Regulation
Scope: government intervention or changes in the regulatory environment relating to track infrastructure (access, pricing and unbundling requirements)
Regulation to the detriment of rail, for example due to additional legislative requirements, endangers intermodal competitiveness. Changes to the legal framework at national or European level could pose risks to our business. This general regulatory risk could therefore result in tangible negative effects on revenues and profits.
These regulations govern the individual components of the pricing systems, and general terms and conditions applied by our RIC. There are risks of complaints and intervention here. Measures that threaten or even prevent DB Group from attaining reasonable returns in the infrastructure business units (such as intervention in pricing systems) make it more difficult to control these activities from a business perspective and can therefore threaten financing contributions by DB Group for infrastructure capital expenditures.
Political risks are related particularly to the increase of applicable standards and railway industry regulations (e.g. passenger rights). The structure of DB Group may also be exposed to regulatory risks.
In order to respond to risks resulting from changing legal framework conditions on either a national or an international level, we take an active part in the discussions and debates that take place ahead of this type of change.