Representatives of the Ministry of Economy said that the Bill is of a technical nature and refers to technical regulations, which includes prescribing the basis for the adoption of technical regulations and product conformity assessment, drafting and adoption of technical regulations, appointment of conformity assessment bodies, registering technical regulations and conformity assessment bodies, recognition of foreign conformity certificates and implementation of other activities supporting the abovementioned.

Following the presentation, the Committee members adopted the Bill on Technical Requirements for Products and Conformity Assessment in principle.

The Committee proceeded to consider, in principle, the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Railway Transport Agreements, submitted by the Government, presented by representatives of the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure. The Bill is part of the procedure of harmonisation with the acquis communautaire, i.e. Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers' rights and obligations, in the field of passenger rights. The harmonisation primarily refers to the conditions and rules concerning the liability of the carrier in case of train delays, partial or full refund, i.e. ticket price fees in case of train delays, as well as the rights of persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility who use the railway transport service. In addition, the Bill harmonises the terminology used in the Law on Railway, allows further harmonisation with the terminology used in the EC Regulation, as well as elimination of technical shortcomings in the text of the Law.

Following a debate the Committee members adopted the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Railway Transport Agreements, submitted by the Government, in principle.

The Committee went on to select Chairperson Elvira Kovacs and members Predrag Rajic and Dr Muamer Bacevac as the Committee’s delegation to take part in the 65th plenary meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), to be held under the auspices of the parliamentary dimension of Portugal’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, on 31 May and 1 June 2021 as a videoconference.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Elvira Kovacs, and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Ljiljana Malusic, Goran Milic, Enis Imamovic, Ana Miljanic, Viktor Jevtovic, Stanisalava Janosevic, Dr Muamer Bacevac, Predrag Rajic, Milan Radin, Nemanja Joksimovic, Vesna Markovic, and Ana Pesic.