|
Please e-mail
Andrew McWhir or
Rachel Coldeboeuf
if you have any comments or queries.
This page presents
the EU's new legislative framework for communications networks and
services, which resulted from the exercise known as the "1999
Review" which saw the development and negotiations of legislative
proposals from the European Commission. A useful link to the European
Commission's DG Information Society's website outlines the various
stages of the exercise at: http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/telecoms/regulatory/new_rf/index_en.htm.
Introduction
and Presentation
The
main harmonisation Directives that make up the 1998 regulatory package
all had a clause for review by the end of 1999. This process, wrapped
up with the discussions following the European Commission's Convergence
Green Paper, is known as "the 1999 communications review".
Following a number of studies launched by the Commission throughout
1999 on specific regulatory issues in the context of the review
of the overall legislative framework, the review resulted in the
adoption of a Communication [COM(1999)539] by the Commission on 10 November
1999. This Communication presented a review of EU regulation in
communications and proposed the main elements for a new framework
for communications infrastructure and associated services. The Communication
also took into account the key messages of a number of other recent
consultations, reports and independent studies, in particular the
Communications on the consultation on the radio spectrum Green Paper
[COM(1999)538],
the report on the development of the market for digital television
in the EU [COM(1999)540] and the fifth report on the
implementation of the telecoms regulatory package [COM(1999)537].
In mid-April
2000 the Commission published its summary [COM(2000)239]
of the result of the consultation on the Communication [COM(1999)539].
On 27th April 2000, the Commission published 5 Working Documents
which formed the basis of five of the Directives to be published
in July 2000.
Building on
these documents and in response to the conclusions of the special
European Council of Lisbon
of 23-24 March 2000, the Commission proposed in July 2000 a package
of measures for a new regulatory framework for electronic communications
networks and services. The package consists of five proposed EP
and Council directives under Article 95, one Commission directive
to be adopted under Article 86 and one proposed Commission Decision
on a regulatory framework for radio spectrum.
In addition,
the Commission proposed an European Parliament and Council Regulation
for unbundled access to the local loop which was adopted in December
2000 and is now in force [Regulation
(EC) No 2887/2000 of 18 December 2000].
Before submitting
this proposals, the Commission had examined the impact of convergence
on this sector and had conducted an examination
of the use in the Community of radio spectrum by Member States
and by non-governmental bodies.
The new proposals
when adopted are intended to provide a coherent, reliable and flexible
approach to the regulation of electronic communication networks
and services in fast moving markets. The proposals provide a lighter
regulatory touch where markets have become more competitive, yet
ensure that a minimum of services are available to all users at
an affordable price and that the basic rights of consumers continue
to be protected.
Key aspects
of the new package relate to:
- Significant
Market Power (SMP): a new definition of SMP will align SMP
in the new package to the competition law notion of dominance,
thus raising the threshold for an ex ante regulation.
- Scope:
all electronic communications network and services are in principle
within the scope of the package, in order to provide consistency
of approach across different infrastructures. It covers satellite
and terrestrial networks (fixed or wireless), including the public
switched telephone networks using Internet Protocol (IP), cable
TV networks and broadcast network infrastructures.
- Market
entry (licensing): operators will be granted market access
under a new system of general authorization, combined with specific
rights of use for the assignment of spectrum and numbers, where
required.
- Universal
Service: the current scope of universal service obligations
will be maintained, while introducing a procedure to review and
revise the scope as necessary.
The Regulation
on Unbundled Access to the Local Loop has been implemented as part
of the current regulatory framework. The regulation entered into
force on 2 January 2001.
The Article
86 directive consolidating existing 'liberalisation' directives
will be adopted by the Commission at the same time as the Article
95 harmonisation directives are adopted by the European Parliament
and the Council.
The Article
95 directives and the spectrum decision are subject to the procedures
for adoption laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty of European
Union. A summary of the EU legislative process can be found on the
Commission's website http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/telecoms/regulatory/new_rf/index_en.htm
Further details on EU institutions and the EU legislative process
are available on the following Commission's website: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/about/pap/index.html
See the Spectrum
Policy Page on the Commission's website for further information
on the Decision on Spectrum Policy
Legislative
Proposals
The Commission
issued a number of legislative proposals which were adopted in December
2001. Here are the final texts, as published in the Official Journal
on the 24th of April 2002:
Framework
Directive
Access and
Interconnection Directive
Authorisation
Directive
Universal
Service and Users' Rights Directive
Privacy Directive
Directive
on Competition in the markets for communications services
Spectrum
Decision
Guidelines
on Market Analysis and Significant Market Power
- COM(2001)175
Draft Guidelines on market analysis and the calculation of significant
market power, to be adopted under Article 14 of the proposed Directive
on a Common Framework for Electronic Communications Networks and
Services (Working document of the Commission)
UK
Communications-sector input into the Review of EC Communications
regulatory Framework "99 Review"
UK
sector consultation
Throughout the
whole process of the 1999 Review, Oftel and the Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI) have felt the need to be forward-looking and
to ensure the running of an adequate consultation process with all
the actors in the sector who are affected -consumers and users,
industry, and the relevant regulatory bodies.
To help in this
process, DTI and Oftel jointly organised two sector workshops (February
1999 and February 2000). The fist event aimed at helping the sector
actors better understand how they could make their voices heard
– not only to DTI and Oftel in the UK, but also to the European
Commission and European Parliament, while the objective of the sector
workshop was to gather views from the sector on the Commission's
Communication, with a view to taking these into account in the UK's
response to the Communication.
DTI and Oftel
have also convened a Policy
Focus Group from across the sector. This brings together a small
group of people to discuss in more detail the issues considered
in the review.
We have also
been using the opportunities offered by the usual series of Oftel
consultative fora and meetings (such as the Operator Policy Forum,
the Large Business Users Panel and so on) to both raise awareness
of the issues and provide a mechanism for others to feed their views
in. We have also been encouraging those who have a particular concern
to contact us directly and comment either in writing or, where appropriate,
via a dedicated bilateral meeting.
First UK
sector workshop
This workshop, organised jointly by Oftel and DTI, took place in
London on 1 February 1999. It had as its primary aim raising awareness
of the review and of the issues it would cover among the main actors
in the UK telecoms sector-consumers, users, network operators, service
providers and others.
Papers for the
workshop: you can download a number of the papers for the workshop
from here:
Second UK sector workshop
This workshop,
organised jointly by Oftel and DTI, took place in London on 4 February
2000. It formed part of the consultation process on the review and
aimed to gather views from a wide range of perspectives, prior to
the finalisation of the UK's response to the Commission's Communication.
Papers for the
Workshop: you can download a number of the papers for the workshop
from here:
- Programme
- Presentation
slides by Peter Scott, European Commission (Powerpoint 97)
- Presentation
slides by Richard Feasey, MCI WorldCom (Powerpoint 97)
- Presentation
slides by Rob Borthwick, Vodafone AirTouch (Powerpoint 97)
- Presentation
slides by Simon Hampton, AOL Europe (Powerpoint 97)
- Presentation
slides by Moira Black, Consumer Communications for England
(Word 97)
- Speech
by Linda Lennard, National Consumer Council (Word 97)
- Presentation
slides by Bob Twitchin, Committee on Telecommunications for
Disabled and Elderly People (DIEL) (Powerpoint 97)
- Speech
by Bob Twitchin, Committee on Telecommunications for Disabled
and Elderly People (DIEL) (Word 97)
- Presentation
slides by Derek Nicholas, Telecommunications Managers Association/Telecoms
Users Association (Powerpoint 97)
- Presentation
slides by Julian Mackenney, Radiocommunications Agency (Powerpoint
97)
A small group
of people from the UK telecoms sector set up to interact with DTI
and Oftel on a regular basis during the early stages of the
review process, namely the Policy Focus Group, has been meeting
about once per month to discuss the issues covered by the review.
The group is constituted to give as wide a selection of views as
possible while minimising the size of the meetings. Apart from DTI
and Oftel, its current membership is:
| Member |
Organisation |
| Martin
Atherton |
BT |
| Richard
Feasey |
MCI-WorldCom |
| Clive
Feather |
Demon
Internet |
| Paul
Franklin |
Orange |
| Emma
Gilthorpe |
CWC |
| Simon
Hampton |
AOL
CompuServe Europe |
| Linda
Lennard |
NCC/DIEL |
| David
Levy |
BBC |
| Derek
Nicholas |
TMA/TUA |
| Miriam
Ogurcak |
Nortel
Networks |
| Adam
Scourer |
CA/ENACT |
| Michael
Rhodes |
BSkyB |
| Phil
Sayer |
Reuters |
| Richard
Tooth |
Microsoft |
The work of
this group in terms of feeding views in the development of the legislative
proposals and negociating process is now coming to an end.
Oftel's
role in the "1999 Review" and UK responses to Commission's
papers
The review has
given everyone the chance to influence the future of telecoms regulation
in the EU. The UK telecoms sector has had the chance to use this
opportunity to the full, and Oftel has intended to play as large
a part in the review as possible from our standpoint as an expert
and experienced regulator. Indeed, with more than 14 years of experience
of liberalisation, we have a lot to offer to both the UK-based debate
and the wider European one. In its initial overview (1998) on the
review, Oftel identified that we wanted to achieve a regulatory
framework that:
- fully protects
the rights of consumers;
- is flexible
and forward-looking;
- can meet
the challenges of a fast-moving and relatively mature sector in
the UK; and
- maintains
the single European market for telecommunications.
The UK published
a number of positions papers and responses to Commission's proposals
in respect of the 1999 Review:
IRG's
Input into the '99 Review'
IRG
has played a major role in the development and negotiations of legislative
proposals and Oftel took an active part in the IRG Working Group
leading the process.
IRG produced
a number of common position papers in response to various Commission's
documents as follows:
|
