Brussels, 27/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent on Friday 27 March 2009, the European Commission asked the German telecoms regulator, Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), to notify it of Deutsche Telekom's fixed call origination and termination rates, which are wholesale rates charged by a telephone operator for transferring calls to another operator. Until now, BNetzA has only provided general information about the principles it will apply, but did not notify the level of the regulated rates to the European Commission and the national regulators of the other member states, as required by the EU telecoms rules consultation (“Article 7 procedure”). This procedure, introduced by the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers in 2002, aims to ensure more coherent and transparent regulation of telecoms markets across Europe, thereby avoiding distortions of competition between operators from different member states. Should BNetzA continue to fail to comply with this obligation, the Commission may open an infringement procedure for non-compliance with EU law. In December 2008, the Commission asked BNetzA to provide it with mobile termination rates. (O.L./transl.fl)