Railways Act 1993

73 Keeping of register by the Franchising Director

(1) The Franchising Director shall, at such premises and in such form as he may determine, maintain a register for the purposes of this Part.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) and to any direction given under subsection (4) below, the Franchising Director shall cause to be entered in the register the provisions of—

(a) every franchise exemption;

(b) every franchise agreement;

(c) every notice of a determination under section 25(4) above;

(d) every amendment (however described) of a franchise agreement;

(e) every final or provisional order which relates to a franchise agreement, every revocation of such an order and every notice given by the Franchising Director under section 55(6) above that he is satisfied that he does not need to make such an order;

and, without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (d) above, “amendment” in that paragraph includes any variation of the property, rights and liabilities which from time to time constitute the franchise assets in relation to the franchise agreement in question, whether the variation is effected in accordance with the terms of, or by an amendment made to, the franchise agreement.

(3) In entering any provision in the register, the Franchising Director shall have regard to the need for excluding, so far as that is practicable, the matters specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 71(2) above, for this purpose taking references in those paragraphs to the Regulator as references to the Franchising Director.

(4) If it appears to the Secretary of State that the entry of any provision in the register would be against the public interest or the commercial interests of any person, he may direct the Franchising Director not to enter that provision in the register.

(5) The contents of the register shall be available for inspection by the public during such hours and subject to the payment of such fee as may be specified in an order made by the Secretary of State.

(6) Any person may, on the payment of such fee as may be specified in an order so made, require the Franchising Director to supply him with a copy of, or extract from, any part of the register, being a copy or extract which is certified by the Franchising Director to be a true copy or extract.

(7) The contents of the register shall be available for inspection at any time by the Regulator, without payment of any fee; and the Regulator may require the Franchising Director, without payment of any fee, to supply him with a copy of, or extract from, any part of the register, being a copy or extract which is certified by the Franchising Director to be a true copy or extract.

(8) Any sums received by the Franchising Director under this section shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.