Parliament has passed, at first reading and without debate, changes to the railway transport law that make the Railway Administration Executive Agency the registering body for rail transport, as required under EU Implementing Decision 2018/1614. The bill was put forward by the cabinet.
Under the new rules, the agency will no longer keep a national register of railway vehicles. Instead, it will run only two registers: one for permits to bring fixed subsystems into service, and one for permits to place vehicles on the market for use on Bulgaria's rail network. Deputy transport minister Anna Mihneva-Natova explained this when she presented the bill.
Registration will now go through the European Register of Railway Vehicles. "This way it will be centralised in the European register, instead of keeping a national one," Mihneva-Natova said.
The law also touches on rail passengers' rights. It drops the definitions of "person with disabilities" and "person with reduced mobility," since these are already covered by the Public Transport Act.
The Railway Administration Executive Agency must also review how the law has worked in practice five years after it takes effect.