Directives
European legal bases
According to Articles 154 and 155 of the EC Treaty, the European Community contributes to the establishment and development of trans-European networks in the area of transport infrastructure. To achieve these objectives, the European Community shall take any measures that may prove necessary to ensure the interoperability of networks, particularly in the area of harmonization of technical standards.
For the railway sector, the European Council adopted Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996 on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system (HS) as a first step.
With Directive 2001/16/EC of 19 March 2001 on the interoperability of the conventional rail system equivalent procedures for the elaboration and adoption of Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI) and common rules for the assessment of conformity with these specifications were adopted.
The two Interoperability Directives 96/48/EC and 2001/16/EC were amended by Directive 2004/50/EC of 29 April 2004 and Directive 2007/32/EC of 1 June 2007.
With effect from July 19, 2010 the abovementioned Directives were repealed and replaced by the new Interoperability Directive 2008/57/EC. With Directives 2009/131/EC, 2011/18/EU, 2013/9/EU, 2014/38/EU and 2014/106/EU this Directive was amended.
All the above Directives and Technical Specifications (TSI) can be found under the heading "Information" under European legal bases and TSIs.