Brussels, 07/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - After having initiated a first series of procedures against ten Member States three months ago, the European Commission sent other letters of formal notice on Thursday to eleven Member States regarding their incorrect or incomplete application of certain aspects of Community regulations on electronic communications, including telecommunications. The Member States involved in this further round of infringement proceedings are the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Finland. The key issues at stake essentially concern the following points in this second phase, directly concerning users and the effectiveness of Member States' regulatory frameworks: independence of the national telecoms regulator, the requirement of number portability and of comprehensive subscriber directories, designation of “universal service” providers, and the availability of the European emergency number 112. Most Member States are only at the first stage in infringement procedure, while others are at their second warning (reasoned opinion), the last stage before the matter is taken before the Court of Justice.
- Independence of national telecommunications regulators: This is a basic principle of EC law in general and of the 2002 regulatory framework. Member States must ensure that an authority performing regulatory tasks is separate to and independent of any electronic communications operator, failing which investors would lose confidence and no longer invest. The Finnish state currently owns several electronic communications operators and so this independence is not acquired. Furthermore, the Ministry of Communications in Finland defines the markets that the national regulator is to analyse.
- Number Portability: This facility allows subscribers to keep their telephone numbers (fixed line or mobile) when changing to a different operator. The following Member States do not currently guarantee number portability: Latvia[at reasoned opinion stage] (mobile and fixed), Poland[at reasoned opinion stage] (idem), and Slovenia (idem); and the Czech Republic (for mobile services only).
- Complete directories of subscribers: the "universal service" directive stipulates that all telephone subscribers (fixed line and mobile) must feature in complete telephone directories. The Member States must also guarantee an information service for all subscribers to the fixed and mobile telephone networks. Currently, the following countries do not have a complete printed telephone directory of all subscribers and/or which do not have an information network: France (no directory for mobile and fixed telephone users. Does not have an information service for all subscribers to the fixed and mobile network), Greece (idem), Malta (idem), Poland (idem), Slovakia (idem), Czech Republic (no directory for mobile and fixed telephone line users), Latvia (directory which only includes subscribers to the traditional operator), Lithuania (neither directory nor information service for mobile subscribers).
- The appointment of providers of the "universal service": this provision guarantees subscribers a full range of services (access to the telephone, Internet services, information services, etc) for an appropriate price. To this end, the Member States may appoint one or more suppliers of universal services, as long as they respect certain principles. Currently, the legislation of Finland automatically appoints the operator in a dominant position as the provider of the universal service, which excludes the involvement of other operators. As for Hungary, only companies which are capable of providing a full universal service may take part in the appointment procedure.
- European emergency services number (112): the Community legislation stipulates the obligation for the Member States to guarantee the functioning of 112, the single emergency service number throughout the community territory. Currently, only Poland[at reasoned opinion stage]has not yet removed all barriers to the correct functioning of the service, and many users still do not have access to it.
The immediate application by the Member States of rules on electronic communication and telecommunications is a priority of the European Commission in order to complete the market, as stipulated by the new initiative e2010, stressed Mr Selmayr, the spokesperson to Commissioner Reding, Who Is in Charge of the Information Society and Media. Viviane Reding also stressed that: "in order for consumers to take full advantage of competitive electronic communications services (...) at affordable prices, the European rules must allow the opening up of the National telecommunications market to be fully and correctly applied. Our objectives is to complete the implementation of the internal market in this key sector of the economy as quickly as possible".