If after identifying the relevant markets, the President determines in a market analysis procedure that the competition is not efficient enough on a market with ex ante regulatory aspects, the President identifies the significant market power (SMP) operator(s) of the market and imposes on such SMP operators at least one asymmetrical obligation.

An obligation is asymmetrical when it applies only to a certain subset of the relevant market players, those identified in the market analysis decision as SMP operators, i.e. if additional obligations are imposed in order to level out the existing communications dominance and support the entry of new market players to the market. On the wholesale markets, these obligations include:

• transparency, for the benefit of which the President may require that reference offers be made regarding interconnection and access and may order providers to disclose other data and information,
• equal treatment, for the benefit of which the President may require that equal conditions be stipulated for accessing the services,
• accounting separation, which is required in order to enable the Authority to understand the costs of the provider,
• obligations concerning access and interconnection, which serve as the basis for regulation and thus ensure access to the relevant regulated products for the eligible providers,
• cost orientation and controllability of rates, in which the President may stipulate the application of rates based on cost and predefined cost calculation and pricing methods, and
• functional separation, which is an ultimate instrument to obligate a vertically integrated provider to conduct its wholesale access service activities within an independent economic unit.

Besides the wholesale markets, obligations may be imposed on the retail markets as well, in exceptional cases.

It is a feature of the asymmetrical obligations imposed by an SMP decision that some of these are enforced under separate official procedures launched upon request. These include especially the official procedures for approving a reference offer, an accounting separation report or prices devised using a variety of cost calculation and pricing methods.

Beyond the above, the President supervises and examines compliance with the provisions of SMP decisions under a general official surveillance proceeding or a market surveillance proceeding.