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- LOC&PAS TSI - Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1302/2014 concerning a technical specification for interoperability relating to the ‘rolling stock — locomotives and passenger rolling stock’ subsystem of the rail system in the European Union Text with EEA relevance (with the latest changes);
- WAG TSI - Commission Regulation (EU) No. 321/2013 concerning the technical specification for interoperability relating to the subsystem ‘rolling stock — freight wagons’ of the rail system in the European Union and repealing Decision 2006/861/EC Text with EEA relevance (with the latest changes);
- NOI TSI - Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1304/2014 on the technical specification for interoperability relating to the subsystem “rolling stock — noise” amending Decision 2008/232/EC and repealing Decision 2011/229/EU (with the latest changes);
- PRM TSI - Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1300/2014 on the technical specifications for interoperability relating to accessibility of the Union's rail system for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility (with the latest changes);
- National technical requirements announced by the Republic of Latvia (European Union Agency for Railways RDD System);
- Chapter 3 of the Cabinet Regulations No. 539 "Conformity assessment procedure for used tanks" of Regulation No. 539 "Regulations for assessment of the tanks and containers conformity for the transportation of dangerous goods by railway” of 17.06.2009.
Depending on the conformity assessment module, the certification procedure may differ in each specific case, but in the general it consists of the following basic steps:
- Submission of the application to the certification authority for the certification of railway products;
- Evaluation of the certification application, making the decision, execution of the work estimate and sending the decision to the applicant;
- Evaluation of technical documentation and review of results thereof;
- Inspection/testing of railway products;
- Inspection of railway products quality management system (QMS), if necessary;
- Review of testing results and QMS audit results;
- Decision on the results of the conformity assessment;
- Issuance of the certificate of conformity to the applicant and its registration in ERADIS (only for NoBo certificates) or sending the justification for the refusal to issue the certificate of conformity;
- Carrying out periodic inspection, if specified in the certification module;
- Review of the complaints and appeals, if any.
The list of conformity assessment modules, upon which the certification authority carries out conformity assessment, is specified in its accreditation scope.
Decision on the certification application is made within one week to two months depending on the type of products, but the total conformity assessment period may take from two months to one year, depending on the type of railway products, prior planning of works, readiness of the applicant's documentation, workload of testing laboratories and other external factors that do not depend on the certification authority.
The list of necessary technical documentation for conformity assessment of railway products is specified in each specific conformity assessment module mentioned in Commission Decision (EU) 2010/713/EU. The mentioned documentation can be submitted when it is ready upon agreement with the certification authority, but no later than two weeks before the end of the conformity assessment.
Certification is carried out in accordance with the contract specifying the rights and obligations of the parties, work costs and terms, payment procedure, responsibility of the parties, confidentiality requirements and other provisions related to the conditions of performance of the subject of the contract. Usually the contract is concluded in Latvian, but it is also possible to conclude bilingual contract upon agreement with the applicant. Confidentiality agreements with detailed confidentiality requirements may be concluded in addition to the contract at the request of the applicant.
The applicant for certification may be the representative of the manufacturer or customer of the railway product, the manufacturer or the customer of the product.
The cost of the Railway Product Conformity Assessment shall be calculated by executing the estimate, taking into account the hourly rate of the staff, the labour intensity and urgency of the work, the work of subcontractors, travel and transport expenses, the need to acquire additional regulatory enactments, accreditation maintenance expenses and other direct or indirect expenses related to the performance of the subject of the contract. The applicant must pay for the conformity assessment regardless of the results.
The verification of the QMS of railway products is carried out in accordance with the programme developed by the certification authority, which includes the assessment of all stages of railway products manufacture. If the applicant has the QMS of the production certified by the certification authority, the certification authority takes this into account and assess only the manufacture of the railway products without reassessing the elements of its QMS.
The certification report documentation is usually prepared in Latvian and English, but may be translated into other languages upon agreement with the applicant.
The templates of the conformity certificates are developed in accordance with the NB-Rail Coordination Group Recommendation for Use RFU-STR-001 EC Certificates/QMS Approvals/SVA(s).