Decree Law No. 85/2020

This decree-law partially transposes a European Directive on railway safety.

This decree-law applies to the national railway system and focuses on infrastructure and traffic management and also on the interaction between railway undertakings and the railway infrastructure manager (Infraestruturas de Portugal), within the national railway sector and the European Union.

Subway and tramways, for example, are excluded from the scope of this law.

The Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes (Institute for Mobility and Transports) (IMT) is responsible for promoting and enhancing railway safety.

The single safety certificate will now be issued by the European Union Railway Agency (Agency) when required for railway operations in more than one Member State. For national operations it may continue to be issued by IMT.

IMT collects information on the Common Safety Indicators through the annual reports of the railway undertakings and the infrastructure manager.

The infrastructure manager and railway undertakings set up their own safety management systems to ensure that the EU railway system can achieve the Common Safety Targets.

The powers of audit, inspection and supervision are granted to the Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes (Institute for Mobility and Transports) and the Autoridade para as Condições de Trabalho (Authority for Working Conditions) (ACT).

This decree-law aims to improve safety levels and ensure that the rules adopted facilitate the creation of common safety targets throughout the European area.

This decree-law makes the Agency and IMT responsible, both of which are responsible for issuing safety certificates. It imposes the cooperation between the Agency and IMT in sharing information.

With this decree-law, all players in the railway sector, from the infrastructure manager to service providers and contracting entities, are held responsible.

This decree-law enters into force on 14 October 2020 and takes effect from 31 October 2020.