Brussels, 16/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the Commission decided not to conduct a review of its Recommendation on relevant markets and services, which was adopted on 12 February 2003. This Recommendation comprises a list of electronic communications markets designated to be subject to so-called “ex ante” regulation by national regulatory authorities (NRA). The Commission considers that the end of 2005 would be a more realistic date for conducting a more meaningful review of the relevant markets in the whole of the Union, particularly in the ten new Member States.
The Commission decided to reschedule because a significant number of Member States have not even transposed the new regulatory framework for electronic communications into national law. These Member States are Belgium, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg. The Commission explains that even those Member States that have properly incorporated the regulatory framework into their domestic statute books have not yet had the opportunity to complete the requisite market analyses for all the 18 markets mentioned in the Recommendation. The Commission outlines that the pace of change in the markets for electronic communication are not such that an early review would appear justified or that there should be changes to the definition of any of the markets included in the Recommendation. It also considers that launching a review of the February 2003 Recommendation would imply a substantial disruption the work plans of national regulators, which have been, and continue to be, based on the current Recommendation. The Commission states that launching a review would also unnecessarily increase the level of uncertainty related to regulatory intervention, in particular for those Member States which are in the process of carrying out their first market analyses. In terms of the recommendation of 11 February 2003 (OJ No. L 114 of 8 May 2003 p 45) the NRA are obliged to proceed to an analysis of each of the markets listed. If one or more operators in the market are found to have significant market power, national regulatory authorities must impose at least one regulatory obligation on such operators. If no operator is deemed to have significant market power, regulation must be rolled back. The list of markets to be regulated needs to be regularly reviewed. The Commission must periodically undertake such reviews on the basis of a number of factors. Grounds for conducting a review would be: the pace of, and trends in, market developments; the period needed by national regulators to undertake market analyses; the need to safeguard the principle of continuity of regulatory policies; and the need to ensure legal certainty for suppliers of electronic communications services as well as other interested parties.