The railway industry association UNIFE is calling on the European Commission (EC) and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) to make consistent use of their expanded powers under the reform of EU cybersecurity law to examine high-risk non-EU technologies in critical railway infrastructure and, if necessary, ban them from supply chains. Title IV of the updated Cybersecurity Act empowers the EC to designate high-risk ICT providers and third countries and exclude them from strategic sectors such as rail transport; embedded technologies in railway systems are considered part of transport and transmission networks. ENISA can work with national authorities to strengthen market surveillance, test products for vulnerabilities and define new categories of digital goods for in-depth controls. Given the importance of rail transport for military mobility and supply chains, UNIFE is also pushing for upcoming reforms of EU public procurement law to treat the railway sector as a strategic area and to target public funding towards projects with European added value.
