Review of EC Legislation

At the Telecoms Council on 27 June, Member States reached a common position on the draft Universal Service Directive and the draft Communications Data Protection Directive, with some positive outcomes for the UK.

One of the most significant changes from the existing Universal Service regime is the inclusion of "functional" Internet access within the scope of universal service. Other changes include new generic provisions on retail regulation of operators with SMP (significant market power) and the requirement for mobile number portability in addition to the existing obligation for USO operators to provide fixed number portability.

The debate on the draft Communications Data Protection Directive centred on two outstanding issues: retention of traffic data for law enforcement purposes and unsolicited commercial e-mails. Compromise was reached on the first, but the Presidency was not able to make any progress on the second issue and concluded that this provision would be considered at the next Council after the European Parliament has completed its first reading of the Directive and given its opinion.

The draft Radio Spectrum Decision was also adopted.

Once common positions on all Directives have been confirmed in September, the European Parliament's second reading will start and it is envisaged at this stage that the legislative package will be fully adopted at the December Telecommunications Council. If the new legislative package is agreed in December, transposition of the EU Directives (including amendments to the authorisation regime) will follow in March 2003.

Independent Regulators Group

Over the past four months IRG has focused its attention on the negotiations of the EU communications legislative package and has taken a number of actions in order to make IRG's views heard and to try and influence the outcome.

The IRG Taskforce Group, chaired by Oftel, led the whole process. IRG had the opportunity to present its views on key issues, including the definition of market power and inter-institutional relationships, to senior officials from the European Commission and European Parliament.

At the invitation of the Commission, IRG assigned its Working Group on Significant Market Power to draft a working paper to explain NRAs' understanding of the principles behind SMP. A small delegation from IRG subsequently met with the Commission and finalised IRG's response to the Commission's draft SMP Guidelines.

The Commission welcomed IRG's contribution on this complex issue. IRG has also already published two sets of Principles of Implementation and Best Practice (PIBs) on LLU and LRIC which were respectively drafted by the LLU and Cost Accounting Working Groups. Other IRG Groups are currently working towards PIBs in other areas such as retail tariff transparency, cross-border dispute resolution, mobile call termination and accounting separation.

For further information contact Rachel Coldeboeuf (tel: 020 7634 5306/e-mail rachel.coldeboeuf@oftel.gov.uk).