Work on the electronics code of conduct is expected to resume at the Council of the EU on 5 and 6 September based on a draft compromise prepared by the Estonian Presidency on service and spectrum issues, which suggests scrapping the minimum duration of licences and fully harmonising the rights of end users.
In September 2016, the European Commission put forward a modernisation of telecoms rules, which have not been altered since 2009 (see EUROPE 11624). The idea is to ensure very high-speed access for companies by 2025, along with access at at least 100 Mb/second for households in Europe and uninterrupted 5G coverage in all urban areas and along major roads.
The Commission’s initiative is based on two proposals - a directive on the communications code (a rehash of the framework-directive, the authorisation directive, the access directive and the universal service directive) and a regulation on the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).
The Council’s telecoms and IT working group will be invited on 5 and 6 September to give its view on the two draft compromises, one on service issues in the directive (157 pages) and one on the spectrum aspects (86 pages).
Maximum harmonisation aimed at for end-users
Under services, the Presidency proposes that end-user rights should, as a general principle, be fully harmonised in order to continue to support the digital single market. In other words, end-users will have the same rights throughout the EU unless this would lead to lower protection for them. For situations not covered by the draft directive, the Presidency suggests allowing member states to introduce special measures to deal with emerging issues.
For universal services, the Estonian proposal would allow the member states to appoint suppliers to provide affordable services rather than requiring all providers to do so (as initially suggested by the Commission). These service providers would not necessarily need to be the ones responsible for ensuring service availability (availability vs. affordability).
In terms of security, Estonia suggests that public communications network suppliers or publicly accessible communications service suppliers should inform end-users of serious specific security threats and measures they can take to protect the security of their communications, such as using special types of software or encryption.
The requirement to inform end-users of such threats should not relieve service suppliers of the requirement to take appropriate and immediate measures at their own cost to deal with security threats and restore normal levels of security to the service.
Minimum licence duration scrapped
On the spectrum, the Estonian Presidency suggests that assessment of the granting of frenzies be done by a peer review by the radio spectrum policy group (RSPG), rather than by BEREC, as suggested by the Commission. The member states have more control over RSPG, whose members they select, than over BEREC.
Another compromise proposal is to scrap the maximum licence duration, set by the Commission at 25 years. The Estonian presidency document calls on member states, however, to suggest alternative measures to ensure predictability for investors, for example by automatically extending licences under certain conditions.
The Presidency has already made it clear that it hoped agreement in principle can be reached by the Telecoms Council in October (a ‘general approach’).
The compromise proposals for services can be found at (http://bit.ly/2wuDk36 ) and for spectrum at (http://bit.ly/2vd02gE ). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)