ERA and EASA sign a Memorandum of Cooperation

Credit: @ERA_railways

Josef Doppelbauer, Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), and Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to further develop exchange of know-how and find synergies in using similar systems, platforms, and methodologies.

The MoC promotes inter-agency cooperation and establishes a regular structured dialogue between the Agencies, enhancing sharing of information, knowledge, and experience in the domains of aviation and railway safety, environmental protection and related regulatory, as well as scientific or innovation developments.

What the MoC covers

Core areas of cooperation refer to three essential domains:

• European Co-ordination centre for Accident and Incident Reporting Systems (ECCAIRS): EASA and ERA share a common interest in sharing knowledge and experience on collecting and analysing safety occurrences, with a view in particular to assisting ERA in the development of the Information Sharing System (ISS) based on the EASA experiences with ECCAIRS (E2) in the aviation sector
• Big data: With the aim of supporting the overall objective of the digital transformation of the transport and mobility sector, EASA and ERA will share and further develop knowledge related to the creation of Mobility Data Spaces that should provide further structure for data sharing in transport
• Sustainability: Provide joint technical expertise, exchange on best practices related to the development of an environmental report.

“We welcome the opportunity to work closely with our EASA colleagues, ensuring best possible use of existing resources, while avoiding duplicative effort,” Josef Doppelbauer, Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Railways, said. “In the current context, it is essential for EU Transport Agencies to strengthen their cooperation, considering our common responsibility for sustainability, and the importance of increasing the share of multimodal transport.”

This Memorandum of Cooperation does not modify or supersede any European Union law or any national laws, nor does it affect any provisions under other multilateral or bilateral agreements in force and applicable to the Parties.