The Hungarian Rail Office is Hungary's rail regulator and licensing authority. It was established in 2006 and has authority over licensing, regulation, and oversight of Hungary's rail system. The Rail Office's decisions are made by the president alone and can only be overturned by judicial review. In 2007, the Rail Office made 116 total decisions, including licenses for freight, passenger, and infrastructure operators, and imposed fines on some companies for regulatory violations.

1. THE HUNGARIAN RAIL MARKET & REGULATOR ANTAL, Dániel p r e s i d e n t S o p r o n, 10th September 2007. Comparison of Austria and Hungary

2. Scope of authority, decisions, clients Hungarian Rail Office 2007 The Hungarian Rail Office

3. Scope of authority Established on 1 January 2006 without legal predecessor as an institution. Licensing authority : In Hungary all freight, passenger and infrastructure services have to be licensed. The Hungarian Rail Office is a licensing authority under the scope of Council Directive 95/18/EC and is a successor of previous licensing authorities. Similar national licensing scheme for regional, suburban, local and private railways, and for the two national infrastructure managers, MÁV Zrt and GySEV Zrt ( Raaberbahn ). Regulatory body : The Hungarian Rail Office is the regulatory body under the scope of Directives 91/440 EEC and 2001/14/EC. No predecessor in this authority, cannot take on cases before 2006. Passenger rights : The Hungarian Rail Office approves the general terms of agreement for all rail passenger carriers in Hungary. A new Passenger Rights Ombudsman was appointed on 31 August 2007. HRO will be responsible for the implementation of the forthcoming Community legislation. The current tasks are stipulated by national railway law. Other tasks : Oversight of accounting separation, some regulation on the freight market, some tasks related to state aid in the railways sector. Tasks stipulated by national railway law. Safety certificate have to be approved by the National Transport Authority, which is responsible for safety regulation in all transport segments. Hungarian Rail Office 2007

4. Decisions of the Hungarian Rail Office Decisions : The decisions of the Hungarian Rail Office are based on its procedures. The decision is always taken by the president in one person. The president may delegate decisions to the vice-president or the head of units by types of case or on a case-by-case basis. No such delegation exists: the vice president makes decisions if legal deadlines would be risked by an unforeseen emergency. The president may appoint a Council of Advisors who may form an opinion on decisions. The Council will be appointed by 2008. Transparency & client rights : The procedures of HRO are regulated by Act CXL 2004 on general rules of public administrative procedures and services with few modifications. The procedures are public for the interested parties. All the decisions of HRO, and with very few limitations the full text of the legally binding justification (the legal facts, other facts which are not confidential, the full interpretation of the facts) is published on www.vasutihivatal.gov.hu . Procedures: http://www.magyarorszag.hu/english/keyevents/a_kozig/a_foglalk/a_alligazelj20051026 Independence from political decisions : The minister of economy and transport is the supervisor of the institutions (general budgetary and procedural issues). The Act on Rail Transport prohibits the minister to overrule the decisions of HRO which are subject only to judiciary oversight. The minister on the other hand cannot make decisions for HRO, which rules out any influence on the decision-making process. Judiciary oversight : The decisions of HRO cannot be modified by any body of the Hungarian government. The decisions are immediately binding and are subject to two-tier judiciary oversight. During such a process the judiciary may temporarily suspend the decisions. Hungarian Rail Office 2007

5. Decisions of the Hungarian Rail Office Total no. decisions in 2007 (2006) 116 (26) including procedural and other EEA relevant licences decisions Freight +8,-2 (+3) http :// vasutihivatal.gov.hu / vasut _ tarsasagok / arutovabbitas Passenger +3 (0) http:// vasutihivatal.gov.hu/vasut_tarsasagok/szemelyszallitas National licence decisions Infrastructure +1 (0) Private infrastructure 29 (0) http:// vasutihivatal.gov.hu/palyahalozatok Regional railway +16 (0) Suburban railway 0 (0) Regulatory decisions Capacity-allocation 1 (1) Terms & pricing 2 (1) Business conduct 2 (0) http:// vasutihivatal.gov.hu/hivatal/ugyintezes/piacfelugyelet Fines imposed MÁV Zrt: 50 million HUF VPE Kft (CAB) 5 million HUF Hungarian Rail Office 2007

6. Hungarian Rail Office 2007 Hungary: rail markets and regulation

7. International freight transport 1973-1997 Hungarian Rail Office 2007

8. Market concentration in freight transport Hungarian Rail Office 2007

9. Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index in Hungary Hungarian Rail Office 2007

10. Rail freight tonne kilometres, billion Hungarian Rail Office 2007

11. Rail freight tonne kilometres, million Hungarian Rail Office 2007

13. Thank you for your attention! Hungarian Rail Office 2007