16 Implementation of the telecoms regulatory
package
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15186/03
COM(03) 715
+ ADD 1
| Commission Communication: European Electronic Communications Regulation and Markets 2003 — Report on the Implementation of the EU Electronic Communications Regulatory Package
Commission Staff Working Paper: Technical Annexes of the Ninth Report on the Implementation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Package
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| Legal base | — |
| Department | Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 2 March 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 42-v (2003-04), para 12 (14 January 2004)
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| Discussed in Council | 20 November 2003 Telecommunications Council
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared (decision reported on 14 January 2004)
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The Commission Communication
16.1 The Commission reported on the implementation by EU Member
States of the new European Community regulatory framework for
electronic communications as at 1 November 2003, and on the state
of the market, as at 1 August 2003.[40]
16.2 The main aim of this new legislative package
is to introduce a lighter, but comprehensive and technology-neutral,
framework, based on competition law principles. It also aims
to streamline the entire regulatory process.
16.3 The four main directives of the package,[41]
adopted by Council and Parliament on 7 March 2002, required implementation
on 25 July 2003. Only eight Member States, of which the UK is
one, have met the deadline. In view of this, the usual annex
giving details of the situation in individual Member States has
been omitted, in order to concentrate on key issues which still
need to be addressed in the implementation process. Infringement
proceedings have been opened by the Commission against Belgium,
Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal,
which have not yet completed the legislative process of transposing
the directives into their national law.
The Minister's letter
16.4 When we considered these documents on 14 January
2004, we asked the Minister for Energy, e-Commerce and Postal
Services at the Department of Trade and Industry (Mr Stephen Timms)
whether he was confident that the action so far taken by the European
Commission, in its role of ensuring that the various provisions
of the legislative package are properly and effectively implemented
in a timely manner, was sufficient.
16.5 The Minister replies:
"The Government has no doubt of the Commission's
determination to enforce full and effective implementation of
the new regulatory framework across all Member States of the EU.
The Commission initiated infraction proceedings against the laggard
Member States on 8 October 2003, and followed this up by launching
the second stage of the procedure on 17 December. In addition,
the Commission has urged Member States to enable their National
Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) to begin the necessary market analysis
without waiting for the completion of the transposition measures,
and most Member States (including France and Germany) have done
so. This means that NRAs will be in a position to begin withdrawing
or imposing regulatory obligations under the new framework as
soon as the implementing legislation is in place.
"Mr Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for Enterprise
and the Information Society, has emphasised the urgency for the
new regulations to be consistently applied across the EU. He has
said that the Commission regards it as a priority to encourage
timely transposition and is determined to maintain pressure on
Member States which have still not complied with their obligations
to transpose the new framework.
"The Commission has also pointed out that alternative
means of encouraging compliance may be more effective, proportionate
and timely than infraction proceedings. With this in view, the
Commission is working closely with Member States' authorities
in the Communications Committee (COCOM), in bilateral meetings
with individual Member States, and with NRAs in the European Regulators'
Group (ERG).
"You also urge the Government to encourage the
Commission to identify individual Member States in their next
report. The Commission is still considering the exact format for
what will be the tenth implementation report, but has confirmed
that later this year it will be holding a workshop for the preparation
of the market data which has formed the basis for the annex on
the regulatory situation in individual Member States in previous
reports."
Conclusion
16.6 We thank the Minister for this informative
reply. There are, of course, limits to the extent to which the
Commission is able to put pressure on Member States, but it is
clear that it is taking what measures it can, and in a timely
fashion.
16.7 We cleared the document on 14 January.
40 We cleared the eighth report on implementation of
the telecoms regulatory package on 29 October 2003. Back
41
Directive 2002/21/EC, known as the Framework Directive; Directive
2002/20/EC the Authorisation Directive; Directive 2002/19/EC
the Access Directive; and Directive 2002/22/EC the Universal
Service Directive. Back
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