Become a member

The President of COLPOFER receives applications from new members. He/she informs the Board before submitting those applications to a vote of the General Assembly in accordance with the procedures set out in the internal rules.

Membership in COLPOFER is annual and corresponds to the budget year

Membership expires:

When a member gives the President of COLPOFER notification of its withdrawal in writing before the end of the calendar year. Its membership then expires at the end of that calendar year
By exclusion decided by the General Assembly for non compliance with internal rules or any other serious reason, , breach of confidentiality, non payment of the membership fee within the given deadline, etc.

The General Assembly sets annual membership fees based on a proposition made by the Secretary General. The members must pay their membership fees by 30 June each year at the latest.

Members that have duly paid their membership fees shall receive COLPOFER documents at no cost at least in English. They will also benefit from access to the password-protected area of the Internet website.

According to Article 3 – Composition (Internal Rules), the following entities may become members:

European railway companies
Infrastructure Managers
Police forces
Public authorities working in railway security
European institutions dealing with railway security matters

In addition:

Membership is open to both UIC members and non-UIC members
Members are represented by decision-makers responsible for security matters in their respective organizations

Based on Article 4 – Membership and Article 6 – General Assembly (Internal Rules), the process is as follows:

Formal procedure

The application must be:

Submitted to the President of COLPOFER

The President:

Informs the Board

Submits the application to the General Assembly for a vote

Final decision

Admission is:

Decided by the General Assembly (decision-making body)

Interested entities:

May attend one General Assembly as observers before applying
Must respect confidentiality of discussions

Benefits

Access to:

- COLPOFER documents free of charge (at least in English)

Access to:

- Password-protected area of the website

Participation:

- Meetings free of charge (excluding travel and accommodation costs)

- Operational / networking benefits (Articles 2 and 8)

Exchange of best practices and operational information on railway security
International cooperation between:

- railway companies

- railway police and security services

Participation in:

- Working Groups on specific security topics

Contribution to:

- Proposals and initiatives to improve railway security at European level