BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 sets out the fees and charges payable to the European Union Agency for Railways (‘the Agency’) for the performance of certain activities and the provision of other services referred to in Regulation (EU) 2016/796. Pursuant to Article 80(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/796, the amount of the fees and charges is to be fixed at such a level so as to ensure that the revenue in respect thereof is sufficient to cover the full cost of the services provided. 

(2) Article 10 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 requires the Commission to assess the regime for fees and charges once every financial year on the basis of the Agency’s financial results and estimates of future expenditure and revenue and where necessary revise those fees and charges. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 is then to be reviewed in the light of the information provided by the Agency in its annual reports. 

(3) Until the end of 2023 the Agency had authorised over 65 000 vehicles, issued almost 200 single safety certificates and accepted technical solutions for over 10 trackside implementations of the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS). Such processes allowed the Agency to gather the necessary data to define further fixed fees for specific types of applications and services. 

(4) The increasing number of authorisations for placing vehicles on the market issued by the Agency results in an increasing workload, notably for processing notifications of changes introduced to authorised vehicles, in accordance with Article 16(4) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/545 , and for processing requests for entry of data into the European register of authorised types of vehicles (ERATV) for new vehicle types and vehicle type variants. For the sake of transparency and predictability for applicants, and to ensure full recovery of associated costs, fixed fees for processing such notifications and requests should be introduced. 

(5) In the case of applications concerning authorisation for placing on the market of freight wagons as defined in point 2.1 of the Annex to Commission Regulation (EU) No 321/2013 where the area of use is the whole Union, the sole authorising entity is the Agency. Accordingly, the introduction of a fixed fee for those applications is appropriate. 

(6) The level of fixed fees should be calculated on the basis of the average workload associated with processing of a relevant type of application, request or notification. 

(7) Pursuant to Article 5(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 the Agency is to issue a final invoice to the applicant within 30 calendar days of its decision. There is however no similar deadline for the delivery of statements of costs by national safety authorities participating in the Agency’s assessment. Missing statements of costs delay the issuance of the final invoice by the Agency. Therefore it is necessary to revise the timing for issuance of invoices by the Agency and to include deadlines for the delivery of statements of costs by the national safety authorities. 

(8) Experience in applying Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 has shown that several provisions require clarification in order to avoid misunderstandings and further streamline the handling of invoices. To that effect, changes should be introduced to enable the Agency to issue monthly or multiple invoices and to discourage late requests for the application of reductions for micro, small and medium enterprises. 

(9) While the introduction of fixed fees for certain Agency’s activities has had positive results in terms of increasing transparency of the costs in the railway market, in the remaining areas fixed fees may not be suitable due to the specificities of individual applications causing significant variability of amount of work required to process them, as well as due to differences, for the time being, in the related underlying costs. This is the case, in particular, where the Agency is required to consult national safety authorities and therefore the final fee paid by the applicant contains a variable part reflecting the fees charged by the national safety authorities, most of which so far apply hourly rates. 

(10) Therefore the Commission considers that there is no need to set a specific deadline for the revision of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 with a view to introducing further fixed fees. The requirement to gradually move from variable to fixed fees should be maintained, however further revisions of the fees and charges should not be driven by a deadline but should be made wherever they are justified and necessary. 

(11) In accordance with Article 10(1a) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764, yearly indexation of the Agency’s fees and charges is to take into account the annual update of the remuneration and pensions of Agency’s staff as well as the inflation rate in the Union. The Agency regularly publishes indexed fees and charges for the following year on its website and their application does not require a revision of the Implementing Regulation. Since this Regulation adds new entries for specific types of fees, which are calculated using the Agency’s hourly rate, indexed to 2024 values, the Commission considers that all the values provided by this Regulation should be updated to reflect the actual level of fees and charges for the year 2024. 

(12) In order to ensure adequate time for the applicants and the Agency to adapt to the new rules, it is appropriate to set a date of application of this Regulation. In addition, because activities conducted by the Agency may require a long time, certain activities may be ongoing at the date of application of this Regulation. Therefore, it is appropriate to also lay down transitory provisions pursuant to which the rules set out in the version of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 in force before the date of application of this Regulation should apply in respect of the calculation of fees for applications, requests and notifications submitted before that date. 

(13) Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 should therefore be amended accordingly. 

(14) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the committee referred to in Article 81 of Regulation (EU) 2016/796.