On Friday 23 February, the member states’ ambassadors agreed on a new negotiating mandate for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU on the electronic communications code ahead of the trialogue talks on 28 February. The mandate repeats most of the document drawn up by Sofia (see EUROPE 11966) but amends measures on the duration of licences.
The co-legislators started their talks in trialogue on 25 October on the code that aims to introduce greater predictability and legal certainty in order to encourage investment (see EUROPE 11624). In 283 pages, it rewrites the 2002 framework-directive, a direction on authorisation, a directive on access and a directive on universal service.
The 28 February trialogue is due to conclude negotiations on the spectrum, particularly the peer assessment process (35), the duration of rights (49) and renewal of rights (50), the coordinated timeline of assignments (53), the procedure to restrict the number of spectrum usage rights (54) and institutional bodies. On these questions, the new mandate includes measures considered by the presidency, which we reported on in our 22 February issue, apart from the measures on the minimum duration of licences (reduced to 10 years). The document stipulates that as a starting point for talks with Parliament, the minimum duration of licences should be 10 years (rather than 13 in the previous document).
The mandate also slightly adjusts the presidency of the Council’s view on ‘reversed 112’ which, desired by the European Parliament, aims to introduce an emergency warning system. The next version says that the Council would consider, as part of an over-arching agreement, allowing the member states to provide a warning system for mobiles using ‘alternative means.’ An amendment submitted by the Czech Republic, which may be accepted, suggests a more general formula for the emergency warning system targeting mobile services based on a number. For the coordinated timeline of assignments, the Czech Republic suggests allowing the use, if necessary, on a non-exclusive basis, of at least 1 GHz of the 24,25-27,5 GHz wavelength as long as there is a clear indication of demand on the market and no serious constraints for the migration of existing users or the availability of wavelengths. It remains to be seen whether the presidency will decide to add these two proposals which, a close source says, have the backing of ‘many’ delegations. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)