Railway safety: Commission refers LITHUANIA to the Court of Justice of the EU

The European Commission has decided to refer Lithuania to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) for failure to correctly transpose European rules on rail safety.

Directive 2004/49/EC requires Member States to establish a safety authority, to establish an independent accident and incident investigation body, and to define common principles for the management, regulation and supervision of railway safety.

Lithuania failed to correctly transpose the Directive at a national level, more specifically by not ensuring the independence of the investigation body. In doing so, Lithuania is preventing the transparent investigation of serious accidents and incidents.