According to is website, the Railway Regulatory Authority is an Independent Administrative Authority with the name RAS - the RAS enjoys operational independence, administrative and financial autonomy and is not subject to scrutiny by government bodies or any other administrative authority. Law 4408/2016 transposes EU Directive 2012/34/EU in which Article 16 states that: Each Member State shall designate a licensing authority that shall be responsible for issuing licences and for carrying out the obligations imposed by this Chapter.The licensing authority shall not provide rail transport services itself and shall be independent of firms or entities that do so.