Interoperabilitätsrichtlinie

The European Union has set itself the goal of strengthening the railway sector. Since 2001, various legislative packages (known as ‘railway packages’) have been adopted for this purpose. The most recent package dates back to 2016 and comprised six legislative texts in the form of EU regulations and EU directives.

Unlike EU regulations, EU directives are not directly applicable law. However, they must be transposed into national law by each member state and therefore differ slightly from member state to member state.

The implementation of Directive (EU) 2016/797 ("Directive on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union") was transposed into national law in Germany, for example, with the EIGV ("Verordnung über die Erteilung von Inbetriebnahmegenehmigungen für das Eisenbahnsystem (Eisenbahn-Inbetriebnahmegenehmigungsverordnung - EIGV)")