Administrative regulations for cableway installations and conveyor belts at mountain resorts

French regulations have modelled the definition of installations on European regulation 2016/424 on cableway installations and repealing Directive 2000/9/EC. ‘Cableway installation’ means 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;

To determine the administrative rules and procedures for putting systems into service and inspecting them, the following must be taken into account:

• the location of the ropeway installation
• the type of people being transported

By default

By default, cableway installations used for transporting people are a guided public transport system.

The authorisation and inspection principles that apply to them are provided for by the French Transport Code and specified by Decree No. 2017-440 of 30 March 2017 on the safety of guided public transport (STPG Decree).

In mountain areas

Cableway installations located exclusively in mountain areas constitute lift systems .
Ropeway installations are defined by the same Tourism Code as “all public passenger transport devices by cog railway, by cableway installation falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/424”.

The rules applicable to them and their operators are set out in the French Tourism Code.

The rules concerning authorisations prior to the execution of work and the start of operations are set out in the French Urban Planning Code. These are urban planning authorisations issued by the authority responsible for building permits.
The French Urban Planning Code therefore covers the work authorisation files (DAET) and the operation authorisation files (DAME) for these installations.

Inside a public access facility

Installations located within a facility subject to the regulations governing public access buildings, fairground activities or parks, are subject to the French Transport Code. They are subject to the technical and safety provisions applicable to cableway installations covered by Title 4 of Decree No. 2017-440 of 30 March 2017 on the safety of guided public transport (STPG).

Personnel transport

Installations used for transporting personnel are subject to the French Transport Code.
They are subject to the technical and safety provisions applicable to cableway installations covered by Title IV of Decree No. 2017-440 of 30 March 2017 on the safety of guided public transport (STPG).

Mountain resort conveyor belts

Mountain resort conveyor belts are not ropeway installations as such. Mountain resort conveyor belts do not have traction cables or cogs. They are subject to Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on machinery.
The French Tourism Code states that “conveyor belts providing transport for tourism or sports purposes at mountain resorts” are subject to the rules of Article L 342-17 of the same code.

Operators

The French Tourism Code requires that each operator of ropeway installations and conveyor belts in mountain areas implement a safety management system covering all of their installations.