European Commission calls on Bulgaria to fully transpose EU legislation on rail safety
The European Commission said on October 4 that it had requested Bulgaria to bring all its national rules in line with EU law on railway safety, in terms of a 2004 EC directive.
This directive requires EU countries to establish an independent safety authority and an independent accident and incident investigation body.
It also requires allocating tasks and safety responsibilities to various railway stakeholders with the objective of ensuring that they do not overlap or interfere with each another.
To date, however, Bulgaria has failed to ensure the independence of investigating body and to give it sufficient resources.
Bulgaria has been given two months to remedy the situation; otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the EU, the EC said, announcing its October 2017 infringements package.