Brussels, 06/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is advancing with infringement procedures in the telecommunications sector. It has opened thirteen (formal notices - first warning), is pursuing four (reasoned opinion - final warning) and closed nine. Eleven of the new procedures concern the non-availability of caller location information to emergency authorities (setting up of emergency number 112). This affects Greece, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovakia. The Commission had warned in its 11th implementation report, on 20 February, that it would take immediate action if these countries did not remedy the situation. The two other cases concern: Latvia for incomplete transposition of the mechanism for notifying the Commission of draft decisions following analysis of competition in the various electronic communications markets; and Estonia for the incompleteness of the incumbent's reference offer to other operators allowing them to connect their own equipment to users' lines (called “unbundling”). The Commission also continued the procedures against Belgium and Poland who have still not notified the Commission of any market reviews as stipulated in the regulation on electronic communications to ascertain whether there is real competition or not.
A formal letter of notice had been sent to them in October 2005 as well as to Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Estonia, which have now forwarded their first analyses to the Commission (a process that the Commission is to oversee very closely). A last warning will be sent to Slovenia as number portability is not completely ensured. The fourth reasoned opinion was sent to France on the subject of universal service, guaranteeing the provision of basic services for consumers. Member States may designate one or more undertakings to provide the universal services as long as there is no a priori exclusion of telecoms operators from the possibility of being excluded. In July 2005, the Commission had expressed concerns as to whether this principle had been correctly transposed into the national laws of Hungary, Finland and France. It settled the case of Hungary and then of Finland (which promised to change its legislation) but decided to continue with the proceedings against France, which continues to restrict a priori designation as supplier of the universal service to operators capable of providing the universal service on a national basis. Finally, the Commission closed the following dossiers: four procedures against Greece which has taken the necessary measures to transpose the regulatory framework for electronic communication into its national body of law; two for Slovenia and Estonia on maintaining transitional regulatory obligations until the EU framework is fully implemented; and one for Finland, concerning the national regulatory authority's independence.