The European Commission requested Bulgaria to bring all its national rules in line with EU law on railway safety (Directive 2004/49/EC). This Directive requires member states 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 European Commission may decide to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the EU.
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