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Appeal

The party in question can appeal to the regulatory body for the rectification of a decision by the infrastructure manager, if such a decision relates to:

1. congested rail capacity or part of it or individual order of priority

2. the allocation of railway capacity

3. the urgent allocation of railway capacity

4. the cancellation or decommissioning of railway capacity

5. an infrastructure charge

6. reductions and increases in the basic infrastructure charge

7. additional fees.

Appeals can also be made against charges for the use of private sidings and the grounds for such charges.

Status of party

According to the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003) a party to administrative matters is the party whose rights, interests or duties the matter concerns.

A railway operator typically attains the status of a party to an appeal when it appeals against a decision of the infrastructure manager on capacity or an infrastructure charge for which the operator is applying, or charges for the use of a private siding and the related grounds for making such charges.

Content of appeal

An appeal must specify the decision against which the appeal is being made, the nature of the rectification demanded and the grounds upon which the appeal is being presented. The appeal must include documents which the applicant cites in support of his or her case. Any documents submitted must clearly specify any business secrets or other confidential information contained in them.

Please send any appeals to the Rail Regulatory Body at the P. O. Box address:

Finnish Rail Regulatory Body
P.O.Box 467
FI-00101 Helsinki

or by email to the address kirjaamo@traficom.fi

Openness of processing of matter

The Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999) applies to matters processed by the regulatory body. Appeals are principally deemed public, in accordance with the Act on the Openness of Government Activities. Upon request, the public authorities must provide any party which so requests with information on an appeal and the related documents. On the other hand, legislation provides for other confidentiality obligations, on the basis of which information such as business secrets and certain other information defined by law may not be divulged. For this reason, any appeal must clearly specify any business secrets or other confidential information contained in it.

In addition, in most cases the identity of the appellant is considered public information. His or her identity can only be concealed if there are special grounds for doing so, such as critically important public or private interests.

Processing of appeal

An appeal must be handled within six weeks of the date upon which the report required for resolving the matter was received by the regulatory body.

However, in the case of individual order of priority, allocations of rail capacity and urgent allocations of rail capacity, a decision on an appeal must be issued within ten days of the date upon which the report required for resolving the matter was received by the regulatory body.

In other regards, the processing of appeals is provided for by the Administrative Procedure Act.

Decision of regulatory body and the making of appeals

Appeals – against decisions on appeals made by the regulatory body – can be made to the Administrative Court.

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