POLICIES :: eCommunications :: Tomorrow's Framework :: Roadmap for the 2006 Review
Roadmap for the Reform of the EU's Telecom Rules
The review of the EU regulatory Framework for eCommunications takes up most of the year 2006 and involves extensive public consultations where stakeholders can contribute to the discussion. Preliminary work started at the end of November 2005 with a Call for input, enabling stakeholders to give their views on possible changes to the five European Parliament and Council directives that constitute the current framework, and to the Recommendation on relevant markets.
On June 29, the Commission launches a public consultation on policy options for updating the EU’s telecom rules. Reporting on the functioning of the framework, the Commission evaluates how well the current framework takes account of the rapid technological, market and societal developments. This Communication and its associated documents kick off a second more formal public consultation with a view of presenting legislative proposals by summer 2007. The individual steps which comprise the reform of the EU's telecom rules are outlined below.
Call for input on the forthcoming reform of the EU's telecom rules
25 November 2005
The European Commission launched the 2006 review process with a Call for Input. The Commission Services invited interested parties to give their views on possible changes to the five European Parliament and Council directives that constitute the current EU framework for electronic communications, and to the Recommendation on relevant markets. The consultation document is available in the Public Consultation section. The call for input attracted a large number of contributions from all sides of the market spectrum. The contributions can be also found on this site.
Public Workshop
on the forthcoming reform of the EU's telecom rules
including the Review of the Recommendation on relevant markets
24 January 2006
A public workshop was held on Tuesday 24 January 2006 in Brussels. 440
experts from Industry, trade federations participated and contributed to the
open questions which are tackled by the Review 2006. Fabio Colasanti,
Director General of DG Information Society and Media welcomed the participants
and kicked off the discussion. The meeting was divided into four different
sessions to take account of the various elements which constitute the current
eCommunications framework. The full agenda of the meeting is
available.
"Communication on Market Reviews under the EU Regulatory Framework - Consolidating the internal market for electronic communications"
8 February 2006
The European Commission published a progress report on the state of play of competition on electronic communications markets. Regular economic analysis by EU Member States and the European Commission of competition in electronic communications markets and Commission scrutiny of draft national rules are paving the way to free markets is one of the main findings of this report. Regulation in this sector applies only to operators whose significant market power could prevent the full benefits of telecoms liberalisation from getting through to consumers. Wherever a market analysis has found tangible signs of sustainable competition, regulation has been trimmed back or removed altogether. However, much remains to be done.
As of 30 September 2005, sixteen EU Member States had found no effective competition on one or more of the 18 electronic communications markets defined by the EU and had taken steps to boost competition on the markets concerned. Five Member States had found only partial competition on one or more of these markets and had imposed remedies where it was lacking. But nine Member States had yet to notify the Commission of their analyses of any of the 18 markets. Of the analysed markets (152 out of 450), 123 were not competitive, 19 fully competitive, and 10 partially competitive.
This progress report which can be consulted under the
Article 7 procedures
section will give indication for the review of the
Recommendation on relevant markets, which is foreseen for
June 2006.
A True Internal Market for e-Communications
28 March, 2006
On February 8 2006, in a speech to the European Regulators Group (ERG), Commissioner Reding announced a new initiative concerning international roaming tariffs. A public consultation was launched on the dedicated Roaming website on 20 February.
In her speech, Mrs Reding said that despite many warnings and policy initiatives, roaming prices remained unjustifiably high and unchanged since the launch of this website in October 2005.
The Commissioner announced determined action, that is, work on an EU regulation on international roaming charges which the European Commission could propose to the European Parliament and to the Council before the summer break.
Together with the presentation of the updated Roamingwebsite, Commissioner Reding unveiled orientations for the new legislation on roaming. The presentation launched a second phase of public consultation and impact assessment. Following this second public consultation, the European Commission plans to publish its new Regulation on Roaming Charges in July 2006.
The new EU regulation should in any event address wholesale prices and would ensure that operators do not charge operators from other countries substantially more than the actual cost of carrying calls. However to make sure that the savings that operators make at wholesale level are actually passed on to the consumer, the Commission sees also a need for regulation at the retail level.
In particular, the new EU regulation could eliminate all roaming charges for receiving a call when traveling abroad in the EU.
For the mobile calls you make while travelling abroad in the EU, the
Commissioner considers introducing the “home pricing” principle, which means,
for example, that it should be as cheap to call a local restaurant when you are
in Spain as it would be to make a similar local call in your home country.
Similarly, the cost of making an international call on a mobile would be the
same whether the user is at home or abroad - for example for calling the family
back home while on holidays.
11th Implementation Report
20 February 2006
The European Commission publishes regular reports on the Member States’ implementation of the EU Framework for electronic Communications. This year’s 11th report is of particular importance, since its findings will heavily contribute to the ongoing review of the Framework. This year’s report of the EU telecom markets takes a snapshot of the situation in the electronic communications sector prior to the review of the framework. It allows the Commission to make a solid assessment of the impact of the EU telecom rules as a basis for the review of these rules in the course of 2006.
It looks at the latest market developments mainly in broadband, mobile and fixed services, the regulatory environment and the consumer interest. The report shows that some Member States have now introduced virtually all the national laws and regulatory practices required to implement EU telecom rules, and the remainder have made substantial progress. More on the European Commission's work to further implementation and application of the regulatory framework can be found in the Implementation and Enforcement section.
Commissioner Viviane Reding welcomed the progress made with the opening of national telecom markets, but added that further work was needed. The report shows that competition is already delivering substantial consumer benefits, especially in the broadband and mobile services sectors. Broadband, thanks to competition and investments, has seen significant growth, with a rise of almost 20 million subscriptions to 53 million. Mobile phone penetration has now reached almost 93% and exceeded 100% in eight Member States.
Commission Communication on the reform of the EU's telecom rules and launch of public consultation
29 June 2006
Deadline: 27 October 2006
On 29 June 2006 the European Commission
adopted a
. The Communication is complemented by a
Staff Working Document [pdf] which outlines in greater detail possible
changes to the regulatory framework, and by an
Impact Assessment [pdf].
In its review process the Commission is also taking account of external
experts' studies.
These documents launch a formal public consultation. The Commission invites comments on the
changes proposed in the Communication and on the accompanying Staff Working
Paper. The public consultation will run until 27 October 2006. Late
comments will not be processed.
Comments, preferably based on the template available
here,
should
be sent by e-mail before 27 October 2006, to
Responses to the consultation should be kept as short as practicable.
Contributions will be published on the Europa website unless confidentiality is
requested. (Where confidentiality is requested, neither the name of the
contributor nor the contribution will be published).
To read up on Public Consultations in general please
refer to the
relevant
section on the eCommunication Site.
A presentation of the Communication was given on Thursday 13 July 2006 in
Brussels. Details are available in the
public
presentation section.
Taking account of the comments received, the Commission intends to propose
legislative measures to Parliament and Council early in 2007.
Recommendation on relevant markets and launch of public consultation
29 June 2006
Deadline: 27 October 2006
At the same time,
the European Commission launches also a Public Consultation on the
Recommendation on relevant markets. The Commission invites comments on the draft second edition of the
Commission Recommendation on Relevant Product and Service Markets within the
electronic communications sector susceptible of ex ante regulation in accordance
with Directive 2002/21/EC and its associated explanatory memorandum.
The public consultation will run until 27 October 2006. Late comments will
not be processed.
Comments, preferably based on the template available
here should be sent before 27 October 2006, to:
marketsrecommendation@ec.europa.eu
Contributions will be published on the Europa website unless confidentiality is requested. (Where confidentiality is requested, neither the name of the contributor nor the contribution will be published).
To read up on Public Consultations in general please
refer to the
relevant
section on the eCommunication Site.
A presentation was given on Thursday 13 July 2006 in Brussels. Details are
available in the
public presentation section.
The revised
Recommendation on relevant markets is scheduled for adoption by the Commission,
and entry into force, in the first quarter of 2007.
Public Presentation of the Communication on the reform of the EU's telecom rules and the Recommendation on relevant markets
13 July 2006
The public presentation of the Commission's Review of the EU regulatory
framework for electronic networks and services and on the revision of the
Recommendation on relevant markets took place in Brussels on 13 July 2006
(Charlemagne building). Numerous stakeholders participated to learn more about
the upcoming changes to the regulatory framework for eCommunications and the
Recommendation on relevant markets. To find out more about the public
presentation, please consult the slides used during the
event.
Public Workshop on the reform of the EU's telecom rules including revision of the Recommendation on relevant markets
10 October 2006
The European Commission held a one-day public workshop on Tuesday 10
October 2006 in Brussels.
The Workshop provided an opportunity for interested parties and stakeholders
to express their views on the
4 consultation documents published by the Commission in July. The agenda
can be found
here.
The Workshop was broadcast live on the Internet:
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Privacy statement - Personal data gathered in the course of this workshop will
be processed according to applicable legislation on data protection. For further
details
click here.
Web streaming – technical requirements
To follow a conference via the Internet, use your personal computer, a normal
connection (56 kbps or more) and generally installed software.
The following are the normal minimum technical requirements for connecting to a
webcast event:
- a "media player" installed on your workstation: the type of player is indicated in the announcement page (the most commonly used are "Real Player", "Windows Media Player" or "Apple QuickTime"). Normally, each player can display a particular streaming format but some of them can play more than one. The European Commission supports and encourages using the widely accepted ISO standards. Most webstreams use MPEG4, which can be viewed with several different players.
- a connection to the Internet with a speed of at least 56 kbps (an ADSL or better connection is desirable);
- a sound card (normally already in your computer) and speakers or headphones to listen to speeches;
- an Internet Browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Opera, Safari, etc.).
After you have clicked on to the
web-streaming announcement page, all you have to do to join the webcast is to
click on the desired language: streamed video and audio in the selected language
is then downloaded automatically and you can see it after a short buffering
period.
The webcast is one-way, i.e. you are not able to speak from a remote location.
Publication of contributions to public consultation
23 November 2006
The European Commission published the non-confidential contributions to the Public Consultation on the Review of the EU Regulatory Framework here.
The list of non-confidential contributions to the revision of the Recommendation on relevant markets can be consulted here.
Report on the public consultation
June/July 2007
The Commission will publish a second Communication reporting on the public consultation. This second Commission Communication will mark the last preparatory step of the 2006 Review process, before the publication of the proposals for revision of the Directives constituting the regulatory framework for the eCommunications sector.
Proposals for a new regulatory framework
for the EU's telecom sector
June/July 2007
In 2007, it is expected that draft legislative proposals will be tabled to amend
the regulatory framework. At the same time, a revised version of the
Recommendation on relevant markets will be published. The revised framework is
expected to be implemented in Member States around 2009 - 2010.
The publication of the legislative proposals by the European Commission. will end the first phase of the review process. The next phase are the negotiations of the legislative texts by the European Parliament and Council. To follow the progress of the individual legislative proposals, please refer to the Adoption Procedure Page. Documents related to the 2006 Review can be found under News and Library on the right hand side on Tomorrow's Framework.
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| Last update: 12/03/2007 |