Brussels, 19/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Spanish EPP member Pilar del Castillo, rapporteur for the single digital market, presented the outlines of her draft report on 18 November. On 11 September, the European Commission published its proposals for the effective completion of the single digital market (see EUROPE 10919).
The MEP proposes:
roaming: after three regulations which reduced roaming charges over a number of years, these should be definitively abolished for voice calls, SMS and data by 1 July 2016.
open internet: the internet must be open, which means accessibility for all at competitive prices. Del Castillo plans to include provisions in her report reinforcing the principles of transparency and non-discrimination established by the Commission.
spectrum policy: radio spectrum is a critical resource for mobile communications, broadband and satellite communication and is essential for the EU's competitiveness. The rapporteur welcomes the Commission's proposal for the rational management of the spectrum by all member states, with a list of conditions for procedures for granting spectrum licences for wireless broadband communications. More specifically, del Castillo plans to introduce additional provisions for greater harmonisation of spectrum policy, in order to boost the dynamism of the wireless mobile communications market.
single authorisation to provide electronic communications across the EU: the rapporteur has introduced a simple standardised notification to BEREC in order to ensure that operators that already have general authorisation to provide services in other member states do not suffer discrimination in their treatment by different member states and that consistent regulatory practices are applied in the single market.
BEREC: the body of European regulators must work efficiently. Del Castillo's proposals will harmonise certain areas of responsibility reserved to the national regulatory authorities and improve their work within BEREC, which will lead to an improvement in BEREC's functioning.
The report by Pilar de Castillo will be examined in plenary in April 2014. Negotiations with the Council Ministers will then commence. Readers may recall that the European Council of 24 and 25 October adopted conclusions stressing the absolute need to complete the single digital market by 2015 and generally supported the proposals made by the Commission to achieve this. (IL/transl.fl)