Press Release: Competition: Commission calls on Luxembourg to comply with Court judgment to simplify access to telecommunication markets

The European Commission has formally requested Luxembourg to comply within two months with a Court of Justice ruling of 12 June 2003 regarding access to its telecommunications markets. The Court ruling confirmed that Luxembourg has failed to fully transpose Directive 90/388/CEE on competition in the markets for telecommunication services into national law. In particular, procedures for obtaining rights of way to roll out telecommunication networks alongside roads and railway lines in Luxembourg lack transparency. The Commission considers that despite improvements to its legislation, Luxembourg has still not executed the judgment. It has therefore decided to send a request explaining which further steps Luxembourg needs to take to comply with the judgment. This request takes the form of a reasoned opinion, the second step of EC Treaty infringement procedures for failure to respect a Court ruling (Article 228). If Luxembourg continues to fail to comply, the Commission may refer the matter to the Court for a second time and request the Court to impose fines on Luxembourg until fully transparent procedures are in place (periodic penalty payments, lump sums or both - see MEMO/05/482).