The European Parliament and Council negotiating teams are fine-tuning their positions on the electronic communications code ahead of the next inter-institutional meeting on 1 February. On 10 January, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU put forward fresh compromises to the member states’ delegations in order to determine the extent of its room for manoeuvre.
The draft directive presented in September 2016 recasts the 2002 framework directive, the authorisation directive, the access directive and the universal service directive. The 283-page document seeks to ensure that by 2025 businesses will have access to very high-speed broadband, that European households will have access of at least 100 Mbit/second and that urban areas and major roads will have uninterrupted 5G coverage (see EUROPE 11624).
The joint legislators have so far held two trialogue meetings. The last, on 6 December, brought agreement in principle on the general goals of the proposal, on cross-cutting provisions and on a number of provisions of the chapter devoted to the spectrum. The negotiators are progressing chapter by chapter and will only begin to discuss the one on access (which features the difficult matter of the costs of intra-EU international calls) once they have come to agreement on the chapter on the spectrum.
Bulgarian proposals. The Bulgarian Presidency has over the last few days circulated a document, dated 12 January and seen by EUROPE, which puts a range of compromises to national delegations. On the thorny issue of the roll-out and operation of short-range wireless access points (Article 59), Sofia suggests keeping the condition on “white areas” set by the European Parliament, without taking account of the reference to very high capacity networks. The Presidency points out, however, that this concession may not be enough. The member states, it says, must be aware that Parliament continues to insist on the reference to very high capacity networks and does not accept the link made by the Council with compliance with licence conditions. It adds that its compromise reinstates the possibility of forcing joint infrastructure deployment to address the situation where there is no infrastructure to share.
The Bulgarian Presidency refuses to compromise on the procedure dealing with cross-border disagreement and will not allow the Commission, on its own initiative, to adopt implementing measures to resolve disputes (Article 38). With regard to the coordinated scheduling of responsibilities (Article 53), the Bulgarian Presidency suggests retaining the three-year period with regard to the right of use of the spectrum, once technical conditions have been harmonised, but suggests two years for the review clause in the event of delay. For the procedure aiming to limit the number of rights of use for the radio spectrum to be attributed (Article 54), it suggests that consultation of stakeholders should begin after nine months.
Fourth trialogue on 27 February. The next trialogue meeting is scheduled for 1 February with representatives of the Parliamentary industry (ITRE) committee. A further trialogue will then take place on 27 February, with representatives of the internal market committee, which is responsible for consumers’ rights issues, the universal service and, to a certain extent, the inclusion of OTT operators. The joint legislators aim to conclude the chapter on the spectrum on 1 February and to open the access chapter on 27. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)