Stellungnahmen

BEREC has launched on the 3rd of October a consultation on draft Guidelines on Net Neutrality and Transparency: Best practices and recommended approaches (please find the document below in the Downloads-section).

BEREC states that its report underlines the responsibility of NRAs to ensure that consumers are benefiting from effective transparency and analyses some possible approaches and tools that could be put in place to help reach this goal.

The Guidelines set out:

• the type of information that should be provided - the scope of the service (e.g. typical speeds), general limitations (e.g. usage caps), and specific limitations (e.g. traffic management practices)
• which bodies should provide information – as well as the Framework requirements on ISPs, various third parties provide an important complementary source of information
• theimportance of comparability – for which common frames of references and users involvement are needed

Following BEREC’s response to the Commission’s 2010 Open Internet consultation, BEREC included four pieces of work in its 2011 Work Programme.

Alongside these Transparency guidelines, BEREC has also been looking at Quality of Service, Competition and discrimination issues, and IP interconnection market situation.

The first item relates to the new discretionary power under the Framework to set minimum QoS requirements: BEREC will publish an initial report into the issues, ahead of the development of guidelines in Q2 2012 on how and when to introduce such requirements. On competition issues related to Net Neutrality, BEREC is carrying out an economic analysis of the potential and theoretical impact on market conditions (competition, innovation, consumer welfare) of discriminatory behaviour.

Stakeholders are invited to send their answers to BEREC by the 2nd of November 2011.

ISPA considers to submit a contribution to the BEREC's consultation and thus invites its members to submit feedback/input until the 25th of October 2011.