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Introduction

The United Kingdom left the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020. As part of the EU withdrawal agreement, the UK entered a transition period during which the UK was required to implement EU law.

This guidance is an aid for stakeholders to explain the changes that have been made to the Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 (ROGS) (S.I. 2006/599) by the following statutory instruments:

• The Rail Safety (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/837)
• The Railways (Safety, Access, Management and Interoperability) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1310)
• The Railways (Miscellaneous Amendments, Revocations and Transitional Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/786)
• The Railways (Interoperability) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Revocations) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/318)

This guidance is aimed at all stakeholders that come within the scope of the requirements established under ROGS.

This includes:

• train operating companies (TOCs)
• freight operating companies (FOCs)
• infrastructure managers (IMs)
• entities in charge of maintenance (ECMs)
• tramways
• heritage railways
• metro operators
• health and safety managers
• staff working on the railways
• trade unions
• any organisation on which ROGS imposes requirements

Stakeholders are advised to refer to the legislation as the primary source of information, as the guidance is not intended to cover every amendment.

The Rail Safety (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

In the UK, rail safety legislation has developed in accordance with EU law.

ROGS implemented Directive 2004/49/EC, The Rail Safety Directive in Great Britain with the objective of harmonising the safety processes and procedures applied in member states of the EU.

In Northern Ireland, the Railways (Safety Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 (S.I. 2006/237) also implemented the Rail Safety Directive. There is also a range of EU tertiary safety legislation that applies in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

This body of legislation that the UK has transposed contains a number of references that would make ROGS inoperable if they had been left unamended before the transition period ends or create uncertainty in terms of the obligations required of duty holders.

These are called inoperabilities and they include, but are not limited to:

• obligations to share information with the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and the European Commission, for example, on the status of safety certificates and safety authorisations
• obligations to share annual safety reports with ERA
• references to the EU and Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs), which are replaced in the UK by National Technical Specification Notices (NTSNs) published by the Secretary of State under Regulation 3B of the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/3066), as amended by the Railways (Interoperability) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/345)
• EU symbols, databases and certificates

The primary purpose of the Rail Safety (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the 2019 Exit Regulations) is to therefore make necessary corrections to inoperabilities contained in ROGS and EU retained legislation, that arise from the UK leaving the EU.

This is to ensure that the UKs railway safety regime remains operable, after the transition period ends on 31 December 2020.

Overview of the changes to ROGS 2006

As the 2019 Exit Regulations are focused on correcting inoperabilities in ROGS, the majority of requirements established under ROGS continue to apply after 31 December 2020, as they did before.

The principal change made by the 2019 Exit Regulations is to omit redundant terminology or provisions that are no longer relevant, following the UKs withdrawal from the EU.

For example: Regulation 18, which places a requirement on the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to notify the European Union Agency for Railways when the status of safety certificates and safety authorisations changes, has been removed entirely.

In a small number of cases, provisions have been reworded or replaced with new terminology, so that they continue to make sense in the context of the UK being outside of the EU.

For example, the definition of certification body no longer refers to the Rail Safety Directive but instead refers to the relevant domestic provision established in ROGS.

The 2019 Exit Regulations also make corrections to inoperabilities contained in the Railways (Access to Training Services) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/598). For example, references to Council Directive 2004/49/EC have been removed.

In parallel with the amendments made to ROGS, similar corrections have been made to the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2011 (RIR 2011) (S.I. 2011/3066) which transposed EU Directive 2008/57/EC on the interoperability of the European rail system.

The amendments to RIR 2011 create a new UK standards regime whereby Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs) are replaced by UK equivalents in the form of National Technical Specification Notices (NTSNs). As such, any references in ROGS to TSIs have been replaced by NTSNs from 1 January 2021.

Revocation of EU legislation in the UK

The 2019 Exit Regulations revoked several pieces of EU tertiary legislation that became redundant in the UK after 31 December 2020.

These are:

• Commission Regulation (EC) No 653/2007
• Commission Decision 2009/460/EC
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 445/2011
• Commission Decision 2012/226/EU
• Commission Implementing Decision 2013/753/EU

Amendments to retained EU legislation

The 2019 Exit Regulations have made corrections to several pieces of EU retained

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