Practical arrangements for issuing single safety certificates

Scope

Lays down the practical arrangements for issuing single safety certificates under Directive (EU) 2016/798, covering the application via the One-Stop Shop, assessment stages and timescales, and coordination between ERA and national safety authorities. Used by railway undertakings applying for certification and by ERA and NSAs assessing safety management systems.

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/763 lays down the practical arrangements for issuing single safety certificates under Directive (EU) 2016/798, detailing how railway undertakings apply through the one-stop shop, the documentation an application must contain, and the assessment stages and statutory timescales that the European Union Agency for Railways and the relevant national safety authorities must follow. It distinguishes between certificates covering more than one Member State, issued by ERA in coordination with the national safety authorities of each area of operation, and certificates limited to a single Member State, which the national safety authority may issue alone. The Regulation also governs renewal, updating and extension of an existing single safety certificate, and defines the coordination arrangements and decision-making protocol between ERA and national safety authorities where they disagree during an assessment. It was amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/777, and its consolidated text remains the procedural reference railway undertakings and safety authorities apply throughout the EU. Together with the common safety method on safety management system requirements, it operationalises the single safety certification introduced by the railway safety directive.