EU Will Publish 5 Directives In June On Electronic Communications, by Ulrika Lomas

Tax-news.com, Brussels

28 April 2000

The EU this week announced that as a result of the Communications Review begun in November, 1999, it would present plans in June for five directives covering the telecommunications sector and setting out a regulatory framework for electronic communications and the Internet.

The Commission is moving with unwonted speed as a result of prodding by European leaders after the Lisbon meeting of the Council of Ministers earlier in the month, when they adopted a grand vision of the development of the digital 'knowledge' economy in the Union.

Those parts of the planned directives dealing with telecommunications unbundling, competition and other more technical aspects of communications will probably be quite soundly based, and can be seen as a continuation of an existing process of liberalisation and modernisation in the communications sector. But plans being rushed out as a result of Lisbon for regulatory structures for e-business and e-commerce will likely be a half-baked mixture of intrusive nannying and expensive, socially-responsible give-aways, with a few high-minded principles stirred in, and will run into all kinds of difficulties at national level.

Here is the full text of the Commission's announcement:

Brussels, 26 April 2000

Commission outlines results of public consultation on 1999 Telecom Review and unveils orientation of forthcoming proposals for new regulatory framework.

The European Commission has adopted a Communication setting out the results of its public consultation on the 1999 Communications Review initiated in November 1999.

The Communication also sets out the main orientations for the forthcoming Commission proposals for the new regulatory framework for electronic communications.

The Communication also proposes to introduce the requirement for unbundling of the local loop into Community legislation. The legislative proposals will be issued in June this year.

Today's Communication should be seen in the context of the Lisbon European Council three weeks ago where European leaders cited the shift to a digital knowledge-based economy as a motor for growth, competitiveness and employment. The present Communication is the latest sign of the European Commission's determination to give citizens and business access to a low cost, world-class communications infrastructure. Getting the right regulatory framework for communications infrastructure is central to the Commission's overall strategy for eEurope launched at the end of last year and endorsed in Lisbon.

"Telecommunications and the Internet have become crucial for our economies and societies. A regulatory framework that allows competition and innovation to thrive will drive down telecommunication and Internet prices. This is a key element for Europe's success in the new knowledge-based economy", said Mr Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society.

The key proposals are as follows:

• facilitating market entry by simplifying licensing conditions:moving to an authorisations system based on the use of general authorisations to authorise all communications networks and services; specific rights of use would be granted for spectrum and numbering resources;
• rolling back regulation by modifying the notion of Significant Market Power to base it on the concept of dominant position, calculated in a manner consistent with competition law practice;
• reinforcing the Recommendation on local loop unbundling launched today, with an obligation in the new framework for companies with significant market power to provide unbundled access to their copper local loops;
• giving national regulators greater flexibility to impose access and interconnection obligations according to national circumstances, balanced by strong co-ordination procedures at European level to safeguard the single market;
• ensuring that in a competitive environment consumers are properly protected in their dealings with suppliers, and maintaining current scope of universal service, while introducing procedures to review and update its scope as appropriate;
• introducing obligation on mobile operators to offer number portability to users.

The Communication on the 1999 Communications Review proposed that the future regulatory framework should cover all communications infrastructure and associated services. It set out the objectives and principles that would underlie the new framework. Finally it made a number of policy proposals in eight areas: licensing and authorisations; access and interconnection; management of radio spectrum; universal service; user and consumer rights; numbering, naming and addressing; specific competition issues; and institutional issues and sought the views of interested parties on them.

More than 200 responses were received, from a wide range of interests, from inside and outside the EU. In addition, over 550 people attended a two-day public Hearing held by the Commission on 25 and 26 January 2000.

Next Steps Five proposals for directives will be issued by Commission in June 2000

The Lisbon European Council called for Council and European Parliament to adopt these proposals "as early as possible in 2001."

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