Brussels, 27/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is still not happy with the conduct of some member states with regard to European telecommunications rules. On, Wednesday, it decided to open new procedures, and to continue with a number of old cases, three of which will involve referrals to the European Court of Justice. It was, nonetheless, pleased to be able to close six cases.
Formal notices - first warning: the Commission has opened three new procedures and has warned: Poland, for lack of market analysis to support existing price regulation for retail broadband services; - Spain, for the designation of a universal service provider and the universal service financing mechanism; - Belgium, where recent legislation on the must-carry regime was adopted but does not fully conform to the requirements of the Universal Service Directive.
Reasoned opinion - final warning: several member states have still to reply satisfactorily to the Commission's first warning, so there has been a move to the second stage - Latvia, for its notification mechanism; - Poland, for failing to ensure the independence of the National Regulatory Authority and whose caller location information for 112 is still not correct (two separate procedures); - Sweden, for rights of appeal; - Belgium, for its special tariffs; - Germany, for its must-carry regime; - Cyprus, which does not guarantee new operators barrier-free installation of their fixed communication networks; - the United Kingdom, which does not offer comprehensive directory services.
Court of Justice: the Commission, still unhappy with the responses after two warnings, has decided to refer four cases to the European Court of Justice. These involve Germany, for Deutsche Telekom's “regulatory holiday” - see article above - and double dominance (two referrals), Poland, for the definition of subscribers according to the Framework Directive and Portugal, for the lack of comprehensive directory services.
The Commission is, however, preparing to close six cases. Two concern caller location information for 112, which is now provided (on request) in Belgium and Hungary. Following new legislation in Italy and Slovakia concerning the Access Directive and the ePrivacy Directive respectively, the cases pending could also be closed. The Commission is also closing a further two cases against Slovakia and Estonia. In Slovakia, fixed number portability is now fully available while following market analysis in Estonia, a reference unbundling offer has finally been imposed. Meanwhile, the Commission is suspending the application to the Court regarding Estonia's failure to carry out market reviews following further recent notifications. (il)