Cableway Installations Regulation (EU) 2016/424
Regulation (EU) 2016/424 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on cableway installations — the "Cableway Installations Regulation" — replaced Directive 2000/9/EC and has applied since 21 April 2018. It covers cableway installations (cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts, funicular railways, ski tows) designed to transport persons, together with their subsystems and safety components. The Regulation distinguishes the installation itself (whose construction and operation are supervised under national law) from the subsystems and safety components placed on the market, which carry CE marking. Published as OJ L 81, 31.3.2016, p. 1.
Legal status and timeline
- Adoption: 9 March 2016.
- Date of application: 21 April 2018.
- Repeal of Directive 2000/9/EC: 21 April 2018.
- Status (October 2026): applies, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2024/2748 (emergency procedures for an internal market emergency, applicable from 29 May 2026).
Scope: products covered
Article 2(1) applies to new cableway installations designed to transport persons, to modifications of cableway installations requiring a new authorisation, and to subsystems and safety components for cableway installations. Article 3(1) defines "cableway installation" as a "whole on-site system, consisting of infrastructure and subsystems, which is designed, constructed, assembled and put into service with the objective of transporting persons, where the traction is provided by cables positioned along the line of travel".
Types of installations
- Funicular railways and other installations where the vehicles are carried on wheels or on other supporting devices and are moved by means of one or more cables;
- Aerial ropeways (gondola lifts, detachable and fixed-grip chairlifts) including those serving ski lifts, where the carriers are suspended from and propelled by one or more cables;
- Drag lifts where users with appropriate equipment are drawn along a prepared track by means of a cable.
Exclusions (Article 2(2))
- Lifts covered by Directive 2014/33/EU;
- Historic, cultural or heritage installations that entered into service before 1 January 1986, are still in operation and have not undergone significant changes in design or construction;
- Installations intended for agricultural or forestry purposes;
- Cableway installations serving mountain shelters and huts intended only for the transport of goods and specifically designated persons;
- On-site or mobile equipment designed exclusively for leisure and amusement purposes and not as a means of transporting persons;
- Mining installations or other industrial on-site installations used for industrial activities;
- Installations in which the users or their carriers are waterborne.
The two CE-marked products
The Regulation provides for CE marking of two distinct categories of products:
- Subsystems (Annex I) — cable and cable connections, drives and brakes, mechanical equipment (cable winding, station equipment, line structures), vehicles (cabins, seats or drag devices, suspension gear, driving gear, connections to the cable), electrotechnical devices (monitoring, control and safety devices; communication and information equipment; lightning protection equipment), and fixed and mobile rescue equipment.
- Safety components — any component of equipment or device intended to be incorporated into a subsystem or cableway installation to ensure a safety function, the failure of which endangers the safety or health of passengers, operating personnel or third parties (Article 3(4)).
The installation as a whole is not CE-marked. Its construction and entry into service are authorised under procedures laid down by the Member State concerned (Article 9), on the basis of the safety report, the EU Declarations of Conformity of the subsystems and safety components and the installation documentation.
Essential requirements (Annex II)
Annex II sets the essential requirements: general (objectives, hypotheses, safety considerations); infrastructure (planning, vegetation, mechanical resistance); cables, drive units and brakes; mechanical equipment; passenger carriers; control devices; rescue arrangements; signage and information; operability and maintainability; environmental considerations.
Safety analysis
Article 8 requires the person responsible for the cableway installation, determined under national law, to carry out a safety analysis of each planned installation, taking account of all envisaged modes of operation. The safety analysis draws up the inventory of risks and dangerous situations, recommends measures to deal with them and determines the list of subsystems and safety components to be incorporated (Article 8(4)); its result is included in a "safety report" (Article 8(5)), which is submitted to the national authority as part of the authorisation procedure (Article 9(2)).
Conformity assessment procedures
Article 18 and Annex III provide the routes for subsystems and safety components:
- Module B (EU type-examination, production type) +
- Module D (production QA) or Module F (product verification);
- Module G (unit verification);
- Module H1 (full quality assurance with design examination).
Notified Body involvement is mandatory throughout. The four-digit identification number of the Notified Body involved in the production control phase appears next to the CE marking on both subsystems and safety components (Article 21(3)).
Technical documentation
Annex VIII sets the contents for both subsystems and safety components. Retention: 30 years after the subsystem or safety component has been placed on the market (Article 11(3)) — much longer than the usual 10 years. See technical documentation.
EU Declaration of Conformity
Article 19 and Annex IX. Separate Declarations are issued for each subsystem and safety component placed on the market. See EU Declaration of Conformity.
Marking and labelling
Article 21 requires the CE marking with the Notified Body identification number on subsystems and safety components. The complete cableway installation does not bear a CE mark; it is identified by its operating authorisation issued under national law.
Harmonised standards
EN 1908 — safety requirements for cableway installations designed to carry persons — tensioning devices; EN 1709 — operational pre-commissioning, maintenance, and operational checks; EN 12397 — operation; EN 12927 series — ropes (calculations, fitting and replacement, fixing). See harmonised standards.
Recent and upcoming changes
The only amendment since 2016 is Regulation (EU) 2024/2748, which adds emergency procedures that operate only when an internal market emergency is activated (applicable from 29 May 2026). The Commission has been working with CEN on standardisation requests to update the EN 1908 / EN 12927 series and to address newer installation types (urban cableway transport, cableway combined with rail).
Related legislation
- Lifts Directive 2014/33/EU — covers lifts in buildings; cableways are excluded from the Lifts Directive.
- Machinery Regulation 2023/1230 — applies in parallel to certain mechanical components.
- Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU and EMC Directive 2014/30/EU — apply in parallel for electrical aspects of subsystems.
- Directive (EU) 2016/797 on the interoperability of the rail system — applies to funicular railways covered by that regime.
Common errors
- CE marking the entire installation. CE marking applies to subsystems and safety components, not to the installation as a whole.
- Missing safety analysis / safety report. Article 8 makes the safety analysis a substantive requirement; in service authorisation depends on the report.
- Subsystem placed on the market without Notified Body involvement. Notified Body assessment is mandatory for all subsystems and safety components in scope.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2016/424 (Cableway Installations) — EUR-Lex consolidated text.
- Directive 2000/9/EC (predecessor) — EUR-Lex.
- European Commission — Cableway installations sector page.
- Commission Notice — Blue Guide 2022 — EUR-Lex.