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Mobility and Transport

Land Transport Security

There is currently no EU legislation addressing land transport security (apart for dangerous goods where there is some overlap of safety and security requirements). Though it is noteworthy that in the 21st century the number of deaths in the EU from terrorist attacks on land transport far exceeds the number killed in aviation or maritime, and theft of cargo from road and rail is estimated to cost some €8 billion per year, EU Transport Ministers have, to date, not requested the Commission to bring forward any legislation for EU security requirements for either road or rail transport.

In 2012, the Commission adopted a Staff Working Document on Transport Security, which highlighted the lack of EU legislation in land transport security and made suggestions of possible areas where EU action could add value. In the first instance an EU Expert Group for Land Transport Security was set up in order to have a forum to discuss issues with both Member States and stakeholders.

Firstly, it is clear that in land transport very detailed, prescriptive rules on security are not desirable. Unlike aviation security, the threats and risks are diverse and therefore different approaches to addressing problems may be appropriate. For example, the detailed security needs of a metro system in one city will be different from those of another because of factors such as the size of the network, the age of the network, the differing security threats of each city, etc.

Secondly, the topic of land transport security is very diverse. Security of passengers is very different than that of cargo, and the modes of land transport vary considerably. There is no "one-size fits all" solution. Rather, any initiatives should be taken on a sector-by-sector basis.

Policy and other related documents

20 JULY 2021
swd-2018-400.pdf
English
(497.18 KB - PDF)
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accompanying the document Commission Decision setting up the EU Rail Passenger Security Platform

20 JULY 2021
2012-05-31-swd-transport-security.pdf
English
(157.32 KB - PDF)
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Commission Decision 2012/286/EU on the creation of an expert group on land transport security

Public consultation: Improving passenger railway security