency. This impact is diffi cult to evaluate as the Agency is not aware about the number of requests that may come from the Commission.

10.1 Biennial report on interoperability

The report iden fi ed the problems with implementa- on of the railway legisla on, summarised the legal

and ins tu onal framework established to enhance technical and opera onal compa bility between rail networks, explained the indicators used to evaluate the railway interoperability progress, and looked into eff ects of Technical Specifi ca ons for Interoperability (TSIs) on railway market.

The report was published on the Agency website and as a printed document. The fi ndings were made avail-able to any person or en ty interested in them, and contributed to be er understanding the problems re-lated to implementa on of the interoperability prin-ciples and relevant legisla on. The report helped to iden fy and understand the shortcomings of imple-menta on of interoperability, thus contribu ng to the further improvements.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedReport published Agency Regula on

Ar cle 14End 2013 Yes

The dra biennial Report on Progress of Interoperability is complete.

10.2 Evalua on of railway projects and of requests for TSI deroga ons

At the request of the Commission, the Agency should have analysed projects (in general co-fi nanced by the EU), and in par cular, checked if projects were in line with the interoperability principles and the TSIs. No

such request has been received in 2013. At the re-quest of the Commission, the Agency evaluated the request for deroga on from the provisions of the TSIs, submi ed by the Member State. Advices were issued by the Agency on the compliance with the cor-responding clause of the Direc ve (Ar cle 21b) of the case described in the request for deroga on and on the consequences of gran ng such deroga on.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedOpinion sent to the Commission


On request Yes1 opinion submi ed.

Advices sent to the Commission

Agency Regula on Ar cle 21b.2(b)

On request Yes5 advices submi ed.

10.3 No fi ed Bodies — No fi ca ons and effi ciency

The Agency may, at the request of the Commission, monitor the quality of the work of the no fi ed bod-ies and consider if they met the criteria referred to in Annex VIII of the Interoperability Direc ve. In case of

new no fi ca on of a no fi ed body, the Agency was also consulted by the Commission before approval.

Improper work of the NoBo was iden fi ed, the way of improvement was indicated, thus contribu ng to the be er func oning of the NoBos, and to the smooth process of verifi ca on and placing in service.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedMonitoring quality of work of NoBos, issuing the opinion to the Commission


On request YesNo requests have been received

49

50

Ac vity 11. Economic Evalua on of Agency productsconomic evalua on of Agency products/ac vi es provides the possibility to iden fy their main im-pacts in terms of costs and benefi ts. The Agency has conducted ex-ante impact assessment of its own recommenda ons since it started opera ons. Two signifi cant developments regarding the range of eco-nomic evalua on ac vi es have been introduced dur-ing 2012 and 2013: 1) start on ex-post assessments; 2) specifi ca on and implementa on of so-called early assessment process. The former concerns the assessment of measures already in place based on actual experiences and outcomes. In this way ex-post work contributes to an improved understanding of a given problem which may inform upcoming ex-ante assessments. It is expected that ex-post work will ob-tain increased importance in the coming years from 2014 onwards. The purpose of the la er is to enable early diagnosis of the possible added value of Agency works, to clarify the remit of Working Par es and, ul- mately, to document the impact assessment of each

recommenda on in a clear, concise and standard way.

During 2013, with respect to impact assessment, the Agency iden fi ed, in consulta on with the diff erent stakeholders, how and where the main focus should be for the future. In par cular, this will involve a closer alignment with the four strategic priori es. Further-more, economic evalua on ac vi es will take a bird’s eye perspec ve in order to facilitate a more strategic orienta on of the Agency. Emphasis will be placed on: a) outcome KPI monitoring and ex-post for each stra-tegic priority; b) systema c early assessment for each output KPI in the Work Programme; c) limited num-ber of strategic ex-ante assessments. In addi on, a number of horizontal tasks have also been iden fi ed including: 4RWP analyses, system data management, priori sa on scheme and assessment toolbox.

Overall, it should be noted that a key aim of the agreed re-orienta on of Economic Evalua on is to achieve a be er alignment with stakeholders and their concerns.

11.1 Developing and upda ng of the methodology

Signifi cant work on upda ng/developing the overall approach and methodology for economic evalua on was undertaken during 2013. In par cular, this work involved review of experience and insight obtained to date along with consulta on with stakeholders. This permi ed a strategic reorienta on of economic evalua on work to be adopted by the end of the year. As outlined above this reorienta on involves a clos-er alignment of economic evalua on ac vi es to the four strategic priori es with emphasis on the extent to which progress on these are being achieved (out-come KPI monitoring and ex-post), early assessment of proposed Agency products and strategic ex-ante impact assessments outcome KPI monitoring,

A detailed review was undertaken of the general methodology guidance document. This review con-fi rmed that the document should be kept short fo-cusing on key principles. The dra updated general methodology guidance document was prepared by May 2013. Following the adopted reorienta on of the economic evalua on ac vi es it was decided that more added-value would be achieved by subs tu ng the current guidance document with a Terms of Ref-erence for the economic evalua on ac vi es. Essen- ally, the ToR would be based on the dra updated

guidance document detailing the purpose of eco-nomic evalua on ac vi es at the Agency, key areas of work, main principles and deliverables. Overall, eco-nomic evalua on work is based on the Commission’s Impact Assessment Guidelines. In those cases where these guidelines do not cover aspects of Agency anal-yses specifi c methodology notes will be prepared in order to document the Agency approach. The ToR will be ready for external stakeholders by June 2014.

Building on earlier work on standardised economic impact assessment models a model generator was developed, simplifying the construc on of sophis -cated Excel-based model. This model generator was tested in two cases (CCS and PRM). Whilst results were obtained, further work on simplifi ca on of the model generator is required before this would be-come a workable solu on to IA problems/projects. The results were made available to stakeholders.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedOutline and framework for strategic reorienta on of economic evalua on focus and ac vi es

Direc ve 2008/57/EC Ar cle 6, 8, 31, Agency Regula on Ar cle 6, 16b, 21a

End 2013 YesStrategic re-orienta on of economic evalua on focus and ac vi es adopted by ERA management by the end of 2013.

New annex to the general methodology guidance


June 2013 YesDra updated methodology guidance document prepared. This will form the basis for ToR of EcoEv ac vi es to be established by June 2014

Impact assessment model generator


July 2013 YesModel generator was established as scheduled and results provided to stakeholders

51

11.2 Defi ning needs and outcomes

Building on the experiences with the Early Assess-ment template and current principles for resource priori sa on an ini al dra proposal for a priori sa- on framework was developed in 2013. As such this

framework is of signifi cant importance for how the

Agency manages its ac vi es. It was concluded that further refi nement would be useful in order to ensure a robust and well-tested framework. This further de-velopment and tes ng is scheduled to be carried out in 2014. The applica on of the priori sa on frame-work forms an integral part of the iden fi ed strategic reorienta on.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedPriori sed Agency’s task list


June 2013 Par allyIni al dra priori sa- on framework specifi ed by September 2013. It was concluded that refi nement and tes ng would be very useful. Given staff constraints this was scheduled for 2014.

Priori sa on of open points


According to TSI planning

YesEcoEv contributed to the selec on of the open points to be addressed for the diff erent TSIs as required. It should be noted that an overall list of open points for all TSIs does not exist but can be assembled as each TSI now has a dedicated annex with the open points along with addi onal informa on.

11.3 Ex ante evalua ons

Most impact assessments completed in 2013 focused on the scope extension of the TSIs and the closing of Open Points. This assessment work had started simultaneously with the development of recommen-da ons, and came to a simultaneous conclusion. In par cular, impact assessments on OPE, LOC & PAS, NOISE, SRT, PRM, CCS, ENE and TAF TSIs as well as ETCS related aspects (Odometry & DMI) were com-pleted during 2013. In simple cases with low risks, the standardised ‘early assessment’ report were the min-imum provided.

The impact assessments contributed to the decision if and under which condi ons the scope of a TSI for a specifi c subsystem could possibly be extended to the whole European railway network. In addi on the most economic viable solu on for the European Railway sector was iden fi ed when closing an Open Point.

As part of the reorienta on of Economic Evalua on ac vi es ex-ante impact assessments will focus on the key strategic decisions within the four priority ar-eas of the Agency.

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Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedEx-ante impact assessment of all recommenda ons of 2013


According to recommenda on planning

Yes

11.4 Ex post evalua ons

In 2013, the main ex-post ac vity was undertaken at a strategic level rather than being focused on any specifi c recommenda on. In par cular, it involved a review of the overall approach and focus of Economic Evalua on ac vi es. This review included consulta-

on with external stakeholders. It formed the basis for the

strategic reorienta on of the Economic Evalua on ac- vi es agreed at the end of the year. As part of this

reorienta on stronger emphasis will be put on ex-post evalua ons at the strategic level in future.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedEx-post impact assessment of 1 past recommenda on


End 2013 YesThe output delivered was redefi ned in order to refl ect the core ac vity this year of looking at the overall approach of Economic Evalua on. This ac vity was successfully concluded in December 2013.

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12.1 Communica on

The core mission of the Communica on Offi ce is to provide the external and internal communica on pro-cesses and performing tools for the Agency’s stake-holders and staff to ensure the required Agency’s im-pact on the Railway Sector.

An adequate communica on led to the intended un-derstanding and implementa on of the Agency’s out-puts in the Railway Sector. In reverse, sound commu-nica on delivered feedback on the eff ec veness and consequences of the Agency’s measures and led so to improved future EC’s and Agency’s measures. This implementa on and feedback were the indispensa-ble basis for fulfi lling the Agency’s mission ‘to make the Railway system work be er for society’.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCommunica on plan stemming from communica on strategy, tools

Agency Regula on

March 2013 YesCommunica on plan annexed to the Work Programme 2014, adopted in November by Administra ve Board

Regular update of the ERA Internet/Intranet/Extranet

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesRegular mee ngs of web steering group

Annual Report and specifi c Agency reports, External Newsle ers

Agency Regula on

1Q2013, ongoing

YesAnnual Ac vity Report published in August; WP 2013 published in March; Railway Safety Performance Report published in May

Ac vity 12. Support to Agency opera onsThe transverse ac vi es suppor ng the opera ons and the Execu ve Director are carried out by the Ex-ecu ve Director’s Offi ce and the Administra on Unit. The Execu ve Director’s Offi ce is responsible for the Agency’s strategy and business planning, the Agency quality programme, communica on, internal audit and legal aff airs. The Administra on Unit owns the areas of human resources, procurement, fi nance, ac-coun ng, ICT and facili es. Based on the regulatory framework (in par cular the Founding Regula on, Staff Regula ons, Financial Regula on and Internal

Control Standards), both en es develop and pro-vide the required projects and services. Within the administra ve support services, in 2013 par cular emphasis was given to the selec on and engagement of new agents (as a result of contracts termina on for numerous opera onal staff members), further im-provement of planning and execu on of the budget and procurement procedures, implementa on of changes resul ng from entering into force of the new Staff Regula ons and implementa on of the Service Management Framework.

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Agency par cipa on at conferences/exhibi ons: 1 SIFER, 1 effi cient Interoperability dissemina on event

Agency Regula on

tbd YesSIFER in March;TEN-T days in October;ERTMS Conference in November

Internal newsle ers/general internal communica on

Agency Regula on

Quarterly and ongoing

YesInternal Agency News con nuous;External ERA Flash News launched in September

Agency’s templates shaped, CI/CD assurance of external presenta ons

Agency Regula on

Following DMS project plan and on request

YesRevised template adopted by the Management Team in December

Answers to external informa on requests via website

Agency Regula on

15 days a er recep on of request

Yes403 informa on requests with an average response me of 10 days

12.2 Internal control and audit

The Agency carried out an internal quality audit on the QMS in November 2013. The overall conclusion was that the audit results can be considered as ad-equate considering to the state of play of the QMS’s implementa on. The internal control and audit re-as-sures the Execu ve Director on the development and

implementa on of the QMS, advices on and supports the risk management process through monitoring and evalua ng. It also advices on and supports the internal control components (valida on of Internal Control Standards assessment, advice on policies/process/project development and coordina on of closure of audit recommenda ons, quality checks on IT projects).

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedEx post/Internal audit report Agency

Regula onMarch — June 2013

YesInternal audit performed in November

Assessment report on Internal Control Standards

Agency Regula on

Nov 2013 Assessment performed as planned in November

Advice and support on design and maintenance of Agency processes:A — revised CoI policyB — output according to QSG planC — ad hoc advice

Agency Regula on

A — Feb 2013B — ongoingC — ongoing

A — No (due to lack of resources)B — YesC — Yes

Upda ng of risk register (including maintenance and facilita on of risk management process implementa on at ERA)

Agency Regula on

June and Dec 2013 YesUpdated 3Q2013

Upda ng of Issue Tracking System (including design/maintenance and facilita on of ‘implemen ng ac on plan’ at ERA)

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesCon nuously updated

A. Opinion on dra IAS reports (audit & risk assessment)B. Valida on of GRC dataC. Ar cle 72,5 Report

Agency Regula on

A. depending on IAS audit scheduleB. On-going/4QC. 3Q2013

A — Par ally — IAS dra follow-up report expected in 1Q 2014B — Yes — Con nuously updatedC — Yes — in 4Q2013

12.3 Legal aff airs

The Legal Offi ce provided legal opinions and legal ad-vices to the Execu ve Director and to all Units and Sectors, also on its own ini a ve. It provided legal and administra ve support (Secretariat) to the Ad-ministra ve Board and its Subcommi ee and ensured in par cular the mely organisa on and coordina on of the mee ngs of the Administra ve Board. It also intervened in case of claims and proceedings before the Courts and other public authori es. The Legal Of-fi ce is also performing the role of the Data Protec on Offi cer (DPO) which is to ensure in an independent manner the proper applica on within ERA of the Reg-

ula on (EC) No 45/2001 in order to safeguard compli-ance with personal data protec on rules.

The Legal Offi ce is also managing the ethics requests which concern the Agency staff , it is involved in the checks of the declara ons of external ac vi es and other similar issues foreseen in the internal confl ict of interest policy and leaving the Agency procedure.

By doing the above, the Legal Offi ce so guaranteed legality and consistency of recommenda ons and opinions issued by the Agency and of the decisions adopted by the Execu ve Director and by the Admin-istra ve Board, including ensuring the compliance of the Agency’s ac vi es with the applicable legal

55

framework prevents maladministra on of the Agen-cy. It facilitated indirectly the smooth performance of its tasks under the Agency Regula on and thus im-proving the Railway System.

The Legal Offi ce conducts on behalf of the Agency with the assistance of an outside legal counsel the proceedings before the Civil Service Tribunal in two appeal cases fi led in 2013 by staff members and for-mer staff members of the Agency (Cases F-95/13 and F-120/13).

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedLegal advice, legal opinions Agency Regula on Ongoing Yes

OngoingLegal and administra ve support to the Administra ve Board (including Budgetary Sub-Commi ee)

Agency Regula on Ongoing YesOngoing

Administra ve Board / Sub-Commi ee mee ngs

Agency Regula on/ Decision No 85 of the Administra ve Board of the European Railway Agency establishing a Sub-Commi ee of the Board and repealing decision ERA AB No 33 of 23 June 2009

3 and 5 mes per year

YesAdmin Board mee ngs on 20/03, 24/06, 26/11YesSub-Commi ee mee ngs on 25/01, 14/03, 17/06, 23/09, 18/11

Implementa on of Regula on (EC) No 45/2001 in order to ensure compliance with personal data rules

Agency Regula on Ongoing YesOngoing

12.4 Human Resources

The HR project secures the full range of human re-sources management services including recruitment, engagement, individual en tlements, learning & de-velopment, CDR, reclassifi ca on, administra on, re-por ng, … in compliance with the legal framework.

At the end of 2013, 134 Temporary Agents, 12 Con-tract Agents and three Seconded Na onal Experts were working at the Agency. Three of the remaining open posi ons of the 2013 Establishment Plan are cases where the Temporary Agents were already se-lected in 2013 but are in the process of taking up post in 2014. It is to be noted that some establishment plan posi ons were put on hold considering the de-crease in staff foreseen in 2014, 2015 and 2016. 14 trainees were welcomed in the Agency in 2013.

Work has con nued on the topic of Ar cle 24(3) of ERA’s founding regula on. In the framework of the 4th Railway Package, ERA had suggested to the Com-mission to clarify elements of Ar cle 24(3) in the fu-ture Agency Regula on without changing the basic principle of having temporary agents both on short-term and on long-term employment. At the end of 2013 the Execu ve Director signed Decision ERA-ED-DEC-677-2013 governing the engagement and the use of Temporary agents (amending Decision No 251/1 1.2009 on Temporary agents in the European Railway Agency) as well as Decision ERA-ED-DEC-678-2013 on long-term and short-term Temporary Agents posts at ERA.

ERA has now adopted 92 % of the exis ng Implement-ing Rules. Extensive work in this area was dedicated in 2013 to the prepara on of the new Implement-ing Rules to give eff ect to the New Staff Regula ons (coming into force on 1 January 2014).

Ac vi es in the fi eld of Learning & Development aim at providing the staff with the necessary skills and knowledge to meet the Agency’s objec ves with the highest competences, and insuring as much as possi-ble coherent induc on to newcomers and knowledge management in the opera onal units. In light of the desired skills needed for the 4th Railway Package, some specifi c training ac ons were developed and carried out, such as ‘ISO 9001 Lead Auditor’ cer fi -ca on training, ‘wri ng with impact’ and ‘training the occasional trainer’. Over 80 % of the number of train-ing days was organised in-house.

High quality level of the Agency deliverables thanks to the performance of a knowledgeable, experienced and well trained staff contributed to a more effi cient railway system in Europe.

56

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedHR services (recruitment, en tlements, onboarding, CDR, reclassifi ca on, learning & development, repor ng, project management) carried out in respect of the legal framework and within the set deadlines95 % of the establishment plan fi lled at the end of the year

Agency Regula on

Ongoing Yes95.1 % of the establishment plan fi lled at the end of the year.

LEAMA management Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesImprovement of the tool is ongoing.

New e-HR modules according to Agency quality programme and in func on of budget available

Agency Regula on

According to project plan

NoPostponed due to limited availability of human resources. The available resources have allowed only maintaining and adap ng the exis ng modules.

Completed review of data protec on no fi ca ons

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesReview completed; new no fi ca ons under the approval process.

Staff survey and subsequent ac on plan in place

Agency Regula on

2Q2013 YesAc on plan following to the staff survey 2012 has been defi ned. The iden fi ed ac ons are ongoing.

Subsequent administra ve ac vi es undertaken with regard to the introduc on of new Staff Regula ons (as of 1 January 2014), e.g. review of Implemen ng Rules, changes of individual en tlements, etc.

Agency Regula on

2Q2013 YesAdministra ve ac vi es with regard to the introduc on of the New Staff Regula ons (as of 1 January 2014) have been prepared. Informa on to staff has been provided.

12.5 Finance, accoun ng and procurement

The project encompasses all ongoing tasks in rela on to the prepara on and execu on of the budget, re-por ng on the budgetary execu on, bookkeeping and rela ons with the Court of Auditors.

The Finance and Procurement Sector in charge of those tasks coordinated procurement planning and provided support in prepara on and implementa on of procurement procedures. Despite the mul ple changes to the ini al procurement planning, all call for tenders were launched within the set deadlines and all contracts, with the excep on of one late pro-curement request, were signed by the end of August. The la er combined with a strict and rigorous month-ly budgetary follow-up, has contributed to excellent budgetary execu on results in terms of both, com-mitments and payments. In 2013 the Sector explored the possibili es of using e-PRIOR, a service-oriented pla orm designed for procurement. Given that e-PRI-OR will only be fully in produc on in 2015, a feasibility study should be undertaken in 2014.

An IT-based tool for the user’s ques ons in rela on to mission expenses was introduced at the beginning of May 2013. The aim of this being twofold: (1) enhance staff ’s knowledge on mission reimbursement rules and (2) streamline and harmonise the way in which

support is provided by the Finance sector. This tool has already shown its usefulness since the latest ex-post control report on payments demonstrated that there are only few errors as regards applica on of the mission reimbursement rules.

The effi ciency of the fi nance team has further in-creased in 2013. Indeed the average payment delay (with the target of 45 days for a payment) for the reimbursement of staff missions decreased from 57 days to 52 days whilst the average payment delay for the reimbursement of experts remained stable (29 days in 2013 compared to 27 days in 2012).

Following the adop on of the new Framework Finan-cial Regula on for decentralised bodies, the Agency has prepared its new Financial Regula on, which was approved by the Administra ve Board in December 2013 and which is applicable as from 1 January 2014.

In the context of the Agency’s quality management system the procurement cell has revised and updated the exis ng procurement procedure according to the quality management template.

The Agency has agreed to share the services provid-ed by his Accoun ng Offi cer with another Agency (ESMA) on a temporary basis. This is fully in line with the request from the Commission, Council and Euro-pean Parliament to look for synergies and increased coopera on between agencies.

57

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedFinancial transac ons and accoun ng services carried out in respect of the legal framework and within the set deadlinesBudget execu on: commitments >98 %; payments >70 %;95 % of payments within the set deadlines

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesBudget execu on:— Commitments: 98 %— Payments: 88 %Payments:Invoices: 97 % within the regulatory deadline of 30 days

Advice & support for launching and carrying out procurement procedures100 % of procurement procedures carried out

Agency Regula on

Within the set deadlines

YesAll procurement procedures were launched and all contracts were signed by end of August

N+1 year budget submi ed and approved

Agency Regula on

4Q2013 YesBudget submi ed to and approved by the Board at end of November

Monthly reports on budgetary execu on

Agency Regula on

Monthly YesMonthly reports issued as planned

Asset Management updates Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesPhysical inventory exercise carried out during 4Q2013

IT Service MiMa Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesDeployment of a service desk portal for MiMa

Decision on usefulness of e-PRIOR applica on for ERA ac vi es

Agency Regula on

3Q2013 NoSince E-Prior will only be fully in produc on in 2015 a feasibility study should be undertaken in 2014

12.6 Informa on Technology

In-house staff , contractors working on-site and con-tracted providers supplied conven onal ICT services. In 2013, based on the business needs and opera on-al demands, the consolida on of the Service Man-agement Framework progressed. In-house exper se iden fi ed the rela onship between Master Data Management and the Enterprise Informa on Archi-

tecture to ra onalise the design of the core business data. The ongoing ac vi es in rela on to documenta- on of procedures and defi ni on of service levels and

performance indicators were also enhanced in 2013.

The project safeguarded that all Agency ac vi es were carried out in a safe IT environment and in re-spect of data protec on principles, engaging with stakeholders in aligning the ICT provided services with current and future business needs.

58

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedIT security strategy implemented and working as designed

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesDefi ni on of the SECURIS@ERA framework (SECURe Informa on Systems at ERA)

Standard IT services delivered Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesGlobal availability over 99 %

IT Service Desk Valenciennes and Lille

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesThe service was supplied on regular basis

Documenta on of procedures and defi ni on of service levels monitored and correc ve ac ons undertaken

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesDocumenta on of the procedures was improved and correc ve ac ons were taken where needed

On-line web services made available in line with business requirements

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesGlobal availability over 99 %

Business con nuity plan tested and working as designed

Agency Regula on

3Q2013 NoDue to the unavailability of the remote site, test postponed for 2014

Service Management Framework consolidated

Agency Regula on

4Q2013 Par allyThe consolida on of the Service Management Framework progressed

Rela onship between Master Data and Enterprise Informa on Architecture Governance iden fi ed

Agency Regula on

4Q2013 YesConvergence into the Ra onalisa on of Vehicle Related Registers Working Party

12.7 Facili es

In-house staff , contractors working on-site and con-tracted providers supplied the services needed for the management of the premises. In 2013, the pro-cess of formula ng the Agency’s requirements to rent premises in Lille started. Together with the HR and ICT teams signifi cant steps were taken in improving the health and safety and the business con nuity plan-

ning. EMAS (Eco Management and Audit Scheme) ini a ves were started to reduce the environmental impact of the ac vi es of the organisa on.

The project safeguarded that all Agency ac vi es were carried out in safe and comfortable working condi ons, engaging with stakeholders in aligning the Facility Management services with current and future business needs.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedStandard facili es services provided

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesThe services were supplied on regular basis

Evacua on exercise executed. Related procedures and documents revised and updated.

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesThe evacua on exercise was executed and the adop on of the ‘DU — Document Unique’ (In France mandatory health and safety document containing the risks iden fi ed at the work place)

Requirements to a possible new building defi ned

Agency Regula on

4Q2013 Par allyValenciennes new terms of reference postponed for 2014; Lille new terms of reference defi ned

Introduc on of EMAS ini a ves

Agency Regula on

4Q2013 YesAdop on of the Sustainable Prac ces Rules

59

Ac vity 13. Agency ManagementThe Agency con nued in 2013 its integrated ‘One Agency’ approach across all its units. This approach is since 2012 refl ected in the ‘Ac vity Based’ Structure of the Work Programme, the guiding structure for planning, execu on and communica on of the Agen-cy’s work. This coherent base for all ac vi es of the Agency serves for structuring the opera onal ma ers as well as for a consistent management of all stake-holder interfaces. Furthermore, it is the indispensa-ble basis for the discussion with the stakeholders of the strategic priori es of the work programme and the related resource alloca ons. The Agency Qual-ity Programme implementa on con nued a er its start in 2012. It ensures the necessary improvements of the Agency’s key products, based on stakeholder needs, key performance indicators and their system-a c feedback into the processes. Further exis ng and new transversal projects have been grouped into this ac vity: the Interna onal Rela ons management, the Railway research coordina on and the coordina on of the EU Agencies due to the presidency rota ng to ERA in 2013.

13.1 Strategy and business planning

The Agency’s Strategy and Business Planning ensured, in close coopera on with the EC and other stakehold-ers, the strategic direc on, the priori sa on and the integrated planning of the (mul -)annual work pro-gramme. (Early) Impact assessment is used as default tool for iden fying the right priori es. The implemen-ta on of the annual work programme and its change management were regularly monitored and adjusted where necessary. The fi nal achievements of a busi-ness year are laid down in the Annual Ac vity Report.

The se ng of the strategic priori es in func on of the highest contribu on to the strategic objec ves set the EC and the Agency in the posi on to focus on the most promising ac vi es for achieving those objec ves and so for achieving the mission (to make the railway system work be er for society). The close management of the work programme ensured its de-livery in content and me.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedEvalua on and priori sa on of the content of the (mul ) annual work programme

Agency Regula on

With dra WP and Ongoing

YesSeveral feedback sessions during the year to EC, AB and stakeholders

Dra and fi nal annual and mul -annual work programme on integrated planning basis

Agency Regula on

Dra February 2013, Final version October 2013

YesAnnual WP adopted by the AB in NovemberMul annual WP noted by the AB in November

Execu on monitoring, correc ve ac ons and change management for the WP

Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesCon nuous exercise

Annual Ac vity Report 2012 Agency Regula on

March 2013 YesAnnual Ac vity Report adopted by the Administra ve Board on 12 June and published in August

Monthly EIGC mee ngs organised. The IT strategic plan built and updated. Programme por olios analyses made.

Agency Regula on

Ongoing Yes9 EIGC mee ngs held — annual ICT strategy developed following the workshop of December 2012. ICT strategy workshop held in December 2013 to defi ne guidelines 2014 to 2016

13.2 Stakeholder Management

The Agency coordinated mee ngs with the Network of Representa ve Bodies (NRB) to inform about Agen-

cy ac vi es to agree on sector contribu ons to the Agency’s work and to review ‘hot’ issues, resul ng in a be er regula on, reduc on of administra ve bur-den, improvement of the sector’s compe veness.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCoordina on of the NRB Network, organisa on of NRB Network plenary mee ngs, seminars and workshops on specifi c topics

Agency Regula on

Minimum of 3 NRB mee ngs per year.Other events and ac vi es as required

Yes3 NRB Mee ngs successfully held to the sa sfac on of par cipants.One special NRB held

13.3 Research and studies coordina on

The Agency disseminated the EU framework to those involved in research; determined the Agency’s needs for research; disseminated these needs to the funders and advisory bodies and infl uences research projects to ensure the outputs meet best the Agency’s defi ned

60

needs. It coordinated its studies in order to ensure co-herence in study defi ni on, clear strategic path of fu-ture Agency ac vi es, and be er knowledge of study sub-contractors.

In 2013 several research projects in par cular the Trio Train project delivered outputs that helped the Agen-cy to fi ll open points in the TSIs.

The Agency also supported the Commission in the development of the proposals for the Shi 2Rail re-search project.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedCoordina on of the Agency’s needs on research (and studies), reports and support to EC services for research, coordina on of Agency ac vi es and rela onship to research projects, ins tutes and organisa ons

Agency Regula on

ERA research needs synchronised with ERRAC & DG RTD calendars.Regular mee ngs of the Agency Research Steering Group.

YesResearch Steering Group met Regularly.Input to Shi 2Rail ini a veERA research needs published and discussed with DG Research.Successful Chairmanship pf TRioTrain Advisory Council and liaison with projects. Outputs most useful to the Agency

13.4 Interna onal rela ons management

The Agency has a policy and dedicated projects on In-terna onal Rela ons.

In 2013 the Commission, Agency and UNIFE set up a structured approach and regular mee ngs to ensure coordina on of out of EU rela ons.

As an ini a ve under this framework the Agency, in partnership with the Commission and UNIFE further developed its involvement with the United States — in par cular the Federal Rairad Associa on. Work is ongoing to develop a structured approach to subjects of a common interest (e.g. high speed standards, re-search, safety management and improving the com-pe ve posi on of rail freight)

The Agency also monitored the development of rules under OTIF, UNECE and OSJD which are rele-vant for exis ng or under development EU legisla on and managed to make most of these developments consistent with it. The Agency managed to limit the adop on of new inconsistencies between RID (in-terna onal agreement concerning the regula on on the carriage of dangerous goods by rail) and the EU railway legisla on, even if further improvements will need to be achieved in 2014. The new administra ve arrangement between DG MOVE, OTIF and the Agen-cy should facilitate this objec ve.

Concerning the rela ons between the Agency and the EU candidate and poten al candidate countries, major steps have been accomplished under the IPA project 2012-2013 in collabora on with DG ELARG and DG MOVE. The Agency staff a ended and chaired mee ngs, workshops and seminars on the EU railway legisla on for the EU candidate and poten al candi-

61

date countries, based on the agreement with the EC. Moreover, the EU candidate and poten al candidate countries were given the opportunity through the IPA Project to ac vely par cipate in the mee ngs of the NSAs and NIBs, at equal level with the Member States.

The main achievement was our contribu on through several workshops and dedicated mee ngs under IPA to the prepara on of the Croa an railway safety and interoperability legisla on before Croa a joined the Union. Very important also was the contribu on of the Agency to the crea on of a coopera on network between the IPA benefi ciaries. The Agency facilitated and promoted through the IPA Project the involve-ment of Serbia and Kosovo on railway technical mat-ters, as well as the par cipa on of Turkey and the For-mer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for the fi rst me in the IPA ac vi es in the fi eld of the EU railway legis-la on. In addi on, through IPA the Agency’s managed

to trigger the interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo in the railway databases maintained by the Agency.

In prac ce, the overall benefi t of this ac vity was to ease to a maximum the cross-border traffi c with the said countries, the impact of foreign rulemaking on EU railway legisla on was made limited, whereas the integra on of EU candidate countries and poten al candidates was be er facilitated. In addi on the EU railway legisla on was substan ally promoted in the Western Balkan countries and Turkey. Using the ex-perience of railway organisa ons outside Europe (e.g. axle loads cf USA) the Agency saved duplica on of research and specifi ca on development. (E.g. sharing running dynamics knowledge) and facilitated a con-vergence of na onal rules. An informa on exchange with various worldwide countries and related associ-a ons were further established.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis

Planned Timing Achieved

Par cipa on in out of Europe events involving authorisa on processes and technical rules


On request YesJoint visit with EC and UNIFE to US in conjunc on with UNIFE-APTA

Assis ng EC represen ng EU posi ons in OTIF, technical support


Mee ngs and exchange of informa on according to needs

YesPar cipa on to relevant UNECE and OTIF mee ngs

Represen ng EU railway interests at UNECE WP, following the developments and report to the EC and to experts in the Agency



YesRecogni on of the Agency as a steering partner by UNECE and OTIF for developing risk-based approach in the fi eld of Dangerous Goods Transport (TDG).

Via IPA: promo ng of EC railway legisla on in EU candidate countries or poten al candidates


Ongoing YesContribu on to Croa an railway law.Network between IPA countriesTraining of staff of IPA countries in the parameters of the EU legisla on

Repor ng on developments at OSJD


YesPar cipa on to the revision of Annex II to SMGS on TDG.

Follow-up of progress and development of railway technology



YesERA a ended the WCRR mee ng in Sydney to get abreast of research in the railway fi eld.

Conduct a Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and develop common posi ons; con nued repor ng to EC; represen ng EC posi ons in OTIF


Ongoing YesAdministra ve arrangement signed between DG MOVE, OTIF and ERA on Dangerous Goods.

13.5 Quality Management

The Agency implemented further, under the man-agement of the Quality Offi ce, the Quality Road Map stemming from the 2012 CAF ac on plan (‘The Agen-cy programme’), including the cross-Agency imple-menta on, performance monitoring and review of its processes and their outputs, based on the iden fi ed needs or performance defi ciencies. The Agency fur-ther developed, with the support of consultant pro-cesses that regards strategic and managerial tasks

such as the Risk Management, the Internal Quality and ICS Assessment.

Some specifi c ac ons like the organisa on of internal trainings on main Agency products and implementa- on visits helping the staff to apply and understand

the procedures were put in place.

Specifi c IT tools like the Ac on Tracking System and the Non-conformity Register were developed in order

62

to facilitate the implementa on of the Management System

On November, the fi rst ERA Internal Quality Audit was carried out, having as objec ves to verify the appro-priate implementa on and eff ec veness of the ERA Management System and to make an assessment of

the implementa on level of Standards. The achieve-ment of the Agency’s business excellence, so the de-livery of the Agency’s outputs in the required quality, cons tuted the necessary base for the powerful exe-cu on of the tasks laid down in the work programme, also in terms of business con nuity, to fi nally ‘make the Agency work be er for the railway system’.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedProcess map and management system documents including strategic plan, audit procedure and non-conformity procedure

Agency Regula on

1Q2013 YesProcesses mapped and documented

Development and implementa on (including KPI) of Admin, Network, MoU and database processes

Agency Regula on

3Q2013 NoPostponed. The fi rst QMS review revealed other key processes to be developed fi rst. The following Q documents have been implemented: Process Guide, Risk Mgt, Procurement, Internal Q Audit & ICS Assessment

Q manual, report templates, Q policy completed

Agency Regula on

4Q2013 Yes

Review and improvement of 4 processes (implemented in 2012)

Agency Regula on

3Q2013 YesProcesses have been analysed during the Internal Quality Audit

Implementa on of post mail records and metadata system

Agency Regula on

2Q2013 NoPostponed

Internal training and seminars Agency Regula on

Ongoing YesOngoing

13.6 Coordina on of EU Agencies

The coordina on of the network rotates between agencies for periods of one year at a me. The pre-vious, the actual and the subsequent coordina ng agency together form a troika. ERA became member of the troika in March 2012 and will be member un l March 2015. ERA took over the coordina on role on 1 March 2013 and has this role un l the end of February 2014. The coordina on tasks consisted mainly of be-ing the single point of contact between the regulatory agencies and in par cular the European ins tu ons on issues of a horizontal nature and represen ng the agencies in mee ngs and nego a ons. Further-more, ERA has as a coordina ng agency hosted two mee ngs of the Heads of Agency and two mee ngs of the Heads of Administra on Networks. In addi on, ERA has hosted a number of mee ngs for so-called sub-networks dealing with specifi c issues such as per-formance development and communica on.

To enable ERA to carry out this signifi cant addi onal task without nega vely aff ec ng the ongoing tasks of the Agency, a specifi c taskforce was established on 16 February 2013. This taskforce will be dismantled on 16 March 2014 when the work has been handed over to the next coordina ng agency.

The main ac vi es during 2013 have related to the implementa on of the Common Approach on Decen-tralised Agencies agreed by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. Other important ma ers have been the 2011 and 2012 discharge, the 2014 budget and the programming of resources for agencies under the Mul annual Financial framework 2014-2020, the reform of the Staff Regula ons and the new Framework Financial Regula on.

Fulfi lling the coordina on func on of EU agencies network created a possibility to give an increased vis-ibility of ERA ini a ves and a wider promo on of the Agency ac vi es.

Principal outputs 2013 Legal Basis Planned Timing AchievedTaskforce for the coordina on func on of the Agencies fully opera onal

Agency Regula on 1Q2013 Yes

Two mee ngs of the Heads of Agency Network organised and taken place

Agency Regula on March 2013 — December 2013 Yes

Two mee ngs of the Heads of Administra on Network organised and taken place

Agency Regula on March 2013 — December 2013 Yes

63

Administra ve BoardThe Administra ve Board is the main governing body of the Agency. Its mission is to eff ec vely ensure that the Agency accomplishes its func ons and it is vested with the necessary powers for this, including establishing the work programme and budget.

The Board is composed of four representa ves of the European Commission and one from each of the Member States. Representa ves of Norway and Iceland par cipate as members without vo ng rights along with six representa ves from the railway sector who represent railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, the railway supply industry, worker unions, passengers and freight customers. Croa a had the status of observer un l 1 July 2013 when it became a full member in the Board. The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) has observer status in the Board since February 2013.

2013 was the fi rst full year under the Chairmanship of Mr Christopher Irwin and the Vice-Chairmanship of Mr Hinne Groot.

This year the Board followed closely the evolu on of the legisla ve proposal for the 4th Railway Package, the Shi 2Rail proposal and their impact to the Agency’s work and organisa on.

The Board discussed in detail the steps and metable of the selec on procedure for a new Execu ve Director. It appointed its Chair as observer and the Swedish member as an alternate to the selec on panel to be set up by the Commission. The Board members were also consulted in wri ng on the vacancy no ce for the Execu ve Director’s post.

The members of the Board con nued to closely follow these proposals and they supported the Execu ve Director to implement them in the future. The Board is being informed regularly on the follow-up.

The agreement made in 2012 to have a mul -annual programme and a communica on and dissemina on plan for the Agency was successfully implemented. The communica on and dissemina on plan was adopted in November 2013 as an annexe of the Work Programme 2014.

The Board gave a posi ve opinion in November 2013 to the fi rst mul -annual programme for the Agency which covers the years 2014-2017.

This year’s novelty in the consulta on process for the prepara on of the Work Programme 2014 and the Mul -annual work programme 2014-2017 was a workshop organised in June 2013 for the Board members and all the sector representa ves who allowed for a construc ve exchange and wider engagement of the stakeholders concerned.

In addi on, the Work Programme 2014 included a signifi cant number of Key Performance Indicators

(KPIs) which is an improvement following the proposal of the Board, while the structure and the content of the Annual Report 2012 have been extensively improved to comply with the set requirements common to all EU Agencies.

Finally at the end of the year, the Board adopted by wri en procedure the new ERA Financial Regula on which is in line with the Framework Financial Regula on applicable to the EU bodies.

Summary of Board Decisions

In its 28th mee ng on 20 March 2013, held in Lille, the Administra ve Board:

› Approved a transfer of 2013 budget appropria- ons;

› Amended the ERA Internal Control Standards;

› Adopted the statement of es mates 2014;

› Adopted Mul -Annual Staff Policy Plan 2014-2016;

› Appointed repor ng offi cers for the Execu ve Director’s 2013-2014 appraisal exercise;

› Amended the composi on and terms of refer-ence of the Sub-Commi ee;

› Appointed the members and alternates of the Sub-Commi ee.

In its 29th mee ng on 24 June 2013, held in Lille, the Administra ve Board:

› Adopted the minutes of the 28th mee ng held on 20 March 2013;

› Amended the work programme 2013;

› Gave an opinion on the Annual accounts 2012.

The mee ng followed a workshop on the elabora on of the work programme 2014

In its 30h mee ng on 26 November 2013, held in Lille, the Administra ve Board:

› nominated its Chair, Mr Christopher Irwin, observer and its member represen ng Sweden, Mr Mats Andersson, alternate observer to the panel for

B. Governance, Management and Internal Control Systems

64

the selec on of the future ERA Execu ve Director — mandate 2015-2019;

› amended the ERA work programme 2013;

› gave a posi ve opinion on the Mul -annual work programme 2014-2017;

› adopted the ERA work programme 2014;

› adopted the ERA budget and establishment plan 2014;

› took note of the transfers of appropria ons 2013 decided by the Execu ve Director;

› agreed to the temporary arrangement of shar-ing partly the ERA Accountant’s services with ESMA.

In addi on the Administra ve Board adopted by writ-ten procedure the Annual Report 2012 and the new ERA Financial Regula on.

Sub-Commi ee

The Sub-Commi ee on fi nancial, budgetary and staff -related issues was created in 2009 in order to provide advice on these ma ers prior to Adminis-tra ve Board decisions. In 2013 the Sub-Commi ee met fi ve mes: its mee ngs usually take place before those of the Administra ve Board. The Sub-Commit-tee reports regularly to the Board.

Following the proposals of the posi on paper of the Administra ve Board agreed on 26 June 2012, the advisory role of the Sub-Commi ee was enlarged in 2013. The extension of the scope of the Sub-Commit-tee decided by the Board is in line with the legisla ve proposals of the European Commission on a ‘Regula- on of the European Union Agency for Railways and

repealing Regula on (EC) No 881/2004’2 which fore-see the establishment of an Execu ve Board to assist the Management Board.

This year the Sub-Commi ee’s tasks included, in ad-di on to the regular fi nancial and staff issues, con-sulta on and opinions on the work programme and planning, annual repor ng, communica on and dis-semina on plan and prepara on of the transi on to-wards the 4th Railway Package and Shi 2Rail.

The Sub-Commi ee contributed substan ally to the proper prepara on of the mee ngs of the Board and advised it in rela on to the decisions to be taken by the Board.

It con nued to follow up closely the situa on of staff turn-over and the constraints related to the limited contract dura on of staff recruited from railway sec-tor professionals. The Sub-Commi ee discussed in

detail the Execu ve Director’s decisions on the new staff contract approach which guarantees business con nuity.

In addi on, it supervised the eff orts of the manage-ment to deal with the budgetary issues and especially to improve the budget implementa on by respec ng the principle of annuality, to increase the level of pay-ments appropria ons and to follow up of the Internal Audit Service recommenda ons and the Court of Au-ditor’s observa ons.

In addi on, it follows closely the establishment of Key Performance Indicators which have been included in the Work Programme 2014, ac vity-based budge ng as well as impact assessment of the ac vi es and tasks of the Agency.

Since 2013,the Sub-Commi ee is composed of the Chairperson of the Board, the Deputy Chairperson, two representa ves of the Commission and four oth-er members of the Board including one represent-a ve of the stakeholders. The Board appointed the members of the Sub-Commi ee and its chairperson. The Board appointed also alternates of the members of the Sub-Commi ee and a Deputy Chairperson. The Commission representa ves in the Administra- ve Board proposed two members represen ng the

Commission in the Sub-Commi ee and their two al-ternates.

Financial repor ngRevenue

The Budgetary Authority approved for 2013 the Agency budget of EUR 24 871 400. The total for as-signed revenues was up to EUR 136 000 and the EFTA contribu on was up to EUR 696 399. The Agency also forecasted a grant from DG Enlargement of EUR 150 000 and external fees of EUR 5 000. This brings the total forecasted budget to EUR 25 858 799.

The total revenue received from the Commission and external en es was EUR 25 853 799 (no fees were received in 2013). On top of this the Agency received EUR 40 415 of other revenue, represen ng penal es for liquidated damages paid by two suppliers and re-charging of services provided to external par es.

Expenditure

In 2013, the Agency commi ed 97.9 % of the availa-ble appropria ons.

EUR 0.5 million out of the total planned subsidy of EUR 25.8 million was not used. This amount comes from the fact that the Agency has forecasted to pay the 2011 and 2012 salary adjustments which have

65

been rejected by the Council and for which the Court of Jus ce gave a nega ve opinion to the European Commission in November 2013. As regards the pay-ments, the Agency used 88 % of the appropria ons commi ed in 2013. The 12 % that are carried over to 2014 mainly concern opera onal expenditure (Title 3). In addi on, 96.3 % of the appropria ons carried over from 2012 (C8 credits) have been executed.

With regard to the original procurement plan, ap-proved by the Administra ve Board as part of the Work Programme 2013 and which serves as the Agen-cy’s fi nancing decision, some procedures needed to be amended and the revised list of procurement pro-cedures was submi ed for adop on to the Admin-istra ve Board in June 2013 and also in November 2013. As a result all planned procedures have been used.

It is worth men oning that in 2013 the Agency reg-ularly used the ‘procurement requests’ applica on under the ‘Procurement’ intranet. The ‘procurement requests’ tool allows the centralisa on and standard-isa on of the procurement requests and has been used in 2013 for preparing the procurement plan an-nexed to the Work Programme.

Financial KPIs

Global C1 Commitment rate: 97.9 % Commitment rate Title 1: 97.2 % Commitment rate Title 2: 99.5 % Commitment rate Title 3: 98.9 %Global C1 Payment on commitment rate: 88.1 %

C1 Payment on commitment rate Title 1: 94.6 % C1 Payment on commitment rate Title 2: 81.3 % C1 Payment on commitment rate Title 3: 74.4 %Global C8 Payment rate: 96.3 % C8 Payment rate Title 1: 93.3 % C8 Payment rate Title 2: 97.5 %

C8 Payment rate Title 3: 96.5 %

Rate of commercial invoices paid within 30 days: 97 % (target: 95 %)

Rate of procurement procedures launched and con-cluded against the plan: 100 % (target: 100 %).

Risk Management

The Agency con nued to implement a risk manage-ment process during 2013 aimed at iden fying the risks which needed to be mi gated for guaranteeing reasonable assurance about the achievement of the main objec ves.

The main review of the risk management process was carried out in 2012 and was aimed at producing an enhanced risk management framework for the Agen-cy. The revised risk management process was further implemented by the Agency in the course of 2013 fol-lowing approval by the Quality Steering Group.

Below is an extract of the Risk Register version 3Q 2013 including a full report on mi ga ng ac ons cov-ering the years 2012 and 2013.

66

Title Descrip on Risk typology

Risk ra ng

Mi ga ng ac on

Business con nuity

Root cause 1 — Lack of business con nuity plan may lead in case of disaster to:Event — inability and unpreparedness of recovering core ICT systems and servicesEff ect — so pu ng at risk the performance of cri cal business processes Root cause 2 — Dependence on a small number of individual’s knowledge and experience to comply with the requirements of the mandates may lead to:Event — inability in implemen ng the annual Work Programme

Root cause 3 — Lack of Safety Management System may lead to:Event — danger to the health and safety of staff

Root cause 4 — Lack of DMS may impact nega vely:Event — the effi ciency of key processes

Strategic processes

High Ac on 1 — The ac vi es to set up and confi gure on site the Disaster Recovery Mobile Rack Solu on were completed. Data popula on is completed and on-site synchronised. Due to late availability of the CdT server room in Luxembourg, the shipping of the equipment to the CdT premises is planned by December 2013. Memorandum of understanding with CdT submi ed and wai ng for signature. DR solu on in place by Q1 2014 Risk Ac onee 1: E. Tramacere

Ac on 2 — change of contact policy (coordina on by HR) in coopera on with DG Mobility and TransportRisk Ac onee 2: M. Emborg, HR services

Ac on 3 — The Health and Safety working group, established by the ED decision No 395, has iden fi ed priority ac ons in order to improve the evacua on procedure, namely fi re pickets and staff members cer fi ed as SST (Secouriste et Saveteurs du Travail). With regard to the la er, the Agency completed the training of the staff members that volunteered as SST and that the Agency considered as suitable members of the First Aid Team. A more visible intranet page was created and a single SOS number was established. With regard to the fi re pickets, work is in progress and it is expected to have them in place by Q2-2014.Risk Ac onee 3: E. Tramacere

Ac on 4 — A procedure for managing documents has been developed by quality project (ISO approach) during 4Q 2012 and further during 2013. ongoing customisa on of tools for the document management and storage.Risk Ac onee 4: J. Engelmann

Stakeholders rela on management

Root cause — Lack of stakeholders rela on management system coupled with weak external communica on strategy and prac ces:Event — may lead to inability of the Agency in congruently reconciling diverse stakeholders expecta ons and eff ec vely transla ng them into Agency’s programming process so:Eff ect — impairing the quality of objec ves defi ned in the annual Work Programme.Reputa onal risk is at stake as well.

Strategic processes

High Stakeholder analysis carried out during CAF led to stakeholders mapping.The regular mee ngs/workshops/networks with the key Agency stakeholders which are installed con nue in an ever mature way (NRB, NSA, NIB, MS and EU Commission). Stakeholder management process will be formalised in the Quality Steering Group in 2014. A par cular focus is already given to streamlining rela onships with the EU Commission as regards condi ons and modali es for accep ng new tasks.

Performance measurement

Root cause — Lack of a formal tool for measuring Agency’s performance may lead to:Event — signifi cant weakening of the decision- making and planning processes so:Eff ect — pu ng at risk the overall sustainability of core business.Reputa onal risk is at stake as well.

Management processes

High KPIs are introduced in WP 2014, monitoring and use of the results in the course of 2014

67

Communica on strategy and prac ces

Root cause — Lack of communica on strategy and codifi ed prac ces may nega vely:Event — impact ability of the Agency in eff ec vely conveying messages to key stakeholders and in running soundly crisis management events:Eff ect — put into danger an eff ec ve, mely and consistent implementa on of the Agency’s output in the railway sector. Reputa onal risk is at stake as well.

Support processes

High Communica on plan/strategy started in summer 2013, Work Programme 2014 contains fi rst synopsis of ERA’s communica on ac vi es. Op misa on of the se ng of stakeholder/message/channel star ng in 4Q13, progress report in March 2014 Administra ve Board. Process agreed with Administra ve Board.

Reduc on of resources in short–medium term as from 2014

Root cause — Persistent fi nancial crisis in Europe may lead the European Council and Parliament to propose severe budget restric ons to EU budget fi nancial perspec ves 2014–20, so: Event — the Agency may be required to cut its budget again for 2014 and onwards so:Eff ect — the delivery of diff erent Agency’s outputs to reach the strategic objec ves may not be possible or strongly impacted from 2014 onwards


High (a) Enhancement of mul -annual planning process (resources and outputs) started in 4Q2013 to ensure eff ec ve budget alloca on and proper spending during carrying out of ERA tasks.

(b) As a result of the communica on to all stakeholders and in the forefront of the 4th Railway Package, ERA’s budget has not been reduced in a vital way for 2014 and remains s ll stable over the next period.

Comprehen-sibility of ERA’s outputs

Root cause — Poor clarity and low understandability of ERA’s outputs/products could lead:Event — to rejec on and/or reluctance by ERA stakeholders in using/accep ng the outputs so leading to:Eff ect — the Agency being unable to prove the fulfi lment of its strategic objec ves as stated in WP.

Strategic processes

High Simplicity and clarity as guiding principles in product development. This will be assured by regularly using test user groups and by collec ng stakeholders’ feedback when developing and improving products and services.

Change of legal framework

Root cause — Current EC proposals for the Fourth Railway Package would change fundamentally the approach and the related responsibili es of the safety cer fi cate:Event — this could lead to lack of commitment from our diff erent stakeholders to harmonise their way of working:Eff ect — pu ng into danger the mely and consistent implementa on of the Agency’s output with nega ve impact on objec ve 1.2 and 4.

Strategic processes

High 1. Be regularly updated by EC on the status of this proposal of change for the 4th RP2. If the proposal seems to be confi rmed, organise regular discussions with NSAs during NSA network or bi-laterally to establish the transi on from NSA gran ng the SC to the ERA.3. If the proposal seems to be confi rmed when discussions confi rm lack of harmonisa on, provide ac ve support to the NSA (depending if resources are available).

68

Evolu on of ERTMS outside Europe

Root cause — ERTMS deployment is progressing at much faster pace outside EU; EU market is now reduced to about 50 % of total. This will lead to ERTMS being more and more infl uenced by non-EU requirements, contracts, and context:Event — there is a risk that in the medium term the Agency role of system authority will be put in ques on so leading to:Eff ect — pu ng into danger the mely and consistent implementa on of the ERTMS outputs with nega ve impact on objec ve 3. In par cular the objec ve of Ar cle 1 of the interoperability direc ve ‘to progressively establish the market for products and services’ will be put in jeopardy if the EU technical harmonisa on does not take account of the worldwide standardisa on of ERTMS.


High This is a residual risk where the Agency alone has limited margin of manoeuvre. The two main ac ons at the level of the Agency are:1. To increase our awareness of the global standardisa on eff orts, of the actors and strategic direc ons: this can be done with the help of the sector, with par cipa on to selected Conferences, etc.2. To pursue and when possible to intensify our contacts with regulatory bodies outside the EU, to share experiences, to understand approaches and when possible to coordinate ac ons: this can be done e.g. with the coopera on agreements or MoU (like the one with FRA).

Delay concerning Agency registers

Root cause — Lack of stakeholders’ agreement on purpose and method of use of ERA’s registers will lead to:Event — rejec on and/or reluctance in using this product by stakeholders so impac ng:Eff ect — the related objec ves (i.e. unsound use of resources) with signifi cant reputa onal risks vis-à-vis ERA’s stakeholders


High Issue has been brought up at the appropriate level (RISC and EC) in 2013. Several ac ons have been started as a workshop with EC and stakeholders on registers and a ‘working party for the ra onalisa on of the use of registers’ to reach an acceptable level of consensus among stakeholders as regards the development of registers.

Delays in the execu on of procurement procedures

Root cause — 1. inappropriate procurement planning; 2. delays in prepara on of procurement documenta on; 3. delays in the evalua on process. 1., 2. and 3. leading to:Event — late contracts signature so leading to:Eff ect — excessive carryovers pu ng annuality principle at stake— delays in the implementa on of the Work Programme— high exposure to cri cism and fi ndings from ECA— pu ng at risk the discharging process from the budgetary authority (COCOBU)— reputa onal risk

Support processes

High 1. To avoid planning of late contract signature; any procedure leading to the signature of a contract in Q4 of the year will be cancelled/postponed to next year/rescheduled for an earlier signature date.2. Raising awareness of AO’s obliga ons by expanding regular repor ng on the state of aff airs (improved fi nancial monthly repor ng to MT)

Internal Control Standards

Compliance with Internal Control Standards

Sixteen ICS were adopted by the Agency in line with the requirement of its Financial Regula on (Ar cle 38.4).

In 2013, The ICS assessment has been carried out to-gether with the Internal Quality Audit.

The aim of this exercise was to provide the Execu ve Director with relevant informa on on the status of the internal control system within the Agency, to re-inforce his declara on of assurance contained in this Annual Ac vity Report.

The evalua on on compliance showed that the Agen-cy s ll needs to make some eff ort in order to achieve full compliance on 50 % of the standards, while minor improvements are required for the remaining 50 %.

Please fi nd below a summary table on 2013 ICS as-sessment.

69

Ref. ICS Full Compliance

Par al Compliance

Ac ons planned for 2014for achieving full compliance

ICS 1 MissionICS 2 Ethics & ValuesICS 3 Staff recruitmentmobility, turn over

Enhance eff ec ve control over management of Job Descrip ons. A working group was established to develop the ‘Job Descrip on’ procedure.

ICS 4 Staff performance, management & developmentICS 5 Objec ves and performance indicators

In WP2014 key outputs have been iden fi ed. Monitoring of the related KPIs will be implemented in 2014.During CDR exercise (1Q2014) the link between individual objec ves and the objec ves of ERA by applying the cascade process will be communicated.

ICS 6 Risk management processICS 7 Opera onal structure

Ac ons ACT-2013-18 and ACT-2013-25 regarding ABAC access rights and sensi ve func ons will be closed during 2014.

ICS 8 Process and procedures

The Agency will con nue during 2014 designing and implemen ng the ERA management system internal documents.

ICS 9 Management supervision

As part of the implementa on of the ERA Management System addi onal supervision ac vi es will be implemented during 2014 to ensure the effi ciency and eff ec veness of the Agency.

ICS 10 Business con nuity Ac on ACT-2013-6 is foreseen to be fi nished in March 2014.

ICS 11 Document management

DMS and the related rules/procedures to be fi nalised and implemented during 2014 by achieving full integra on with ISO approach adopted by the Agency.

ICS 12 Informa on and communica on

Development of a formal Communica on policy and prac ces will be completed during 2014.

ICS 13 Accoun ng and fi nancial repor ngICS 14 Evalua on of ac vi esICS 15 Assessment of internal control systemICS 16 Internal audit/quality capability

Materiality Criteria

The thresholds that are applied by the European Court of Auditors as regards the fi nancial statements

are the following: individual errors exceeding 2 % of the balance sheet total or exceeding 25 % of a given balance sheet heading which represents as a mini-mum 0.5 % of the balance sheet total must be cor-rected.

70

C. Building Blocks Towards the Declara on of Assurance

Assessment by management

Results of budgetary monitoring

The 2013 budget was subject to close and regular monitoring to ensure op mal and sound manage-ment of the Agency’s fi nancial resources.

The level of commitment execu on reached nearly 98 %, i.e. above the level of 2012.

As regards the payment appropria ons, the Agency used 88 % of the commi ed appropria ons and thus has complied with the carry-over threshold, of re-spec vely 10 %, 20 % and 30 %, applied by the Court for all three tles, compared to 90 % in 2012. This sig-nifi cant improvement is a result of serious of ac ons aimed at reducing the carry-overs, in par cular for opera onal expenditure (Title 3 of the budget) main-ly by further strengthening the procurement planning and procedures and improving the procedures for payments by reducing the processing me.

Legality and regularity

Depending on the risk level of the transac on, ERA has two workfl ows: one complete workfl ow model for high-risk transac ons and one light workfl ow model for low-risk transac ons (amount < EUR 1 000). These diff eren ated workfl ows apply only to payments. An ex-ante fi nancial verifi ca on is processed for high-risk transac ons while in the simplifi ed, low-risk work-fl ow, the fi nancial verifying agent has been removed and an ex-post control for this par cular expenditure is carried out.

Accordingly, in 2013 ex-post controls con nued to be carried out using the same methodology as in the past: sampling, detailed fi ndings and reports with recommenda ons. Following the risk assessment, it was decided to focus in 2013 on the reimbursement of mission expenses and the reimbursement of the mass payment fi les for recruitment interviews. The results of the controls were excellent. This was mainly due to the implementa on of a service desk portal for all ques ons related to reimbursement of mission expenses and to a greater coherence in applica on of the mission reimbursement rules.

A simplifi ed Annual Ac vity Report has been signed by all Delegated Authorising Offi cers who have to formally endorse the responsibility of the fi nancial transac ons validated in the course of 2013 and to declare any confl ict and/or fraud of which they might be aware. The simplifi ed AAR is integrated in the AAR of the Execu ve Director.

Valida on of the accoun ng system

No valida on of the local systems was carried out in 2013 since there were no signifi cant changes to the exis ng system. All ac ons iden fi ed as a result of the 2012 valida on were implemented in the course of 2013.

Registra on of excep ons

No fi nancial loss for the Agency has resulted from the excep ons registered in 2013.

More than half of 33 excep ons related to the late submission of staff mission cost claims. In addi on:

- six excep ons were related to a breach of Ar- cle 62 of the ERA FR (no commitment or un-

deres ma on of the commitment foreseen to cover a legal obliga on);

- one excep on was related to procurement rules (a posteriori increased market ceiling);

- two excep ons related to the extension of the dura on of the traineeships;

- one excep on related to the use of the EPS°-CAST database for the recruitment of contrac-tual agent secretaries;

- three other excep ons related to devia ons from internal rules (bringing in of non-standard equipment, policy on mobile phones and policy on reimbursement farewell drink for manage-ment).

It should be noted that the excep ons registered in the course of the previous year (2012) have been duly analysed at the beginning of 2013. Since then the Agency adopted the ‘Nonconformity Manage-ment Procedure’ and organised informa on sessions for the staff dealing with missions (mainly secretar-ies). The development of an automa c reminder for

71

staff members a er comple ng the mission had to be postponed pending other modifi ca ons of the e-HR system used at ERA.

Accordingly, the Agency s ll needs to address the weaknesses iden fi ed in the excep ons by:

- developing an automa c reminder to the staff members a er the mission has been completed (foreseen for 1 Q 2014);

- organising a refreshment informa on session to explain to staff how to avoid situa ons like ‘a posteriori commitment’ or the wrong use of low-value market procedures.

Fraud

Indicator Result 2013 Result 2012 Variance analysis/comments

Cases referred to OLAF 0 0 N/A

Data protec on

Context

The Agency con nued in 2013 the implementa on of the ac ons iden fi ed during the two previous years as necessary to a ain the set targets for reaching per-sonal data protec on compliance.

A number of actors, mainly the Data Protec on Of-fi cer, the Data Controllers and the Data Protec on Co-ordinators were ac vely involved and contributed to progress made towards data protec on compliance and to meet the objec ves set by the European Data Protec on Supervisor in 2011 mainly in terms of pro-cessing no fi ed, training and privacy by design.

The aim was to become compliant to the Agency rules by ensuring that the personal data of the Agency staff as well as those of our external partners are lawfully, adequately, propor onately and properly processed in line with Regula on (EC) 45/2001.

ERA DPO Inventory

The Agency kept on upda ng throughout the year the inventory which comprises a list of all the personal data processing opera ons of the organisa on.

The Agency’s inventory includes 56 entries which correspond to the ERA processing opera ons as they have been iden fi ed un l today. The inventory gives informa on about the name of the processing, whether the no fi ca on is prior-checkable or not, the name of the controller, risk level and status.

ERA DPO Register

All processing opera ons or sets of opera ons in-tended to serve a single purpose or several related purposes must be no fi ed by the data controller to the DPO. The informa on provided includes the

set of data specifi ed in Ar cle 25 of Regula on (EC) 45/2001.

The Register comprises 53 no fi ca ons of which 17 correspond to prior check processing opera ons.

Similar to the inventory, the ERA DPO Register is a data base which contains all no fi ca ons submi ed to the DPO in line with the requirements set by Regu-la on (EC) 45/2001.

The Agency con nued to no fy the processing opera- ons and at the same me verifi ed that the informa- on regarding processing in the HR fi eld was kept up-

dated in rela on to ongoing changes in the processing procedures.

Privacy by design

The Agency enhanced its eff orts in considering ear-ly enough the data protec on aspects in IT projects which cover all opera onal business. A number of documents were elaborated to provide how privacy by design will be implemented, for example the ICT Strategy 2012 — 2014, ICT Work plan 2013. During the projects incep on phase a vision document and during the project elabora on, the Supplementary Specifi ca ons contain a sec on to specify the require-ments for data protec on.

It has been considered widening ‘doing it by design’ further than to the developments of proprietary IT business systems. More par cularly in the fi eld of inter-nal IT development (so ware solu ons management developed in the Agency for administra ve databases etc), the use of the simplifi ed Vision document for for-malising the examina on of the data protec on ques- ons was proposed to be introduced.

Staff training and awareness raising

The training on data protec on was organised in the form of sessions for all staff members as well as tar-geted modules for newcomers and for staff who are

72

more involved in the implementa on of Regula on 45/2001.

A dedicated website with full informa on on data protec on has been developed on which all the avail-able awareness material including training material are posted. The Data Protec on Day has been cele-brated at the Agency with a quiz and material on the latest developments, on the legal framework and defi -ni ons, and a sec on on the data protec on at the Agency as well as general useful informa on and links.

Outputs

The Agency has iden fi ed 17 prior-check processing opera ons. They have all been no fi ed except two due to the fact that procedures are not yet in place.

Forty-two Ar cle 25 Regula on (EC) 45/2001 no fi ca- ons were no fi ed to the DPO register.

The Agency no fi ed in 2013 two true prior-check no- fi ca ons rela ng to the processing opera ons: pro-

curement and harassment.

Results from audits and evalua ons during the repor ng year

The following paragraphs will present the ac vity car-ried out by the bodies providing internal and external audi ng services to the European Railway Agency. This ac vity is considered essen al for the Execu ve Director in order to build his declara on of assurance.

Audits European Court of Auditors (ECA)

In its report on the annual accounts of the Europe-an Railway Agency for the fi nancial year 2012 (1), the European Court of Auditors expressed the following opinions:

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts

‘In the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s Annual Accounts (2) present fairly, in all material respects, its fi nancial posi on as of 31 December 2012 and the results of its opera ons and its cash fl ows for the year then end-ed, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial

1 OJ C 388, 15.12.2012.

2 The Final Annual Accounts were drawn up on 4 July 2012 and received by the Court on 7 July 2012. The Final Annual Accounts, consolidated with those of the Commission, are published in the Offi cial Journal of the European Union by 15 November of the following year. These can be found on the following website h p://eca.europa.eu or www.era.europa.eu.

Regula on and the accoun ng rules adopted by the Commission’s accoun ng offi cer (3).’

Opinion on the legality and the regularity of the trans-ac ons underlying the accounts

‘In the Court’s opinion, the transac ons underlying the annual accounts of the Agency for the fi nancial year ended 31 December 2012 are legal and regular in all material respects.’

The Court of Auditors has commented the fact that the Agency had suppressed the Internal Audit Capa-bility and replaced it with an Internal Control Coor-dinator func on. Given that the internal auditor had le the agency and had not yet been replaced, the auditors expressed their uncertain es on how the in-ternal audi ng func on provided for in the Agency’s fi nancial regula on would be carried out under the new structure. The internal control coordinator took up his post on 1 March 2014.

In addi on, the Court expressed its concern about the correctness of calcula ons of the family allowances and requested the Agency to reinforce the exis ng controls in order to make sure that they were calcu-lated on the basis of complete and up to date infor-ma on.

The above comments do not call the Court’s opinions into ques on.

Internal Audit Service (IAS)

In November 2013 the IAS carried out a follow-up au-dit on open recommenda ons, which ERA considered as ready for closure. The dra report was received in February 2014. The audit focused in par cular on the recommenda ons regarding HR Management, Plan-ning & Budge ng, Expert Management and Building Block of Assurance and resulted in the closure of fi ve recommenda ons for the Agency and one downgrade from very important to important rate. Another four recommenda ons were closed and one downgraded, following the desk review by IAS at the beginning and at the end of 2013. The result is represented in the overview table in the next paragraph on Audits Inter-nal Audit Capability (IAC). Further recommenda ons are requested to be closed in the course of 2014.

Audits Internal Audit Capability (IAC)

3 The accoun ng rules adopted by the Commission’s accoun ng offi cer are derived from Interna onal Public Sector Accoun ng Standards (IPSAS) issued by the Interna onal Federa on of Accountants or, in their absence, Interna onal Accoun ng Standards (IAS)/Interna onal Financial Repor ng Standards (IFRS) issued by the Interna onal Accoun ng Standards Board.

73

Following an in-depth cost/benefi t analysis, the Agen-cy’s management decided in 2012 not to have an In-ternal Audit Capability but to rely on the IAS for this ac vity. It was also decided to set up an internal con-trol coordinator func on aiming at be er suppor ng the Execu ve Director in implemen ng risk manage-ment and in assessing the internal control system, including evalua ng the Internal Control Standards, its eff ec ve integra on into the quality management system and the support in implemen ng the internal quality management audit. For this aim, the func on of the Internal Control Coordinator (ICC) will replace the one of Internal Auditor (IA) at the Agency. A selec- on procedure for the recruitment of an ICC had been

launched and concluded in 2013. The newly recruited ICC started in March 2014. Despite the fact that the Agency did not have a proper IAC func on in place, a set of internal control and audit exercises were car-ried out (cf project 12.2).

Follow up of reserva ons and ac on plans for audits from previous years

No reserva ons were issued by the Execu ve Director from the start of the ac vi es of the Agency.

During 2013, the Agency has con nued to implement correc ve ac ons in order to close audit recommen-da ons issued by the IAS in the previous years. In this regard, a signifi cant eff ort was made during 2013 aimed at implemen ng an important number of audit recommenda ons. This eff ort resulted in closing nine IAS recommenda ons.

The Agency s ll needs to implement in total 13 rec-ommenda ons whose comple on is envisaged within 2014.

Please fi nd below a table summarising on the status of audit recommenda ons during the year 2013:

Status as of 31/12/2013

Total of recommenda ons contained in the audit report

Recommenda ons implemented by ERA and closed by IAS

Under implementa on by ERA

Audit on Human Resources Management /2009

Cri cal 0

Very Important 4 3 1

Important 2 2 0

Total 6 5 1

Audit on Budge ng and Planning/2010

Cri cal 0


Important 11 8 3

Total 16 13 3

Audit on Expert Management in Interoperability/2011

Cri cal 0

74


Important 4 2 2

Desirable 1 1 0

Total 6 4 2

Audit on AAR & Building Blocks of Assurance/2012

Cri cal 0


Important 7 3 4

Desirable 1 0 1

Total 10 3 7

Grand Total 38 25 13

Follow up of observa ons from the discharge authority

In April 2013 the discharge authority granted dis-charge to ERA’s Execu ve Director for the implemen-ta on of the 2011 budget. In its resolu on, the dis-charge authority raised concerns regarding measures ensuring the respect of the budgetary principle of an-nuality, i.e. too high level of carry-overs of the Agency, in par cular for opera onal expenditure and also the staff situa on at ERA due to the expected signifi cant turnover.

As regards the level of carry-overs, the Agency is car-rying out close budget execu on monitoring since 2012. This improved the Agency’s business and pro-curement planning as well as payment procedures and further reduced processing me of payments. The reinforced budget monitoring resulted in reach-ing in both budget years, e.g. 2012 and 2013, the targets applied by the Court of Auditors, namely car-ry-overs of less than 10 % in Title 1, less than 20 % in Title 2 and less than 30 % in Title 3. It should also be noted that nearly the en re amount carried over was spent during the following year (96 % of the car-ry-overs were used in 2012 and 2013).

With regard to the staff situa on, the Agency took several ini a ves in terms of improving knowledge management and recruitment planning. But it was deemed impossible to ensure the necessary business con nuity in view of par cularly high turnover of op-era onal staff expected in the coming years. Accord-ingly, in July 2013 ERA asked for the Commission’s agreement to an amendment of the implemen ng rule on the use and engagement of temporary agents at the Agency. In October 2013, the Commission gave its agreement to the amendment which entered into force in November 2013. In line with the new provi-sions, as of 11 November 2013 the ERA opera onal staff can occupy long-term posi ons which was not the case before. It is the expecta on that as a result of this revision of the implemen ng rule, the staff turno-ver will be reduced to a manageable level.

Conclusions

Based on all the elements and facts presented in the previous sec ons, it can be concluded that the infor-ma on presented in the previous sec ons is reasona-bly complete and reliable and provides an exhaus ve and fair view of the Agency’s situa on.

75

76

I, the undersigned, Execu ve Director of the European Railway Agency,

In my capacity as authorising offi cer,

Declare that the informa on contained in this report gives a true and fair view.

State that I have reasonable assurance that the resources assigned to the ac vi es described in this report have been used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the principles of sound fi nancial management, and that the control procedures put in place give the necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the underlying transac ons.

This reasonable assurance is based on my own judgment and on the informa on at my disposal, such as the re-sults of the self-assessment, ex-post controls, the work of the Internal Audit Service and the lessons learnt from the reports of the Court of Auditors for years prior to the year of this declara on.

Confi rm that I am not aware of anything not reported here which could harm the interests of the Agency.

Valenciennes,

(signature)

Marcel VERSLYPE

D. Declara on of Assurance

77

Annex I Sta s cs on fi nancial management (provisional accounts)

Table 1: Budget execu on

2013 Appropria ons Commitments %/App Payments %

/App Carry-over %/App

Title I 16 590 000 16 131 823 97 15 701 820 95 (5)124 690 1

Title II 2 860 000 2 831 915 99 2 316 153 81 515 762 18

Title III 6 408 799 6 343 195 99 4 768 219 74 1 574 976 25

TotalAnnual Subsidy

25 858 799 25 306 933 98 22 786 192 88 2 215 428 9

5 Total carry-over on tle I is EUR 430 003 of which EUR 305 313 is automa cally cancelled since it concerns salary related expenses for which no carry-forward is allowed.

Table 2a: Nego ated Procedures

Contracts ≤ EUR 25 00°Contracts ≥ EUR 60 000

• Count: 8

• Total Amount: EUR 290 171

* (RAP): Rules of Applica on

NumberContractor(s)

Type of Contract Descrip on Amount

(EUR)Legal BaseName

Address

ERA 2013 03 DIR NPPixoo PrintRue Bois des Faulx 26B 6030 Marchienne-au-pont

Framework Service Contract

Design, graphic, edi ng, print. 60 000 Ar cle

137 RAP

ERA 2013 04 RSU NPBedford Hotel135 rue du midiB-1000 Bruxelles

Purchase Order

ERA needed to organise 3 mee ngs for the Heads of Agency and Heads of Administra on (chairmanship).

20 469 Ar cle 137 RAP

Annexes

78

NumberContractor(s)

Type of Contract Descrip on Amount

(EUR)Legal BaseName

Address

ERA 2013 06 RSU NPDiff usion Distribu on Automa que11 rue RousseauF-59210 Dunkerke


Water fountains 17 500 Ar cle 137 RAP

ERA 2013 10 XACC NPINECOPaseo de la Habana 13828036 Madrid (ES)

Direct Service Contract

Proposal for se ng up a One Stop Shop for vehicle authorisa on operated by the European Railway Agency

23 960 Ar cle 137 RAP

ERA 2013 11 DIR NPNewcom76 rue JaurèsF-59410 Anzin


Objets publicitaires 60 000 Ar cle 137 RAP

ERA 2013 12 RSU NPDekra2, rue Galilée, Parc de l’Etoile59760 Grande Synthe


Health & Safety at work 60 000 Ar cle

137 RAP

ERA 2013 15 XACC NPRina SpaVia Corsica 12IT-16128 Genova

Direct Service Contract

Tests required by NSAs going beyond TSIs requirement

22 800 Ar cle 137 RAP

ERA 2013 18 RSU NPLe Nouveau Palace S.A.3 rue GinesteB-1210 Brussels

Purchase Order

ERA needed to organise 3 mee ngs for the Heads of Agency and Heads of Administra on (chairmanship).

25 442 Ar cle 137 RAP

Table 2b: Summary of Procedures

(Excluding real estate contracts and contracts ≤ EUR 15.000)

Type of contract Count Amount (EUR)

Supply 1 60 000

Services 13 1 214 426

Works 0 0

TOTAL 14 1 274 426

Procedures Count Amount (EUR)

Open 5 772 660

Restricted 1 211 595

Nego ated 8 290 171

Nego ated Compe ng 0 0

Other 0 0

TOTAL 14 1 274 426

79

Table 3: Real Estate Contracts

NumberContractor(s) Type of

Contract Descrip on Amount(EUR)

Legal BaseName Address

N/A

Communauté d’aggloméra on de Valenciennes MétropoleHôpital du Hainaut, 2Place de l’Hôpital GénéralBP 6022759305 Valenciennes CedexFRANCE

Hôpital du Hainaut, 2Place de l’Hôpital GénéralBP 6022759305 Valenciennes CedexFRANCE

Building contract

Lease contract of ERA’s headquarters120 rue Lefrancq59300 ValenciennesFRANCE

423 829IR — Art 126(h)

Table 4: Economic Out--turn Account (provisional accounts)

ECONOMIC OUTTURN ACCOUNT 31/12/2013 31/12/2012Revenues from administra ve opera ons -108,40 1 954,05Other opera ng revenues 24 961 246,06 24 389 188,98Subsidy received 24 912 065,85 24 345 524,81

Title 1&2 18 490 000,00 18 716 000,00Title 3 7 213 799,00 6 928 000,00Part of Phare Funds subsidy used in 2012 162 553,77 135 861,21To be reimbursed (Budget ou urn) -954 286,92 -1 434 336,40

Miscellaneous revenue 49 180,21 43 664,17TOTAL OPERATING REVENUE 24 961 137,66 24 391 143,03Administra ve expenses -20 171 195,44 -20 250 248,49

Staff expenses -15 287 292,72 -15 504 476,56Fixed assets related expenses -960 773,66 -785 750,91Other administra ve expenses -3 923 129,06 -3 960 021,02

Opera onal expenses -4 413 748,05 -5 692 968,75Other opera onal expenses -4 413 748,05 -5 692 968,75

TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES -24 584 943,49 -25 943 217,24SURPLUS (DEFICIT) FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 376 194,17 -1 552 074,21Financial revenues 0,00 0,00Financial expenses 0,00 -30,00Movement in pensions (-expense; + revenue) 0,00 0,00SURPLUS (DEFICIT) FROM NON-OPERATING ACTIVITIES 0,00 -30,00SURPLUS (DEFICIT) FROM ORDINARY ACTIVITIES 376 194,17 -1 552 104,21Extraordinary gains (+) 0,00 0,00Extraordinary losses (-) 0,00 0,00SURPLUS (DEFICIT) FROM EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS 0,00 0,00ECONOMIC RESULT OF THE YEAR 376 194,17 -1 552 104,21

Table 5: Balance sheet (provisional accounts)

BALANCE SHEET - ASSETS 31/12/2013 31/12/2012A. NON CURRENT ASSETSIntangible assets 1 506 756,87 1 446 937,83

80

Property, plant and equipment 1 187 373,50 1 009 235,00Land and buildings 4 710,00 5 270,00Plant and equipment 24 695,00 2 828,00Computer hardware 965 685,00 831 772,00Furniture and vehicles 130 201,00 97 983,00Other fi xtures and fi ngs 62 082,50 71 382,00Leasing 0,00 0,00Tangible fi xed assets under construc on 0,00 0,00Long-term receivables 3 371,30 0,00Long-term receivables 3 371,30 0,00TOTAL NON-CURRENT ASSETS 2 697 501,67 2 456 172,83B. CURRENT ASSETSShort-term pre-fi nancing 0,00 0,00Short-term pre-fi nancing 0,00 0,00Short-term receivables 862 115,65 429 952,02Current receivables 564 540,45 385 781,01Long-term receivables falling due within a year 0,00 0,00Sundry receivables 57 281,91 44 171,01Other 240 293,29 0,00

Accrued income 0,00 0,00Deferred charges 105 957,33 0,00Other ac ve accruals & deferrals 17 005,91 0,00Deferrals and accruals with consolidated EC en es 0,00 0,00Short term receivables with consolidated EC en es 117 330,05 0,00

Cash and cash equivalents 2 438 071,75 3 214 156,49TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 3 300 187,40 3 644 108,51TOTAL 5 997 689,07 6 100 281,34

BALANCE SHEET - LIABILITIES 31/12/2013 31/12/2012A. CAPITAL 3 201 064,68 2 824 870,51Accumulated surplus/defi cit 2 824 870,51 4 376 974,72Economic result of the year-profi t+/loss- 376 194,17 -1 552 104,21B. NON CURRENT LIABILITIES 0,00 0,00Employee benefi ts 0,00 0,00Long-term provisions 0,00 0,00TOTAL NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES (A+B) 3 201 064,68 2 824 870,51C. CURRENT LIABILITIES 2 796 624,39 3 275 410,83Provisions for risks and charges 807 627,75 601 268,78Accounts payable 1 988 996,64 2 674 142,05Current payables 1 605,71 24 265,03Long term liabili es falling due within the year 0,00 0,00Sundry payables 3 790,28 7 270,07Other 1 009 140,70 1 076 379,13

Accrued charges 914 677,28 798 362,88Deferred income 0,00 0,00Other passive accruals & deferrals 0,00 0,00Deferrals and accruals with consolidated EC en es 94 463,42 278 016,25

Accounts payable with consolidated EC en es 974 459,95 1 566 227,82

81

BALANCE SHEET - LIABILITIES 31/12/2013 31/12/2012......Prefi nancing received from consolidated EC en es 955 871,94 1 448 475,19......Other accounts payable against consolidated EC en es 18 588,01 117 752,63

TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES 2 796 624,39 3 275 410,83TOTAL 5 997 689,07 6 100 281,34

Table 6: Budget and revenue out-turn (provisional accounts)

2013 2012Revenue Commission subsidy DG TREN 25 703 799.00 25 644 000.00Phare funds from Commission 150 000.00 150 000.00Fee income 0.00 5 000.00Other revenue 40 415.20 115 423.71

Total revenue (a) 25 894 214.20 25 914 423.71ExpenditurePersonnel expenses — Budget Title IPayments 15 701 819.74 15 706 124.98Automa c carry-overs 129 189.72 185 829.80Administra ve expenses — Budget Title IIPayments 2 372 475.58 1 884 860.15Automa c carry-overs 517 657.34 290 927.15Opera onal expenses — Budget Title IIIPayments 4 768 219.22 4 577 176.64Automa c carry-overs 1 574 975.90 1 959 682.33

Total expenditure (b) 25 064 337.50 24 604 601.05Out-turn for the fi nancial year (a-b) 829 876.70 1 309 822.66Cancella on of unused carry-overs 87 293.39 126 316.52Adjustment for carry-over from the previous year of appropria ons available at 31.12 arising from assigned revenue 37 696.85

Exchange diff erences for the year – 580.02 – 1 802.78Balance carried over from year N-1 1 434 346.40 136 683.33Posi ve balance from year N-1 reimbursed in year N to the Commission – 1 434 346.40 – 136 683.33

Balance of the out-turn account for the fi nancial year 954 286.92 1 434 336.40

Not included in the budget out-turn:Interest received by 31/12/N on the Commission subsidy and to be reimbursed to the Commission 14 803.01 24 705.88

82

Annex II Organisa onal chart

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORM.VERSLYPE

EXECUTIVEDIRECTOR’s OFFICE

HEAD OF OFFICEJ.ENGELMANN

SAFETYHEAD OF UNIT

C.CARR

REGULATION & SAFETYMONITORING

HEAD OF SECTORC. FISCHER

MANAGEMENT SYSTEMHEAD OF SECTORJ.M. DECHAMPS

SUPERVISION&INVESTIGATION

HEAD OF SECTORB. ACCOU

OPERATIONALHEAD OF SECTORK. BRANDSTACK

FIXED INSTALLATIONSHEAD OF SECTOR

A. HARASSEK

COORDINATIONHEAD OF SECTOR

F. ARDIACA

ROLLING STOCKHEAD OF SECTOR

H. LAVOGIEZ

INTEROPERABILITYHEAD OF UNIT

D. BIASIN

HUMAN RESOURCESHEAD OF SECTOR

C. RICHELLE

FINANCE &PROCUREMENT

HEAD OF SECTORS. RICOTTA

IT & FACILITIESMANAGEMENT

HEAD OF SECTORE. TRAMACERE

ADMINISTRATIONHEAD OF UNIT

M. EMBORG

EVALUATIONHEAD OF SECTOR

P. MIHM

AUTHORISATION PROCESS

HEAD OF SECTORNT. TOURNIER

CROSS ACCEPTANCEHEAD OF UNIT

R. LOCKETT

ECONOMICEVALUATION

HEAD OF UNITA. MAGNIEN

ERTMSHEAD OF UNIT

P. GUIDO

83

Annex III a Establishment plan

Category and GradeEstablishment Plan in Budget 2013 Real at 31/12/2013

Offi cials TA TA

AD 16

AD 15

AD 14 1 1

AD 13

AD 12

AD 11 2

AD 10 13 6

AD 9 26 24

AD 8 22 24

AD 7 9 2

AD 6 30 36

AD 5 1

Total AD 0 103 94

AST 11

AST 10

AST 9 2

AST 8 2 2

AST 7 1 1

AST 6 2 4

AST 5 5 5

AST 4 6 5

AST 3 8 6

AST 2 8 12

AST 1 6 5

Total AST 0 40 40

TOTAL 0 143 134

84

Annex III b Staff composi on

B lg a26%

2%

2%

2%

Be g a26%

85

Administrator (AD)

Belgian 33%

Hungarian8%

Irish 9%

Romanian8%

Greek9%

French 33%

Contract Agent (CA)

German34%

Finnish33%

Lithuanian33%

Seconded National Expert (SNE)

Belgian 43%

Italian10%

Danish 2%

Spanish8%

French 23%

Assistant (AST)

Greek 5%

Polish 4%

Romanian 5%

Swedish 3%

86

Belgian26% Female

Male

58%42%Belgian

26% Female

Male73%

27%

Belgian26% Female

Male

34%

66%

Gender balance per contract type

Belgian26% Female

Male70%

30%

Administrator

Belgian26% Female

Male

30%

70%

Assistant

Belgian26% Female

Male

50%50%

Contract agent

Belgian26% Female

Male

67%33%

87

Annex IV Human and fi nancial resources by ac vity (planned vs actual)

The following table shows the planned resources as described in the Work Programme 2013:

Ac vity

Unit Staff planned

DIRECT COSTS INDIRECT COSTS

SUB-TOTAL Distributed overhead TOTALCHAP 30 BL3110 Chapter 31

- BL3110 Titles 1 &2

FTE ACTIVITIES STUDIES TRANSLATIONS, INTERPRETATION

1. Developing and promo ng a common understanding of a Safety Management System

3,45 135 940 120 000 130 820 0 0 424 699 811 459 320 146 1 131 605

2. Developing and promo ng harmonised principles for accident inves ga on bodies

1,96 75 840 120 000 132 020 0 0 241 278 569 138 181 880 751 018

3. Developing and promo ng a harmonised Safety Regulatory Framework

8,76 307 980 60 000 93 520 0 0 1 078 367 1 539 867 812 891 2 352 759

4. Monitoring Safety Performance 14,55 153 160 0 43 640 0 1 791 123 1 987 923 1 350 179 3 338 103

5. Facilita on of Vehicle Autorisa on 16,08 167 000 50 000 20 000 0 0 1 979 468 2 216 468 1 492 157 3 708 625

6. ERTMS System Authority 10,40 360 000 250 000 15 000 0 1 280 253 1 905 253 965 077 2 870 330

7.Technical Specifi ca ons 20,85 430 100 320 000 100 000 0 0 2 566 661 3 416 761 1 934 793 5 351 554

8. Railway staff 1,35 77 980 0 0 0 166 187 244 167 125 274 369 441

9. Shared databases and registers 10,25 131 450 0 0 1 578 299 0 1 261 788 2 971 537 951 157 3 922 694

10. Monitoring Interoperability 2,20 47 350 0 0 0 0 270 823 318 173 204 151 522 324

11.Economic evalua on of Agency products 6,55 86 220 0 40 000 0 0 806 313 932 533 607 813 1 540 346

12.Support to the Agency opera ons 46,05 0 0 0 655 500 320 000 5 668 813 6 644 313 -6 644 313 0

13. Agency Management 15,55 186 980 0 0 0 200 000 1 914 225 2 301 205 -2 301 205 0

Grand Total 158 2 160 000 920 000 575 000 2 233 799 520 000 19 450 000 25 858 799 0 25 858 799

88

The following table shows the actual resources used in 2013:

Ac vity

Unit Staff DIRECT COSTS INDIRECT COSTS

SUB-TOTAL Distributed overhead TOTALat 31/12 CHAP 30 BL3110 Chapter 31 -

BL3110 Titles 1 &2

FTE ACTIVITIES STUDIES TRANSLATIONS, INTERPRETATION

Developing and promo ng a common understanding of Safety Management System

3,45 125 940,00 119 990,00 150 320,00 0,00 0,00 439 093,26 835 343,26 328 341,01 1 163 684,27

Developing and promo ng harmonised principles for accident inves ga on bodies

1,96 75 840,00 0,00 132 020,00 0,00 0,00 249 455,88 457 315,88 186 535,76 643 851,64

Developing and promo ng a harmonised Safety Regulatory framework

8,76 297 980,00 51 503,00 93 520,00 0,00 0,00 1 114 915,07 1 557 918,07 833 700,64 2 391 618,71

Monitoring of Safety Performance 14,55 143 160,00 0,00 43 640,00 0,00 0,00 1 851 828,11 2 038 628,11 1 384 742,50 3 423 370,61

Facilita on of Vehicle Authorisa on 14,08 119 900,00 46 760,00 98 041,00 0,00 0,00 1 792 009,60 2 056 710,60 1 340 011,99 3 396 722,59

ERTMS System Authority 11,4 319 954,00 496 248,00 7 280,00 0,00 0,00 1 450 916,87 2 274 398,87 1 084 952,89 3 359 351,76

Technical Specifi ca ons 19,85 370 100,00 217 670,00 93 821,00 0,00 0,00 2 526 377,18 3 207 968,18 1 889 150,43 5 097 118,60

Railway staff 1,35 62 980,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 171 819,10 234 799,10 128 481,26 363 280,37

Shared Databases and registers 9,25 77 450,00 0,00 0,00 1 734 098,00 0,00 1 177 279,04 2 988 827,04 880 334,58 3 869 161,62

Monitoring Interoperability 2,2 45 553,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 280 001,50 325 554,50 209 376,87 534 931,37

Economic Evalua on of Agency products 4,55 51 717,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 579 094,01 630 811,01 433 029,44 1 063 840,46

Support to Agency opera ons 43,05 0,00 0,00 0,00 529 472,00 352 357,00 5 479 120,27 6 360 949,27 -6 360 949,27 0,00

Agency Management 14,55 166 980,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 318 900,00 1 851 828,11 2 337 708,11 -2 337 708,11 0,00

Total 149 1 857 554,00 932 171,00 618 642,00 2 263 570,00 671 257,00 18 963

738,0025 306 932,00 0,00 25 306

932,00

The gap between the planed FTE number (158) and the staff employed at the end of 2013 (149) resulted from the open vacancies due to natural fl uctua on and vacancies which could not be fi lled in 2013. The individual impacts on the Agency’s work programme are described in detail in the diff erent ac vity/project chapters of the underlying report.

89

Annex V a Composi on of the Administra ve Board 2009-2014*

I. MEMBER STATES

MEMBER STATE MEMBER OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD ALTERNATE

AUSTRIA Mr Wolfgang CATHARIN Mr Klaus GSTETTENBAUER

BELGIUM Mr Joannes PEETERS Ms Clio LIEGEOIS

BULGARIA Mr Veselin VASILEV Ms Silvia SHUMELOVA

CROATIA Mr Kresimir RAGUZ Ms Ljiljana BOSAK

CYPRUS Mr Nicos IACOVOU Ms Elpida EPAMINONDA

CZECH REPUBLIC Mr Jindřich KUŠNÍR Mr Luboš KNÍŽEK

DENMARK Mr Jesper RASMUSSEN Mr Hans Chris an WOLTER

ESTONIA Mr Raigo UUKKIVI Mr Indrek LAINEVEER

FINLAND Mr Yrjö MÄKELÄ Mr Hannu PENNANEN

FRANCE Mr Benoit CHEVALIER Ms Ainhoa SAN MARTIN

GERMANY Mr Ralf SCHWEINSBERG Mr Wolfram NEUHÖFER

GREECE Mr Triantafyllos PAPATRIANTAFYLLOU Mr Konstan nos PITSAS

HUNGARY Mr Gábor RÁCZ Mrs Helga NEMETH

IRELAND Ms Mary MOLLOY Ms Caitriona KEENAHAN

ITALY Mr Antonio PARENTE Mr Giorgio MORANDI

LATVIA Mr Jánis EIDUKS Mr Andris DUNSKIS

LITHUANIA Mr Robertas ŠERĖNAS Mr Antanas DUBIKAITIS

LUXEMBOURG Mr Jeannot POEKER Mr André BISSEN

MALTA To be appointed To be appointed

NETHERLANDS Mr Hinne J.Y. GROOT Mr Peter NEUTEBOOM

POLAND To be appointed Mr Piotr CUKIERSKI

PORTUGAL Mr António CRISÓSTOMO TEIXEIRA Mr José ARANHA ANTUNES

ROMANIA Mr Claudiu DUMITRESCU Mr Dinu DRĂGAN

SLOVAKIA Mr Mikuláš SEDLÁK Mr Miroslav DORCAK

SLOVENIA Mr Ljubo ŽERAK Ms Breda KRIŽNAR

SPAIN Mr Jorge BALLESTEROS SÁNCHEZ Mr Eduardo SANTIAGO GONZÁLEZ

SWEDEN Mr Mats ANDERSSON Mr Carl SILFVERSWÄRD

UNITED KINGDOM Mr Robin GROTH Mr Christopher ANGELL

90

II. EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA (EEA)*

MEMBER STATE MEMBER OF THE ADMINISTRATION BOARD ALTERNATE

NORWAY Mr Erik Ø. REIERSØL-JOHNSEN Mr Øystein RAVIK

Status: 31.01.2014

III. EUROPEAN COMMISSION*

MEMBERS ALTERNATES

FUNCTION/MEMBER OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD

NAME FUNCTION NAME

DIRECTOR-GENERAL

DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MOBILITY AND TRANSPORT

Mr Ma hias RUETEDEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL


Mr Fo s KARAMITSOS

(ac ng)

DIRECTORIN CHARGE OF INLAND

TRANSPORT POLICY AND THE TRANS-EUROPEAN TRANSPORT NETWORK


Mr Olivier ONIDI

DEPUTY HEAD OF UNIT

IN CHARGE OF RAIL POLICY INCLUDING RELATIONS

WITH THE EUROPEAN RAILWAY AGENCY


Mr Patrizio GRILLO

HEAD OF UNITIN CHARGE OF RAIL POLICY

INCLUDING EUROPEAN RAILWAY AGENCY


Ms Sian PROUT

ADMINISTRATORIN CHARGE OF RELATIONS

WITH THE EUROPEAN RAILWAY AGENCY


Mr Piotr RAPACZ

DIRECTORSHARED RESOURCES

DIRECTORATEDIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MOBILITY AND TRANSPORT

Mr Olivier ONIDI (ac ng)

HEAD OF UNITIN CHARGE OF FINANCIAL

RESOURCES, SHARED RESOURCES DIRECTORATE


Ms Paloma ABA GARROTE

Status: 31/01/2014

IV. REPRESENTATIVES OF THE RAIL SECTOR*

MEMBER ALTERNATERAILWAY UNDERTAKINGS Mr Jacques DAMAS Mr Pierre TONON

INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGERS Ms Monika HEIMING Mr Michele MARIO ELIA

RAILWAY INDUSTRY Mr Dan Anders OTTEBORN Mr Bruno DAMBRINE

WORKER UNIONS Mr Guy GREIVELDING Ms Sabine TRIER

PASSENGERS Mr Christopher IRWIN Mr Rian van der BORGT

FREIGHT CUSTOMERS Mr Mar n BURKHARDT Mr Heiner ROGGE

Status: 31.01.2014

V. Observer*

EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) Mr Caspar EBRECHT

Status*: 31.01.2014

91

Annex V b Composi on of the Sub-Commi ee as of 31 January 2014

MEMBER OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE

Member Alternate

Chairman Deputy-Chairman

Mr Christopher IRWIN,railway sector, representa ve of passengers

Mr Hinne GROOT,representa ve of the Netherlands

Represen ng the Member States

Mr Mats ANDERSSON,representa ve of Sweden

Mr Robin GROTH,representa ve of the United Kingdom

Ms Clio LIEGEOIS,representa ve of Belgium

Ms Caitriona KEENAHAN,representa ve of Ireland

Mr Ralf SCHWEINSBERG,representa ve of Germany

Mr Gábor RÁCZ,representa ve of Hungary

Represen ng the European Commission

Head of Unit ‘Single European Rail Area’, DG MOVE Administrator in ‘Single European Rail Area’ Unit, DG MOVE, in charge of the European Railway Agency

‘Financial resources’, Shared Resources Directorate, DG MOVE,

Administrator in ‘Financial resources’ Unit, DG MOVE, in charge of the agencies

Represen ng the Railway Sector

Mr Dan OTTEBORN,railway sector, representa ve Railway Industry

Mr Pierre TONON,railway sector, representa ve, Railway Undertakings

Status: 31.01.2014

Annex VI Implementa on of the roadmap on the follow-up to the Common Approach on EU decentralised Agencies

The environment within which decentralised agen-cies operate is undergoing drama c change these years. The need for a more coherent and effi cient framework has led to the Commission’s Communica- on ‘The European Agencies — The way forward’ of

March 2008 and later the launching of an Inter-Ins -tu onal Working Group (IIWG) on EU Agencies. The result of the IIWG was the Common Approach from July 2012 based on which the Commission developed its Roadmap.

The Roadmap of 19 December 2012 contains 90 ac- ons (for Agencies, the EU Ins tu ons and Member

States) to follow-up on the Common Approach. The document sets deadlines and priori es. The iden -fi ed priority ac ons concern:

- The Annual Work Programme;

- Confl icts of interest;

- Headquarter agreements;

- ABB / ABM and key performance indicators;

- Guidelines / template for evalua ons.

The Roadmap also required the involvement of the Agencies to work with the three main ins tu ons, in par cular with the Commission, when coopera on with Agencies was considered necessary and use-ful. This was especially important on subjects where Agencies have already started implemen ng the Common Approach individually and where Agencies are be er placed to provide collec ve contribu ons to the Roadmap implementa on on subjects that are

92

of common interest. In addi on, the Roadmap rec-ognises that the Agencies’ diff erent sub-networks ( ) have already been proac ve in this regard.

The EU Agencies Network has also been ac ve in pre-paring their joint contribu ons, in dialogue with the Commission, to many other Roadmap and Roadmap related ac ons such as those dealing with:

- Standard provisions for Agencies’ founding acts;

- Sharing services between agencies;

- Communica on ac vi es;

- New Framework Financial Regula on;

- Developing Single Annual Report templates;

- Preven on and management of confl icts of interest;

- Guidelines on performance indicators for Agency Directors.

The EU Agencies Network provided its fi rst progress report (2) on the implementa on of the Common Ap-

2 In par cular the Performance Development Network (PDN),

proach at the beginning of 2014. It contained the in-forma on on the work carried out collec vely by the Agencies and in some cases also by Agencies individ-ually.

This Annex describes the status of the most impor-tant parts of the work carried out by the European Railway Agency towards the implementa on of the Roadmap. It is the inten on to report regularly as the work progresses.

The EU Agencies Network provided its fi rst progress report (3) on the implementa on of the Common Ap-proach at the beginning of 2014. It contained the in-forma on on the work carried out collec vely by the Agencies and in some cases also by Agencies individ-ually.

This Annex describes the status of the most impor-tant parts of the work carried out by the European Railway Agency towards the implementa on of the Roadmap. It is the inten on to report regularly as the work progresses.

the Inter-Agency Legal Network (IALN) and the Heads of Communica on and Informa on Network (HCIN)

3 ‘Agencies’ ac vi es in 2013 rela ng to the Common Approach’, distributed to three main ins tu ons on 14 January 2014.

Ac on (Roadmap) Agency ac vity in 2013

Heading II — Opera on of agencies

Ra onalisa on

15 — Consider sharing services between agencies, either by proximity of loca ons or by policy area

Agencies On a regular basis

The EU Agencies Network carried out two surveys with regard to services that Agencies could share among themselves. As a result, a catalogue of shared services was developed which lists the types of services and tools that Agencies are willing to make available to each other at no or marginal cost. ERA had off ered to the members of the EU Agencies Network a number of IT tools developed under the Sharepoint applica on at no cost.In addi on, at the end of 2013 ERA agreed to share its accountant’s services during 6 execu ve months (with a possible extension un l end of September 2014) with ESMA located in Paris. The full segrega on of accoun ng du es of Accoun ng Offi cer of ERA and the services provided as Accoun ng Offi cer of ESMA is ensured. The working me and salary costs (based on me sheets) are shared between both Agencies.

Websites

25 — Ensure the website men ons that they are European Union agencies

Agencies As soon as possible if not already the case

ERA’s website men ons that ERA is ‘An agency of the European Union’.

Annual Work Programme

93


28 — Develop and use Key Performance Indicators

Agencies / COM

Every year ERA has been providing in its subsequent annual ac vity reports some key fi nancial performance indicators.In its Work Programme 2014, it has been for the fi rst me where a full set (in total 41) of key outputs considered as key performance indicators, were proposed by the Agency and adopted by the ERA Administra ve Board. These relate in the fi rst instance to the opera onal ac vi es of the Agency and not only to its fi nancial management.

Mul -annual Work Programme

29 — Draw up mul -annual strategic programmes or guidelines linked with mul annual resource planning (budget and staff in par cular) and linked with successive annual work programmes


The fi rst Mul -annual work programme 2014-2017 of the European Railway Agency has been adopted by the Administra ve Board on 26 November 2013.The link between the strategic programmes and mul annual resource planning has not yet been established. However, Ar cle 32 of the new Framework Financial Regula on (FFR) requires that each Agency develops a Single Programming Document (SPD) containing both, the mul -annual and annual perspec ves and makes a link to human and fi nancial resources. The template of this document is being developed by the EU Agencies Network in close coopera on with the Commission services. In line with FFR, the document will have to be applied by all Agencies at the latest as of 1 January 2016 (e.g. for the 2017 planning).

Confl icts of interest

34 — Adopt and implement a clear policy on confl icts of interest and, in par cular, exchange experience and possibly develop a coordinated approach to common problems concerning scien fi c commi ees and boards of appeal, and defi ne transparent and objec vely verifi able criteria for the impar ality and independence of the members of Boards of appeal

Agencies 2013 ERA had adopted the confl ict of interest policy applicable to ERA staff in February 2012. This policy needs to be revised in order to incorporate the elements related to the management of COI for the administra ve board and boards of appeal. The revision will be carried out on the basis of the guidelines on COI developed and adopted by the Commission at the end of 2013.

Rela ons with na onal agencies/administra ons

38 — Maintain rela ons with na onal agencies and defi ne clearly the respec ve roles


ERA has no direct correspondence of its roles or tasks in na onal agencies/authori es yet. This will change under the entry into force of the 4th railway package in the horizon 2017-2020 when ERA becomes a decision-making Agency which cooperates with Na onal Safety Authori es. The internal preparatory works cover of course especially the area of the (even contractual) rela onship between ERA and NSAs. Since its beginning of existence, ERA is furthermore running a Network for exchange and coordina on with Na onal Safety Authori es to op mise the rela onship, harmonise decision-making etc.

HEADING III/ Evalua ons, audits and OLAF

Evalua ons

94


50 — MBs to consider the need for ex-ante evalua on of ac vi es/programmes


The ERA Administra ve Board has pointed out several mes the importance of the impact assessment of ERA’s work with the result that the produc on of impact assessments on the own work is even contained as a task for ERA in the proposal for a new Agency Regula on under the 4th Railway Package. Nevertheless, the exis ng Economic Evalua on Unit in ERA is already providing impact assessments for all Agencies’ recommenda ons.

Internal audit and control

53 — To avoid overlaps of audit topics or calendars: IAS to discuss its audit planning with agencies’ management and IACs to coordinate their audit plans with the IAS

COM IAS, Agencies

ERA has been always ensuring that the IAC audits are coordinated with the audits planned by IAS to avoid overlaps.As of March 2013 ERA does not have the IAC func on, instead the post of an Internal Control Coordinator (ICC) has been created.However, ERA is in the process of introducing Quality Management System (QMS) in the framework of which a fi rst quality internal audit had been carried out in November 2013. ERA announced the scope and ming of the audit to IAS.

Follow-up to internal and external audits

58 — Ensure agencies’ (management/execu ve) boards are adequately informed and involved


ERA regularly informs the Administra ve Board (AB) and the AB Sub-Commi ee on fi nancial, budgetary and staff related issues about the state of play of the follow-up to audits.

59 — Inform the partner DG and DG Budget of the results of audits of the ECA, as well as of the measures taken to meet the recommenda ons of the discharge authority and those of the Court

Agencies Whenever relevant

In line with the Memorandum of Understanding between ERA and DG MOVE, DG MOVE receives on a quarterly basis the state of play with regard to the implementa on of ECA, IAS and internal audits.

An -fraud ac vi es

65 — Ensure that all the standard contracts contain the clauses that can cons tute a solid legal basis, in par cular in third countries, to enable OLAF to carry out checks and inspec ons


Ar cle II.18.5 of the General Condi ons of Contract used by ERA men ons that ‘[…], the OLAF may also carry out on the spot checks and inspec ons in accordance with the procedures laid down by Union law for the protec on of the fi nancial interests of the Union against fraud and other irregulari es. Where appropriate, the fi ndings may lead to recovery by the contrac ng authority’.

67 — Inform newly recruited staff on OLAF’s role


ERA organises regular induc on sessions for newcomers with ethics, confl ict of interest and data protec on on the agenda, and the an -fraud measures and OLAF’s role being men oned. All newcomers are invited to get acquainted with the Commission ‘Prac cal guide to staff ethics and conduct’, where the role of OLAF is also explained.Approximately twice a year, ERA organises info session on ethics & integrity carried out by the experts on ethics.In addi on, in December 2013, OLAF had been invited to present its role and update the Agency staff on the developments with regard to an -fraud strategies that Agencies need to develop in the course of 2014.

HEADING IV/ Management of fi nancial and human resources and budgetary process

Implementa on of the Financial Regula on rules

95


70 — Encourage new administra ve staff to a end either specifi c training on fi nancial regula on and implemen ng rules (organised directly in the agencies) or general training on procurement procedures and other fi nancial ma ers (provided by the Commission)


It is obligatory for the newcomers dealing with fi nancial issues to a end the general training on fi nancial ma ers and/or procurement procedures provided by the Commission. Also internal training/informa on sessions are organised so ERA fi nancial regula on/implemen ng rules are known and respected.

Ac vity Based Budge ng (ABB) and Ac vity Based Management (ABM)

74 — Exchange best prac ces Agencies On a regular basis

Since 2012, the EU Agencies Network has collected data in order to create a toolbox with common instruments for applica on of Ac vity Based Budget (ABB), Ac vity Based Cos ng (ABC) and Ac vity Based Management (ABM). ERA had played a vital role in this exercise by sharing its experience to all Agencies.

Resources planning

78 — Provide adequate jus fi ca on if they decide not to take full account of the COM’s opinion on the dra staff policy plan


ERA always provides a complete list of responses to the comments provided in the Commission’s opinion on the dra staff policy plan.

Budget process and execu on

83 — Improve the management of commitments to align them with real needs


In 2013, the Agency used 88 % of the commi ed appropria ons and thus has complied with the carry-over thresholds of respec vely 10 %, 20 % and 30 %, applied by the European Court of Auditors for all three budgetary tles. This signifi cant improvement is a result of serious of ac ons aimed at reducing the carry-overs, in par cular for opera onal expenditure (Title 3 of the budget) mainly by further strengthening the procurement planning and procedures and improving the procedures for payments by reducing the processing me.

96

GlossaryAAR Annual Ac vity Report

ABAC The web-based accoun ng system developed for the Directorate-General for the Budget

AWP Annual Work Programme

CAF Common Assessment Framework

COTIF Conven on Rela ve aux Transports Interna onaux Ferroviaires

CR TSI Conven onal Rail, Technical Specifi ca on for Interoperability

CSIs Common Safety Indicators

CSMs Common Safety Methods

CSTs Common Safety Targets

DMI Driver Machine Interface

DNV Det Norske Veritas

DREAM Database for Railway Economic Analysis Management

EC European Commission

ECM En ty in Charge of Maintenance

ECVVR European Centralised Virtual Vehicle Register

EMC Electomagne c compa bility

ERA European Railway Agency

ERADIS ERA Database on Interoperability and Safety

ERATV European Register of Authorised Types of Vehicles

ERTMS European Rail Traffi c Management System

ESO European Standardisa on Organisa on

ETCR European Training Centre for Railways

ETCS European Train Control System

EU European Union

Eurostat The sta s cal offi ce of the European Union

GSMR Global System for Mobile Communica ons (Railway)

HR Human Resources

ICS Internal Control Standards

97

IM Infrastructure Manager

IT Informa on Technology

JPCR Joint Programming Commi ee Rail (for EN Standards)

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

MSs Member States

NIB Na onal Inves ga on Body

NNTR No fi ed Na onal Technical Rule

NB(s) No fi ed Body(ies)

NB(-) RailCoordina on group of No fi ed Bodies (Rail)

NRVs Na onal Reference Values

NSAs Na onal Safety Authori es

NVR Na onal Vehicle Register

OSJD Organisa on for Coopera on of Railways

OTIF Organisa on for Interna onal Carriage by Rail

RAC Risk Acceptance Criteria

RID Reglement concernant le transport interna onale ferroviaire des marchandises dangereuses

RISC Railway Interoperability and Safety Commi ee (formerly known as the ‘Ar cle 21’ commi ee)

RU Railway Undertaking

SMS Safety Management System

SNCF Société Na onale des Chemins de Fer français

SRS System Requirements Specifi ca on

TEN-T Trans-European Transport Network

TSI Technical Specifi ca ons for Interoperability

TSI CCS Technical Specifi ca ons for Interoperability Control Command Signalling

UIC Interna onal Union of Railways

VVR Virtual Vehicle Register

WG Working Group

WP Working Party

Making the railway system work be er for society.

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