This document deals with mechanical rail joints for permanent use with flat bottom rails 46 kg/m and above. The scope of this document is: to establish requirements for insulated and non-insulated rail joints, for stressed rail (continuous welded rail, CWR) and unstressed rail (jointed track); to define mechanical and electrical requirements for type approval and for acceptance of insulated rail joints which are manufactured in a factory (prefab construction) as well as assembled on-site (site construction). This document specifies the minimum requirements. Special applications as for instance tram systems may require different demands in certain paragraphs and should be agreed between customer and supplier. The scope of this document excludes all types of mechanical joints for temporary use in track, used for example during track construction or for securing broken rails and welds before final repair. The scope also excludes expansion devices (covered in EN 13232-8), and special joints in switch constructions.