Services of general interest in the EU: reconciling competition and social responsibility. Developments in telecommunications and postal services

Services of general interest in the EU: reconciling competition and social responsibility. Developments in telecommunications and postal services:

This volume, part of the Current European Issues Series, contains a collection of the most interesting papers presented at two colloquiums organised by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht: “Managing universal service obligations in public utilities in the European Union” (November 1996) and “Telecommunications and postal services in the EU: recent developments and future prospects” (October 1998). The first seminar focused on the changes occurring in pubic utilities reflected by privatisations and the opening-up of networks or infrastructures to operators in competition with national public suppliers. The colloquium reviewed the current state of the political, economic and legal affairs surrounding this issue and discussed, together with the actors, operators and regulators, the basic problems relating to the management of these utilities by public authorities and to the universal service obligations connected to this, i.e. the safeguard of the general interest by the operators, whether public or privatised. The second seminar dealt with telecommunications and postal services in particular, and the European context into which these services are increasingly being integrated.

An extensive bibliography is appended to this compilation. This includes legal acts related to services of general interest, official documents and academic literature and is intended to serve as a point of reference to those researching or directly involved in the field of services of general interest, telecommunications and postal services in particular.