EU electronic communications law

Abstract:

This work deals with the new regulatory regime that has evolved in the telecommunications industry in the period since full liberalisation in January 1998 and the 1999 Communications Review.

The book is organised over nine chapters. The first gives the background by way of an overview of the previous EU regulatory framework. Chapter two examines the objectives of the new regulatory framework, dealing with such topics as technological and market developments, policy objectives, design of the future regulatory framework and the role of competition law. Chapter three explores the Framework Directive and the progress in harmonisation throughout the Member States - twenty six Directives have been replaced by just six. The fourth chapter addresses licensing and authorisation, while chapter five is about access and interconnection and the efforts to harmonise the way in which Member States regulate the market between suppliers of electronic communications networks and services in the Community. Chapter six looks at the Universal Directive which sets out the minimum level of services that Member States must make available to all end-users at an affordable price. Chapter seven examines the Communications Data Protection Directive which places specific legal regulatory, and technical obligations on public telecommunications networks to protect the fundamental rights of individual users and the legitimate interests of companies. The eighth chapter looks at the creation of an open Community market for telecommunications services, then chapter nine takes a look at three areas of international telecommunications law: the establishment and operation of satellite and submarine cable infrastructure; the structure and procedures of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and European standard-making bodies; and the World Trade Organisation’s trade agreements relating to telecommunications.

The book will interest scholars, students, researchers and practitioners engaged in law relating to telecommunications and governance issues in the EU.