The Romanian Railway Investigation Agency - AGIFER, hereinafter referred to as AGIFER, a public institution financed entirely from its own revenues - established according to art. 91 of Government Ordinance no. 95/1998 on the establishment of public institutions subordinated to the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Housing, approved with amendments by Law no. 3/2002, as subsequently amended and supplemented - is the specialized technical body of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in the field of rail and metro transport, which performs all the tasks of the body for the investigation of accidents and incidents provided for in Article 22 of GEO no. 73 /2019 on railway safety, approved by Law No. 71/2020. According to GEO No. 73/2019 AGIFER mainly carries out the investigation of serious accidents in the railway system, its objective being to improve railway safety and accident prevention.AGIFER may investigate, in addition to serious accidents, those accidents and incidents that under slightly different conditions could have led to serious accidents, including technical failures of structural subsystems or interoperability constituents of high-speed or conventional European rail systems. The Romanian Railway Investigation Agency shall decide, as it deems appropriate, whether to undertake an investigation of such an accident or incident, taking into account in its decision the following:

1. the seriousness of the accident or incident;
2. whether it is part of a series of accidents or incidents of system-wide relevance;
3. its impact on railway safety;
4. requests from infrastructure managers, rail transport operators, the Romanian Railway Safety Authority or Member States of the European Union.

The scope of the investigations and the procedure to be followed in conducting these investigations shall be determined by the Romanian Railway Investigation Agency, taking into account the principles and objectives set out in Articles 20 and 22 of GEO No. 73/2019 and depending on the lessons expected to be drawn from the accident or incident to improve safety.The investigation is in no way concerned with establishing guilt or liability.

What is AGIFER investigating?
HG No. 716/2015 establishes the following main tasks for AGIFER:

1. investigating serious rail accidents;
2. investigating incidents occurring in train movements coordinated by a designated lead investigator from AGIFER;
3. investigating those accidents and incidents which under slightly different conditions might have led to serious accidents, including technical failures of the structural subsystems or interoperability constituents of the European high-speed and conventional rail system;
4. other tasks specific to its field of activity and conferred on it by legislative acts.

By GEO no. 33/2015, OG no. 95/1998 was amended as follows:
"Art. 91. - (1) The Romanian Railway Investigation Agency - AGIFER, hereinafter referred to as AGIFER, is hereby established, a specialized body subordinated to the Ministry of Transport, a public institution with legal personality, financed entirely from its own revenues, through the reorganization, by partial division of the Romanian Railway Authority - AFER and the takeover from AFER of the activity, staff structure and assets related to the Romanian Railway Investigation Agency.
(2) AGIFER shall have its headquarters in Bucharest, Calea Griviței 393, sector 1. The seat may be changed by Government decision.
Art. 92. - AGIFER, as a specialized technical body of the Ministry of Transport, performs the duties of the body for the investigation of accidents and incidents provided for in Article 21 of Law no. 55/2006, (law replaced by GEO no. 73/2019).
Art. 93. - AGIFER is organizationally, functionally and decisionally independent from the Romanian Railway Safety Authority - ASFR, which operates within the Romanian Railway Authority - AFER, from any infrastructure manager, rail transport operator, charging body, allocation body, notified body, railway system regulator and from any entity whose interests could conflict with the tasks entrusted to AGIFER.

How are the results of the investigation made known?
GEO No. 73/2019 provides that:
The results of the investigation of accidents or incidents referred to in art. 20 shall be the subject of the accident or incident investigation report, drawn up according to the type and seriousness of the accident or incident and the relevance of the findings of the investigation. The reports shall describe the objectives of the investigation referred to in art. 20 para. (1) and include, where appropriate, safety recommendations.
The investigation is conducted in as transparent a way as possible so that all parties can be heard and share the results. The infrastructure manager and rail transport operators involved, the Romanian Railway Safety Authority, the Agency, the victims and their relatives, the owners of the damaged goods, the manufacturers, the emergency services involved, the staff representatives and the users shall have the opportunity to provide relevant technical information in order to improve the quality of the investigation report.
AGIFER shall publish the final report on its own website, www.agifer.ro, as soon as possible, but no later than 12 months after the date of the event. If the final report cannot be published within 12 months, AGIFER shall publish an interim statement at least on each anniversary date of the accident, giving details of the status of the investigation and the safety issues raised. (3) and relevant bodies and parties in other Member States.The investigation report shall follow the structure established by the European Commission by means of implementing acts.

How is AGIFER financed?
Extract from GEO 33/2015:
Art. 94. - (1) AGIFER's own revenue shall be the single tariff for the activities related to the investigation of railway accidents and incidents, the calculation method and tariff level of which, by type of activity, shall be determined by the management board and approved by order of the Minister of Transportation.
(2) The method of charging shall be laid down in the contracts concluded by AGIFER in a non-discriminatory and transparent manner with:

1. railway infrastructure manager(s);
2. non-interoperable railway infrastructure managers;
3. rail transport operators;
4. the economic operator performing metro transport operations;
5. economic operators that own or otherwise own and operate industrial railway lines connected to public railway infrastructure and/or private railway infrastructure open to public traffic;
6. economic operators that own or otherwise own and have the right to use railway vehicles running on the railway infrastructure and are registered as such in the National Vehicle Register - NVR;
7. economic operators performing activities related and/or ancillary to rail transport.

(3) In the case of serious rail accidents involving expert assessments that exceed the budgeted expenses, AGIFER may benefit, under the conditions of the law, from amounts from the Budget Reserve Fund at the disposal of the Government, which shall be allocated by the Ministry of Transport budget from a separate transfer item, for the performance of investigation activities.