The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the application, monitoring and enforcement of non-discrimination obligations in electronic communications (please find the questionnaire below in the Downloads-section) and invited stakeholders to submit their contributions until the 28th of November.
When assessing proposed regulatory measures under the Article 7 pocedure the European Commission has observed that national telecoms regulators adopt significantly varying approaches when applying non-discrimination obligations (Communication on Article 7) These obligations concern non-discriminatory access for alternative operators to the infrastructure and services of dominant telecom operators.
In particular, the scope and exact application as well as the compliance monitoring and enforcement of this remedy vary considerably across individual Member States. The resulting regulatory fragmentation not only jeopardises much needed investments in new technologies but also hampers the evolution of the Single European telecoms market and the ability of telecom operators to be active in several Member States. Ultimately, European consumers are not able to benefit from the choice of services and affordable prices which could otherwise exist.
That is why the Commission announced in its Digital Agenda for Europe that it would prioritise the provision of guidance to national regulators on the application, monitoring and enforcement of a non-discrimination obligation. Such guidance also aims at reinforcing the impact of the Commission Recommendation on NGA Networks which seeks to foster investment while safeguarding competition.
ISPA considers to submit a contribution to the European Commission's consultation and thus invites its members to submit feedback/input until the 8th of November 2011.