Single safety certificate

• It is the obligation of the railway undertaking running trains on a national or regional railway to have a safety certificate issued and valid.
• Applications must be submitted and all further communication must take place exclusively via the One-Stop Shop (OSS) web portal of the European Union Agency for Railways. Any other method of submission shall not be considered as delivery.
• Applications and attached documentation must be submitted in the Czech language.
• If the railway undertaking (applicant) intends to provide rail transport services only in the Czech Republic, it may choose either the Czech Rail Authority or the European Union Agency for Railways as the assessing authority. If the railway undertaking intends to provide rail transport services in more than one Member State of the European Union, the European Union Agency for Railways is automatically the assessor of the application.
• In cases where a railway undertaking runs trains to border crossing stations of a neighbouring state or to border sections, the rules laid down in the mutual agreements of the national safety authorities apply. In some cases, interstate agreements and arrangements between individual infrastructure managers are also temporarily recognised.
• The procedures for the submission of an application for a safety certificate are laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation 2018/763 establishing practical arrangements for issuing single safety certificates to railway undertakings pursuant to Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 653/2007 or in a guidance document of the Rail Authority or the European Union Agency for Railways.
• The certificate is issued for a maximum of 5 years.
• The conditions for the issuance are regulated by Section 31a of Act No. 266/1994 Coll., the Railways Act, as amended, and also by the directly applicable European Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/762 establishing common safety methods on safety management system requirements pursuant to Directive (EU) 2016/798 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Commission Regulations (EU) No 1158/2010 and (EU) No 1169/2010.

For better understanding, the Rail Authority recommends using the guidance documents issued by the European Union Agency for Railways or the Rail Authority.

The railway undertaking (applicant) must also provide evidence, together with the internal rules, to demonstrate the operation of its safety management system for each of the chapters listed in Annex I to Regulation 2018/762.

Before applying for a new/renewed/amended safety certificate, the railway undertaking (applicant) may submit a pre-engagement application. The pre-engagement is conducted with the Rail Authority or the European Union Agency for Railways, depending on which of the two will be the future issuing authority.

The European Union Agency for Railways cooperates with individual national safety authorities in the certification assessment process.

Pursuant to Act No. 634/2004 Coll., the Administrative Fees Act, as amended, where the Rail Authority is the issuing authority, the administrative fee for the issuance of a safety certificate is CZK 5,000. This fee is a one-off issuance fee and is not set as an hourly rate for the assessment. An amendment to (update of) a safety certificate is subject to a fee of CZK 1,500.

Payments for assessments by the European Union Agency for Railways are governed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/764 as amended by Regulation 2021/1903 on fees and charges payable to the European Union Agency for Railways and their conditions of payment.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 8(2) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2018/764 of 2 May 2018 on the fees and charges payable to the European Union Agency for Railways and their conditions of payment, a fee of EUR 103 is charged for each hour of work of a Rail Authority employee performing activities for the European Union Agency for Railways in respect of newly submitted applications with effect from 1 January 2024. Applications submitted before this date, which are already under assessment by the Rail Authority, will be charged at the original rate of EUR 40.02. The fee applies to the assessment of applications for vehicle authorisations for placing on the market, for vehicle type authorisations for placing on the market and applications for single safety certificates submitted by railway undertakings.