Market surveillance

General

The EU’s aim with market surveillance in the railway field is to prevent the occurrence of non-interoperable products and to stop frivolous importers, manufacturers and notified bodies. Market surveillance is important for the integration of the markets in the communities and for the confidence of consumers and companies in the approval process. Market surveillance is only carried out on subsystems and constituents covered by TSIs and which are therefore necessary for interoperability. Market surveillance is carried out by the safety authorities in the respective member state, in Sweden by the Swedish Transport Agency.

Purpose

The purpose of market surveillance is to ensure that subsystems and interoperability constituents that are put into the market satisfy the essential requirements set out in TSIs, for instance with regard to health, safety, reliability, availability, compatibility and protection of the environment.

How is the surveillance done?

Market surveillance is done either when an interoperability constituent is introduced on the market or alternatively when a subsystem is approved (for freight wagons, at the time of registration in Sweden). Market surveillance can also take the form of inspection activity, after the component or subsystem has been in use for a time.

Market surveillance is conducted as a spot check of the work done by a notified body or, in other words: to check that subsystems and constituents satisfy the interoperability requirements as defined in TSIs. Market surveillance may reveal a non-conformity, but may also show up shortcomings in TSIs or standards, for instance.