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The Commission Communication on the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012

The Commission has on 6 April 2011 adopted a Communication to the Council and European Parliament proposing common policy objectives for the World Radio Communications Conference 2012. The text highlights the importance of promoting the EU's approach to the digital dividend, Galileo and the Single European Sky air traffic management system in order to ensure that the necessary spectrum is coordinated and protected at the international level.

Other important issues to be considered are spectrum for communications satellites, unmanned aerial systems, software defined and cognitive radio, short-range devices, spectrum for scientific research and combating climate change and electronic news gathering, as well as the issue of flexibility in the international framework. The Communication also highlights the need to maintain unity of action of the Member States and the EU, and proposes a coordinated approach to ensure this.

Full text of the Communication in English available here.

WRC sets the global rules

Every three of four years the ITU holds the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). This forum is the main mechanism for updating the ITU Radio Regulations (ITU-RR). This is the global agreement on how the airwaves are defined, allocated and used without harmful interference between the various wireless services around the world.

The WRC’s job is to review and when necessary revise the international Radio Regulation treaty governing the use of the radio spectrum and both geostationary and non-geostationary satellite orbits.

Revisions are made on the basis of an agenda determined by the ITU’s Council. The agenda takes into account recommendations made by previous WRCs.
The general scope of the agenda is established four to six years in advance, with the final agenda set by ITU Council two years before each conference following general agreement with a majority of ITU member states. The next WRC is in 2011.

Under the terms of the ITU constitution a WRC can:

Revise the Radio Regulations and any associated frequency assignment and allotment plans
Address any relevant global radiocommunication issue
Instruct the Radio Regulations Board and the Radiocommunication Bureau (both parts of the ITU structure) and review their activities
Determine questions for study by the Radiocommunication Assembly (usually associated with WRC meetings) and its Study Groups in preparation for future WRCs.

Although there is no legal compulsion to do so, the results of a WRC are subsequently ratified and enacted at national level by the ITU members, in order to ensure that the benefits of international coordination are achieved.

Commission role

WRC negotiations are often complex with high technical content and the potential to make a large impact on political and industrial policy in Europe.
The Commission participates in the WRC as a non-voting ITU sector delegation, but coordinates negotiations led by Member States (who are also ITU voting members) on issues relating to Community policies. These policies are based on European common policies and rely on the technical work undertaken by the CEPT.

The Commission’s role at WRC is to support decisions that are compliant with relevant Community policies and reflect the commercial and general interest of the European Union.

Preparing for the next WRC

Agendas and work programmes for WRC meetings are set at least two years in advance. Due to the complex technical and political nature of the global radio spectrum regulations, extensive preparation is required to establish and coordinate positions that support European Union policies across a range of areas.

The last WRC was held in Geneva in 2007. Besides the principles directly applicable to electronic communications, some general Community principles were the subject of specific consideration during technical negotiations at WRC-07. These included the promotion of competition between alternative infrastructure platforms, the consolidation of the Single Market (through appropriate support for harmonisation), and the removal of technical barriers to international trade.

RSPG contribution

Prior to a WRC the Commission requests the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) to provide it with an advisory Opinion on the policy priorities and objectives to be pursued by the European Union at the conference.
The aim of this exercise is to ensure that European preparation for the event is accompanied by a political process that would reflect Community interests and objectives across all relevant policy areas. Relevant Community policies that are affected by regulatory decisions at WRC include the fields of information society, transport, space, audiovisual, environment and research and development.
Joint European Commission – CEPT workshops are organised prior to the conferences to discuss European policy objectives for the WRC, assist the Commission’s preparation for the conference and to ensure all stakeholders in the process had an opportunity to express their views.
The RSPG adopted its Opinion on common policy objectives for WRC-12 on 10 February 2011.

The Opinion is available here.

Preparing for WRC-12

The next WRC, the culmination of several years of preparatory work, will be held in Geneva from 23rd January to 17th February 2012. The agenda for this meeting was effectively set at the WRC-07 meeting. This means that initiatives that support European Union policy requirements need to be included on the agenda well in advance.

At WRC-07 the Commission together with Member States looked to include agenda items for WRC-12 that support the need for more flexibility in the global radio spectrum regulatory framework.

Most WRC decisions have an impact over a long timeframe – often 10 to 20 years after the conference. This means that agendas and decisions need to be “future proofed” and able to address spectrum requirements of important policies and trends.

The Commission considers that critical items for future consideration are:

Sustainable development and climate change
Pan-European networks and services in transport and electronic communications – for example spectrum requirements for the next generation European Air Traffic Management System
Overcoming the “digital divide” – especially in the rural areas, for the elderly, the disabled and other disadvantaged communities.

Public workshop on the European preparations for the ITU WRC-12 conference

The European Commission and the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) organised in Brussels on June 10th 2010 a public workshop on the European preparations for the ITU WRC-12 conference.
The main objective of this workshop was to debate specific conference issues relating to EU policies in order to:

assist the Commission's preparation of its multi-annual Radio Spectrum Policy Programme as well as a Communication to the Council of Ministers and to the European Parliament on common EU policy objectives for WRC-12;
inform the work of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group on WRC-12;
provide an input to CEPT in the finalisation of the European Common Proposals to the WRC-12.

Workshop agenda - Presentations - List of participants