The European Commission decided on Thursday 23 September to refer Poland to the European Court of Justice, arguing that Warsaw has undermined the independence of UKE, the national regulatory authority (NRA) for telecommunications.
In May 2020, Poland amended some of the provisions of the National Telecommunications Act regarding the appointment and dismissal of NRA executives through an urgency procedure.
In the aftermath, the government decided to prematurely dismiss the head of the national regulatory authority, whose mandate was to run until September 2021.
The European Commission bases its action under EU rules on the fact that the conditions for early dismissal must be established before the head of an NRA takes office.
“This is an important step to ensure the independence of the national regulator from political pressure”, the European Commission commented in a statement.
The decision follows an exchange of views between the European Commission and the Polish government that began in July 2020. The European Commission found that the explanations provided by Warsaw were neither satisfactory nor in line with the requirements of the European Electronic Communications Code. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)