The Agency - Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza delle Ferrovie (ANSF)
The Italian National Safety Authority is Florence-based. The Agency, operative since June, the 16th 2008, was set up in reference to art. 4 of the Legislative Decree 10th of August 2007. 162 implementing the EU Directive n. 2004/49/CE (Safety Directive).
ANSF is a newness of concept for italian railway safety, both for the new line between principles and rules and for the division of responsibilities among railway operators. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure supervises the Agency activity.
ANSF is technically independent from all the railway operators: it guarantees a non-discriminatory treatment to all the subjects related to the railway transportation.
The Agency gives to the railway operators the principles for their safety rules, checks the maintaining of the current safety levels and promotes a steady improvement in safety, taking into consideration the technological and scientific progress.
ANSF plays a role in the harmonization of national and international safety regulations, encouraging the European railway interoperability.
Main tasks of the Agency:
- To define the legislative framework for the railway operational safety
- To verify the enforcement of the adopted regulations
- To carry out the approval processes for systems, sub-systems and constituents
- To issue the safety certificates to railway undertakings and the safety authorisations to infrastructure managers
