The aim of establishing regulations to enable technical interoperability is to ensure safety when crossing borders and speed up international rail traffic.

The development of technical rules with a view to interoperability is an important activity which OTIF now carries out jointly with the European Union.

The APTU and ATMF Uniform Rules apply to railway material intended for use in international traffic. The Uniform Rules concern the validation of technical standards and the adoption of uniform technical prescriptions (APTU UR) and technical approval (“admission”) (ATMF UR).

The European Union acceded to COTIF in 2011 and a set of Administrative Arrangements has governed the close cooperation between OTIF, its Secretariat and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility (DG MOVE) via the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA).

Lastly, the Secretariat of OTIF and the European Union Agency for Railways keep the VKM register up to date.

The working group TECH and the Committee of Technical Experts are carrying out work to harmonise the technical rules to achieve interoperability beyond the EU.