Telecoms regulators report to Reding

EU telecoms regulators will next week set out what they see as the best way to ensure better pan-European supervision of the sector.

The European Regulators Group for Electronic Communications Network and Services (ERG) will report back to Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding on how to tackle the problem of inconsistent regulation across the Union’s 27 national markets. The group was supposed to present its findings last Friday (16 February) but asked for more time for further internal discussions.

Reding favours setting up a new body to ensure that all national regulators apply EU legislation in the same manner. But the move is being resisted by some countries which fear a transfer of powers to Brussels or which simply want to maintain the status quo. Reding has said she is open to proposals from the ERG but is insisting on effective measures to deal with deficiencies in the current system. "We still do not have an internal market for telecoms," she told an ERG meeting in Brussels last Thursday (15 February) adding that the market was "fragmented into 27 regulatory systems". She quoted participants in a consultation launched by the Commission who criticised "inadequate enforcement and widely diverging application of the rules" and "incoherent application of the [regulatory] framework by national regulatory authorities".

Reding has indicated that she does not want a new super-regulator to oversee the EU market, replacing national regulators. But she is insisting that the Commission be given stronger powers to address problems in the market. In her speech to the ERG she said that the Commission should have the power to request a national regulator to replace an ineffective remedy with a better one, to carry out a market analysis or to adopt a remedy within a specific timeframe.

"The Commission," she added, "is not looking for more powers but for a better system to deliver the benefits of the internal market to industry and citizens alike." She added that "whatever system is found for regulating better" it should be based on majority voting to avoid decisions being taken based on the "lowest common denominator".

EU telecoms regulators will next week set out what they see as the best way to ensure better pan-European supervision of the sector.