Brussels, 18/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday18 March, the European Commission sent a formal letter of notice to Poland, Slovenia, Latvia and Spain requesting that these countries provide it with information concerning the application of EU rules on telecommunications. The Commission also concluded the procedure against Madrid in regard to universal service.
The Commission sent Poland a letter of formal notice (first stage of the infringement procedure) because it is concerned that Poland may have failed to correctly implement into national law EU rules on the setting of prices for wholesale telecom services. In its press release, the Commission explains that “this has created legal uncertainty and could be discriminatory for telecoms companies”. The Commission has also made a formal request to Slovenia to provide information regarding the independence of its national telecommunications authority, Agencije za pošto in elektronske komunikacije (APEK). Slovenia sacked the director of APEK on 26 November 2009 and the Commission is afraid that rules applied in this case may contravene EU law guaranteeing the independence of telecommunication authorities. In the case of Slovenia, the request also took the form of a letter of formal notice. As part of this approach, the Commission has decided to send Latvia a formal letter of notice, following the transfer of competences between different ministers in the domain of telecommunications regulation, as well as a formal request for additional information regarding the country's failure to effectively and structurally separate regulatory and ownership functions.
A letter of formal notice was also sent to Spain with regard to a new charge imposed on telecommunication operators as compensation for getting rid of advertising revenue on RTVE (Spanish radio and television). The Commission is concerned that this tax, based on income invoiced by authorised operators is incompatible with EU law, insofar as it does not appear to be linked to the costs derived from regulatory supervision. The Commission also closed an infringement procedure based on the funding of the universal service because Madrid has now amended its national regulation on this issue and has launched a public consultation to find a new way of appointing universal service providers.
Poland, Latvia, Slovenia and Spain now have two months to respond to the letter of formal notice sent them. If a response is not forthcoming or if the observations presented by the governments are unsatisfactory, the Commission could issue a reasoned opinion demanding that they amend their legislation in order for it to totally comply with EU rules. (O.L./transl.fl)