Tourism Law in Europe

8 railway operators. A number of new railway operators has started since then, but most of them are small local companies or companies that only conducts traffic on one or a few lines. Now, more than ten years after the abandonment of the monopoly, SJ AB still has about 95 % of the market. Further to the national railway network, there is also regional or local operators providing traffic by railway within that region. Railway traffic is regulated through the Railway Act 10 , which implements COTIF 1999 11 . 6.2. Bus In Sweden transportation of passengers by bus is regulated through a Swedish act 12 , which implements EU-directives on road transport and coach and bus services 13 . To act as road passenger transport operator, i.e. providing passenger transportation by bus, requires authorisation from the competent authority. A bus is defined as a vehicle intended for more than nine persons including the driver. For smaller vehicles, i.e. vehicles intended for up to eight passengers, se below under taxi. The Swedish Transport Agency is the competent authority. 6.3. Air transport Due to the size of the country, air traffic between the different regions is an important part of the Swedish infrastructure. There are about 40 regional airfields for passenger traffic. Ten of those, including the airports in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö is owned by the state-owned company Svedavia AB. The Swedish domestic air market was de-regulated in 1992, opening up for other airlines than SAS. However SAS still has a large 10 Järnvägslag (2004:519). 11 Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) of 9 May 1980 in the version of the Protocol of Modification of 3 June 1999. 12 Yrkestrafiklag (2012:210). 13 Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing common rules concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator and repealing Council Directive 96/26/EC and 1073/2009 Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services, and amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006.