[2] The Channel Tunnel Safety Authority (CTSA) has its origins in article 11 of the Anglo-French Treaty of Canterbury enacted in 1986, while further details were specified with an associated concession agreement.
[5] Accordingly, various measures were incorporated into the safety regime, from operating procedures to the design of the tunnel itself, to help mitigate the dangers posed by such a fire.
Liaison between Eurotunnel and emergency services was improved with joint exercises and exchanges of personnel between the British and French fire brigades, so that each had experience with the other's operational procedures.
The details of many of these tests, including their results and the conditions they were performed under, are typically kept secret on grounds of commercial confidentiality; while this usually precludes peer reviews, government authorities can demand the release of such information if they so desire.
[10][11] The French train manufacturer Alstom launched legal action to prevent Eurostar from proceeding, claiming that the Siemens sets ordered would breach Channel Tunnel safety rules,[12][13] Following the approval of safety rule changes which would permit Eurostar to operate the Velaro sets within the tunnel, the French government dismissed their delegate to the CTSA and brought in a replacement.