Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

"Iris Oifigiúil" of 23rd June, 2015.

I, PASCHAL DONOHOE, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving effect to Commission Directive 2014/82/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2014¹ , hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Train Drivers Certification) Regulations 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2015.

2. The European Communities (Train Drivers Certification) Regulations 2010 ( S.I. No. 399 of 2010 ) are amended-

(a) in Regulation 2, by substituting for the definition of "Directive" the following:

" ‘Directive’ means Directive 2007/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007² as amended by Commission Directive 2014/82/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 20141;",

and

(b) by inserting after Regulation 22 the following:

"Transitional

23. A train driver who has obtained or will obtain a licence under these Regulations or from another Member State in accordance with the Directive before 1 January 2016 is considered to comply with the requirements of these Regulations and the Directive.".

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

19 June 2015.

PASCHAL DONOHOE,

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

Directive 2007/59/EC concerning the certification of train drivers operating locomotives and trains on the railway system in the European Union was transposed by the European Communities (Train Driver Certification) Regulations 2010 ( SI No. 399 of 2010 ).

The purpose of these Regulations is to transpose Directive 2014/82/EU amending Directive 2007/59/EC as regards general professional knowledge and medical and licence requirements through amendment of SI No. 399 of 2010 . An amendment is made in Annex II (medical requirements) concerning vision, Annex IV (General professional knowledge and requirements regarding licence) is replaced in full and point 8 (Language tests) of Annex IV is replaced in full. These changes to the certification requirements for obtaining a train driver licence will apply from 1 January 2016. A transitional provision applies to provide that existing licences obtained under SI No. 399 of 2010 and any licences that will be obtained under SI No. 399 of 2010 prior to 1 January 2016 (or under corresponding legislation in other Member States) will be considered to meet the new requirements of Directive 2014/82/EU from 1 January 2016.

1 OJ No. L. 184, 25.06.2014, p.11

2 OJ No. L. 315, 3.12.2007, p. 51