European politicians agree on new EU regulatory framework

Posted by Paul Lambert Thursday, November 5th, 2009

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The European Parliament and Council of Ministers have reached an agreement on European Union telecoms reform that will bring about a new regulatory system in the EU early next year.
Although the new proposals are not the radical shake-up that some had pushed for, they will nonetheless create a whole new framework for European regulators to make policy.

The new proposals, several times delayed and finally agreed on after intense debate, are a halfway house between the centralization of telecoms regulation in Brussels and independence for national telecoms regulators.

But rather than an awkward compromise, the new EU telecoms framework does a good job of balancing the power between European institutions and member states.

Among the proposals agreed on are those that will create a new regulator; new rules to allow the European Commission to ensure the functioning of the single market; and new rules on network neutrality.

A new European Telecoms Authority Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) will replace the loose cooperation behind closed doors that exists today in the European Regulators Group. BEREC will be in place next spring.

BEREC decisions will be made, as a rule, by majority of the heads of the 27 national telecoms regulators: by a simple majority when BEREC gives opinions in the context of the Commission’s analysis of remedies notified by national regulators, and by a two-thirds majority in other cases.

The new EU telecoms rules also give the European Commission the power to oversee regulatory remedies proposed by national regulators. The objective is to avoid inconsistent regulation that could distort competition in the single telecoms market.

Regarding network neutrality, under the new EU rules national telecoms authorities will have the powers to set minimum quality levels for network transmission services so as to promote network neutrality. In the future, consumers will have to be told before signing a contract about the nature of the service to which they are subscribing, including traffic-management techniques and their impact on service quality, as well as any other limitations.

The new proposals will allow for the coordination of policy to ensure a market-oriented approach to the allocation of spectrum made available by the switch to digital television.

In May the EU telecoms-reform package hit a stumbling block when the European Parliament voted in favor of a late amendment on online-user rights.

The new framework is a good compromise between those who wanted more control in the hands of European institutions to shape the European telecoms industry, and those who wanted national regulators to retain their power over it.