Vehicle (type) authorisation for placing on
the market (VA)
The applicant can be any legal entity requesting a type or vehicle authorisation. EU rules do not impose any restrictions on who can make a request. Typically, this could be: railway undertakings, infrastructure managers, manufacturers, vehicle owners or users.
Depending on the authorisation case or the applicant’s preference, the authorising entity can be either the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) or the national safety authority (in the Republic of Slovenia the NSA is the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Railway Transport–AŽP). Where the area of use of the type or vehicle is limited to the territory of only one EU Member State, the applicant can choose between the competence of the ERA or the NSA.
Where the area of use covers the territory of two or more EU Member States, the authorising entity is ERA alone, which is also competent in cases where the type or rail vehicle is already authorised for one or more Member States and the applicant wishes to extend the area of use to one or more additional Member States.
The NSA is only competent to issue a vehicle authorisation for placing on the market if it is clear from the application that the area of use of the vehicle will be the network of the Republic of Slovenia only and the applicant explicitly states that its application should be decided by the safety authority (AŽP; in this case, the national procedural rules and requirements must be followed when submitting the application). In the case of extension of the area of use, the safety authority is competent only in cases where an applicant wishes to extend the area of use of a vehicle already authorised for placing on the market (only) on a part of the network of the Republic of Slovenia to the remaining parts of the network of the Republic of Slovenia.
All applications (type authorisation and/or authorisation for placing on the market) must be submitted electronically via the One-Stop Shop /OSS/), where all information on procedures and decisions taken, as well as information from the Board of Appeal, is exchanged.
The application must contain all information and supporting documents as set out in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2018/545. Where the authorising entity is a safety authority (AŽP), the remaining conditions as derived from the Procedural Requirements and use of language must also be met in order for the application to be processed.
The authorising authority must assess the completeness of the application and inform the applicant thereof no later than one month after receipt of the application. The final decision on issuing of the authorisation shall be taken no later than four months after the application is complete. In case of an authorisation in conformity to type, the final decision shall be issued within one month of receipt of the application.
The amount of the administrative fee is determined in accordance with the Administrative Fees Act. The application fee is EUR 4.50. The fee for issuing an authorisation is EUR 45.30 per vehicle (where each unit with its own EVN number is considered a vehicle).
The decision of the safety authority may be appealed within 30 days of its notification to the second-instance authority: Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Infrastructure–Ministrstvo za infrastrukturo, Langusova ulica 4, 1535 Ljubljana. There is no right of appeal against the Ministry’s decision, but an administrative dispute can be brought.
