Brussels, 14/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to open infringement proceedings against seven Member States and to continue the ongoing proceedings against Malta for infringement of the European telecommunications rules. It has sent letters of formal notice to Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia, who still have not submitted their analysis of the electronic communications market as required under the regulatory framework. These Member States have two months to react, after which time the Commission can decide to go up a gear and send a formal notice. This is the decision it has just reached in the case of Malta, on the grounds of non-portability of numbers. The regulatory framework for electronic communications, which has been in force in the EU of fifteen for more than two years and for 17 months in the new Member States, provides that market forces should be left to regulate themselves in this sector, but also requires that the national regulatory authorities (NRA) analyse competition on the markets concerned in order to be able to introduce measures, where desirable, and report this to the Commission. Although the process has run smoothly in some Member States, the seven countries cited still have not submitted their analysis. Estonia has also been reprimanded for its legal shortcomings in defining the market and transitional arrangements, and Cyprus and Slovenia are still failing to guarantee the independence of the national regulatory telecommunications authority (a full overview of the infringement proceedings is available on the website europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/ecomm/ implementation_enforcement/index_en.htm). Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is responsible for the information society and media, pointed to the importance of the Commission receiving the analyses from the national authorities in order to identify the needs and shortcomings of the framework with a view to its review in 2006. Monitoring market competition is also a crucial condition in guaranteeing the high-quality goods and services needed for growth and the creation of jobs, she said.