Bulgaria assumed the reins of the Council of the European Union on 1 January 2018 for a six-month period. Its firm intention is to continue the efforts of its predecessor, Estonia, in developing a single digital market. This is one of the political priorities highlighted in its recently published work programme.
The 40-page document indicates, “the development of a competitive single digital market guaranteeing a high-level of protection for users through the promotion of cross-border e-commerce for merchandise, the supply of digital content and the availability of digital services included in the tasks set out by the Bulgarian Presidency".
Holding a "Digital Assembly" is specifically mentioned, as well as a conference on “Cyber Security Challenges”. The Bulgarian work document also highlights “possibilities for speeding up the integration of the Western Balkans into EU policies in the digital sector". For all other questions, it simply lists the legislative proposals currently being examined which require the comprehensive attention of the Council of Ministers.
Agreement expected under Bulgarian Presidency
The European Commission has produced a document that suggests an agreement is possible in the first half of 2018 between co-legislators in the connectedness field ("electronic communications code" and the "body of European regulators”), e-commerce (“digital content” and "reduced VAT rates on electronic communications"), media affairs ("audio-visual", "Copyright" and “cabsat”), data ("free flow of data") and online governance ("Single digital portal").
According to this second document, the proposals listed on contracts related to merchandise, electronic communications confidentiality and cyber security will not produce an agreement until the second half of 2018 under the Austrian Presidency.
Ongoing and future inter-institutional negotiations
Sofia will be specifically in charge of carrying out negotiations on behalf of the member states with the European Parliament on the directive relating to the provision of audiovisual media services, the electronic communications code, provision of digital content and the end to a/v geo-blocking.
At this stage, five inter-institutional negotiating sessions (trialogues) have already taken place on the “audiovisual services" dossier, which aims to create a fairer regulatory environment. The co-legislators, however, have not yet reached an agreement on certain particularly sensitive questions such as commercial communications or the obligatory financial contribution of video-on-demand services to the production of European content (see EUROPE 11917).
The co-legislators have already met up on two occasions in an effort to reach an agreement on the directive relating to the provision of digital content but they have still not covered the essential elements of the subject. Disagreements mainly occur in relation to whether to include embedded content in the scope of the future text (see EUROPE 11927). Two new negotiating meetings have been planned at this stage for 30 January and 27 February.
With regard to the European electronic communications code, the co-legislators are gearing up for a third meeting on 1 February that seeks to conclude this dossier recasting the 2002 framework directive, the "authorisation" directive, the "access" directive and the "universal service" directive.
The positions mainly diverge on: 1) the duration of licences; 2) the obligatory character of the peer group revision process for spectrum management; 3) the role of the Commission and European regulators body; 4) the protection of persons with disabilities; 5) end to end encryption without a backdoor; 6) the end to surcharges for international intra-EU calls. The co-legislators are looking at the possibility of holding one trialogue a month and are seeking to reach a deal by the end of April.
On the issue of CabSat, institutional negotiations will be able to begin under the Bulgarian Presidency insofar as the Committee of Representatives to the EU (Coreper) reached a position at the Council at the end of last year (see EUROPE 11927). Overall, the two institutions are proposing a massive reduction in the scope of the future regulation compared to what was proposed by the Commission. MEPs are suggesting a limitation on the country of origin principle to news and current affairs programmes, while the Council is adding programmes financed and controlled by broadcasting bodies.
Future proposals
The European Commission is expected to present a legislative proposal at the end of the winter break that will set up an information technology infrastructure that is capable of making calculations that are 100 times faster than current speeds (high-performance informatics). It will also present several initiatives in April: a package on data use and sharing; an initiative on fake news; another on artificial intelligence and an initiative on unfair practices between platforms/companies. (Original version and French by Sophie Petitjean)