Under the Act on Transport Services, service providers must open the interfaces of essential data, single ticket and acting on somebody else’s behalf. The Act promotes cooperation between service providers and practices related to open interfaces.

The interface practices are non-binding recommendations

Interface practices and the material on the mobility interfaces website are best practices the purpose of which is, in cooperation with actors in the sector, to share best contractual practices on the opening of interfaces and on agreeing on their use.

These best practices are not legally binding regulations or instructions issued by Traficom, or legally binding interpretations of existing legislation. The interface practices are non-binding recommendations.

The decisions made by Traficom in interface-related supervisory matters are only binding on the parties in the cases concerned. The decisions made by Traficom as part of its supervisory task and the instructions issued by the agency in its capacity as an authority can be viewed on the agency’s website at www.traficom.fi.

The icons in the chart show the five main stages of agreeing on interface use.
The five stages of agreeing on interface use: 1. Interfaces to be opened, 2. Reliability of the parties, 3. Negotiations, 4. Starting to use the interface, and 5. Using the interface

1. Interfaces to be opened

Under the Act on Transport Services, service providers must open the interfaces of essential data, single ticket and acting on somebody else’s behalf. The act also obliges service providers to cooperate in the opening of the interfaces.

2. Reliability of the parties

The party obliged to open the interface must conclude an agreement with the party using the interface.

What can parties require of each other in terms of reliability and what law-based requirements can be placed concerning such issues as information security and identification solutions?

3. Negotiations

Opening and using the interface require an agreement between the parties concluded on the basis of mutual negotiations.

4. Starting to use the interface

Before the interface can be put into use, the parties must agree on its technical implementation and on the data to be transmitted.

5. Using the interface

The interface can be activated after the parties have concluded the agreement on its use. Using the interface involves a range of different responsibility issues and there may also be changes in the interface during its use.

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