L 356/110 Official Journal of the European Union 12.12.2014 COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1300/2014 of 18 November 2014 on the technical specifications for interoperability relating to accessibility of the Union’s rail system for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Directive 2008/57/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the intero- perability of the rail system within the Community (!), and in particular Articles 6(1) and 8(1) thereof, Whereas: (1) Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3 requires the Euro- pean Railway Agency (the Agency) to ensure that the technical specifications for interoperability (TSIs) are adapted to technical progress, market trends and social requirements and to propose to the Commission any amendments to the TSIs which it considers necessary. (2) By Decision C(2010) 2576 (*), the Commission gave the Agency a mandate to develop and review the technical specifications for interoperability with a view to extending their scope to the entire rail system in the Union. Under the terms of that mandate, the Agency was asked to extend the scope of the TSI relating to accessibility of the trans-European conventional and high-speed rail system provided for by Commission Decision 2008/164/EC (*) for persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility to the entire rail system throughout the Union. (3)  On 6 May 2013 the Agency submitted a recommendation on the adoption of the TSI relating to persons with reduced mobility. (4)  The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which the Union and most Member States are party, recognises accessibility as one of its general principles. It requires, in Article 9, States Parties to take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access on an equal basis with others. These measures must include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility and apply, inter alia, to transportation. (5)  Directive 2008/57EC establishes ‘accessibility’ as an essential requirement of the rail system within the Union. (6)  Directive 2008/57/EC provides for a register of infrastructure and registers of vehicles, indicating the main para- meters, to be published and updated on a regular basis. Commission Decision 2008/164/EC further defines the parameters for the TSI relating to ‘persons with reduced mobility’ to be included in these registers. As the object- ives of these registers are linked to the authorisation procedure and technical compatibility, it is considered neces- sary to establish a separate tool for these parameters. This inventory of assets should enable obstacles and barriers to accessibility to be identified and their progressive elimination to be monitored. (7)  Directive 2008/57/EC establishes the principle of gradual implementation, in particular providing that target subsystems indicated in a TSI may be set in place gradually within a reasonable timescale and that each TSI should indicate an implementation strategy with a view to making a gradual transition from the existing situation to the final situation in which compliance with the TSI will be the norm. (8)  With a view to progressively eliminating within a reasonable timescale, all identified barriers to accessibility by way of a coordinated effort to renew and upgrade subsystems and by deploying operational measures, Member States should establish national implementation plans. However, since these national implementation plans cannot be in sufficient detail and are subject to unpredictable changes, Member States should continue to submit () OJL191,18.7.2008,p. 1. () Regulation (EC) No 881/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 establishing a European railway agency (OJ'L 164, 30.4.2004, p. 1). (®) Commission Decision C(2010) 2576 final of 29 April 2010 concerning a mandate to the European Railway Agency to develop and review Technical Specifications for Interoperability with a view to extending their scope to the whole rail system in the European Union. (*) Commission Decision 2008/164/EC of 21 December 2007 concerning the technical specification of interoperability relating to ‘persons with reduced mobility’ in the trans-European conventional and high-speed rail system (O] L 64, 7.3.2008, p. 72).