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What we do

FUNCTIONS

The Transport Regulation Authority’s main mission is the ex ante regulation in the area of transport, covering both access to infrastructures and services.

Pursuant to Article 37 of Decree-Law no. 201/2011, its mandate includes:

ensuring, according to methods that encourage competition, management production efficiency and cost containment for users, businesses and consumers, as well as equitable and non-discriminatory access of businesses to rail, port, airport and toll motorway infrastructures, without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Agenzia per le infrastrutture stradali e autostradali, and to the national, local and urban mobility of passengers and freight, including that connected to stations, airports and ports;
where it is deemed necessary in relation to the actual competition conditions in the individual markets of national and local transport services, setting the criteria to determine charges, fees and tolls;
checking the correct application of the criteria as set out above by the parties concerned;
establishing the minimum quality standards of national and local transport services characterized by public service obligations, identified in accordance with the local characteristics of supply and demand;
in relation to the different services and infrastructures, defining the minimum rights and entitlements (including compensation) that may be claimed by passengers against transport operators, without prejudice to the additional collaterals increasing users’ protection that infrastructure managers and service providers may include in their service charters;
designing schemes for invitations to tender for the direct award of transport services and conventions, to be included in the tender specifications, and setting the criteria for the appointment of contracting authorities;
ensuring that the invitations to tender for regional rail transport do not contain discriminatory conditions or terms that may prevent access to potential competitors, with particular reference to the requirement concerning the availability of rolling stock already at the time of the tender;
carrying out the regulatory functions for the access to railway infrastructure, by defining the criteria for the determination of charges and the allocation of train paths and capacity and by overseeing their proper application;
in the area of rail transport, determining the public service areas on rail sections and the methods of financing, after consulting with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the regions and local authorities concerned. After an appropriate period of observation, the Authority analyses the efficiency of the different degrees of separation between infrastructure manager and railway undertaking, taking into account the experiences of other EU Member States and the need to protect commuters (art. 37 of Decree Law No 1/2012);
in the motorway sector, establishing, for new concessions, toll charging systems based on the price-cap method, with determination of X productivity indicator every five years for each concession. Defining concession schemes to be included in invitations to tender relating to management or construction, as well as tender schemes which motorway concessionaires are required to comply with for new concessions and the optimal management areas of toll motorway sections;
in the airport sector, carrying out the responsibilities of supervisory Authority (art. 71 et. seq. Decree law No 1/2012), by approving charging systems and level of airport charges;
in the field of taxi transport, monitoring and checking the correspondence of service supply levels, fares and service quality to the needs of different urban areas, according to criteria of reasonableness and proportionality, in order to ensure the users’ right to mobility. Municipalities and regions, following the opinion of the Authority, shall adapt taxi services to these needs, in compliance with the principles laid down by law.

POWERS

In order to carry out these responsibilities, the Authority has the power to:

encourage and assist the competent public authorities to identify public service areas and more efficient ways of funding, by issuing opinions that can be made public;
determine the criteria for drawing up the accounts of the regulated businesses and may impose, where necessary to ensure competition, the accounting and corporate separation of integrated businesses;
propose to the competent administration the suspension, revocation or withdrawal of concession acts, conventions, public service and programme contracts and equivalent acts, where the conditions provided for by law are met;
request information and documents necessary to carry out its responsibilities and take statements from any person informed;
carry out inspections on persons subject to regulation, by means of access to facilities, means of transport and premises, if the Authority suspects any breaches of the regulation in the areas falling within its remit; during on-site inspections, with the assistance of other Government bodies, it can check account books and other business records, obtain copies thereof, ask for clarifications and information, seal business premises, books or records;
order to cease the conducts contrary to the regulatory measures adopted and to the commitments made by the regulated businesses, by providing for appropriate remedies;
make binding the commitments made by the undertakings for removing the objections raised by the Authority, and apply, in case of non-compliance, a penalty of up to 10% of the turnover of the business concerned;
take provisional precautionary measures, under extraordinary circumstances, if it is considered that there are reasons of necessity and urgency, so as to safeguard competition and protect the interests of users;
assess complaints, requests and reports submitted by users and consumers, whether individuals or associations, with respect to the compliance of quality and charging levels by the parties operating the regulated services, for the purpose of exercising its competences;
encourage the establishment of simple and inexpensive procedures for conciliation and dispute settlement between operators and users;
impose fines of up to 10% of turnover on businesses that:
1. do not comply with the criteria for determining and updating tariffs, charges, tolls, fees and prices subject to administrative review, and with the criteria for accounting separation and unbundling of costs and revenues pertaining to public service activities;
2. infringe the rules governing the access to networks and infrastructures or the conditions imposed by the Authority;
3. do not comply with the Authority’s requirements and measures.
impose administrative fines of up to 1% of the business turnover, where:
1. the recipients of a request by the Authority provide incorrect, misleading or incomplete information, or fail to provide the information within the specified time-limit;
2. the businesses subject to inspection refuse to provide or produce incomplete business records or refuse to provide or provide the requested clarifications in an inaccurate, misleading or incomplete manner;
impose administrative fines for failure to comply with its measures or for non-compliance with the requests for information, or with those related to controls, or in the event that information and documents are untrue. Upon initial application the fines are determined according to the procedures and within the limits laid down in Article 2 of Law No 481/1995. Payments resulting from the imposition of the above penalties are paid into a fund for financing projects to the benefit of consumers, as approved by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, upon the Authority’s proposal;
providing reports and opinions on the decisions of public authorities and other bodies in order to check their consistency with economic regulation.

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