Brussels, 05/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - After discussing the crisis situation in the telecommunications sector during a dinner organised on Wednesday evening, and having resumed the discussion in a more formal manner on Thursday morning, the EU telecommunications ministers adopted conclusions whereby they stress the importance of a successful introduction of third generation mobile communication (3G) in Europe in order to make Europe's economy the most competitive knowledge economy in the world. On the financial difficulties experienced by the sector, conclusions explicitly indicate that the use of State aid is not the way forward. Ministers stressed the need for transparency in third generation roll-out obligations and the need to launch discussions on flexible approaches to spectrum usage and network infrastructure sharing, as well as the possibilities for spectrum re-allocation or the like. They also called on the Commission and Member States to examine emerging issues related to m-commerce (commerce by mobile phone), and to address possible regulatory obstacles in this respect, for example in areas such as mobile payment systems. Last but not least, the Council invited the European Commission to establish a report on the situation of the telecommunications sector with a view to the Spring Summit. The report could be accompanied, "if necessary", by legislative proposals. Answering questions on the rescue plan for France Telecom, Commissioner Erkki Liikanen refused all comment, simply recalling that France has an obligation to keep him notified if there are elements of State aid, and that the issue would be handled by his counterpart responsible for competition.
For the remainder, Ministers approved a draft resolution endorsing the eEUROPE 2005 action plan presented by the Commission in May 2001 (see EUROPE of 4 December, p.16). Pending the opinion of the European Parliament, they also adopted general guidelines on the related "Modinis" programme, which should allow eEurope monitoring activities to be continued. The initial amount of EUR 25 million recommended by the Commission for implementation of Modinis was, however, brought down to 20 million.
After hearing the Commission announce the upcoming presentation of a proposal of regulation aimed at establishing a European network and information security unit, the Council approved a proposal of resolution defining a European approach towards a culture of network and information security. The text refers to the guidelines established by the OECD, to respect of democratic values and to the protection of personal data, and stresses the importance of dialogue between the public authorities and industry. The Council welcomes the Commission's idea of setting up an interdisciplinary working group in close cooperation with and composed of Member States' representatives to conduct preparatory actions with a view to the establishment of a Cyber-Security Task Force.
Ministers also adopted conclusions on the measures to be taken to ensure that Europe has highly skilled personnel in information and communication technologies (ITC). On the other hand, they were not able to overcome their differences on the proposal of directive relating to the commercial exploitation of public sector documents. Sweden, Finland and Portugal, who support a very liberal approach, nonetheless said they were ready to lift their reservation on the Commission proposal if this were to make consensus possible. France, however (as well as Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom to a lesser extent), called for closer examination of the provisions concerning the documents on which public service bodies hold intellectual property rights.
Finally, the Council held an exchange of views on the 8th report on implementation of telecommunications regulations to be published by the Commission next Monday. The Commission briefed the Council on: - work on reform of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which has coordinated the Internet domain name system since 1998; - barriers to open platforms in digital television and third generation (3G) mobile communications; - and the development of electronic commerce (eCommerce) and on-line administration (eGovernment), and the role of electronic identification authentication.