Consultation to prepare Oftel for new EU communications regime

The four Directives and one Decision, which were adopted in March, will provide for the regulation of electronic communications networks and services, including radio spectrum, throughout the EC. In order to ensure smooth implementation by the July 2003 deadline, Member States are required to carry out preparatory work involving:

• market reviews to establish which markets are effectively competitive and which are not, so that it can be determined on which operators with significant market power the Directives’ relevant obligations are to be imposed; and
• determination of which operators should be designated as universal service providers.

In order for Oftel to carry out these assessments, its powers, which currently only apply to telecoms, require to be extended to all electronic communications networks and services.

The consultation document was published yesterday and proposes a statutory instrument made under the European Communications Act.

The closing date for comments on the document and the draft regulations is October 1st 2002.

The consultation document