Fortified European Telecommunications RegulationFortified European Telecommunications Regulation

The battles will be with national regulators and the local telecommunications providers. Enterprises may see greater competition and less monopolization in European telecommunications markets.

The 27 nations of the European Union (EU) are changing their telecommunications regulatory structure. On May 25, 2011 the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) received their power to police the EU member countries' telecommunications regulations.

There have not been any test cases yet, however, enterprises may experience both benefits and limitations when BEREC decisions conflict with national decisions. The battles will be with national regulators and the local telecommunications providers. Enterprises may see greater competition and less monopolization in European telecommunications markets.

My discussion of BEREC was prompted by an article in the New York Times posted Fortified European Telecommunications Regulator Has Potential to Wield Real Power.

Originally the European Regulators Group (ERG) for electronic communications networks and services was created to provide a mechanism for encouraging cooperation and coordination between National Regulatory Authorities (NRA) and the European Commission. The ERG was formulated to promote the development of the internal markets for electronic communications networks and services. The ERG was the group through which National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) exchanged best practices, expertise and exchanged opinions on the operation of the telecommunications market in the EU.

The ERG has been replaced by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). BEREC was created within the recently approved reform of the EU Telecommunications rules. The goal is to improve the consistency of implementation of the EU regulatory framework.

BEREC is composed of a Board that includes the directors of the 27 NRAs and is assisted by a support office. The support office is a community body managed by a management committee. All the NRAs and the Commission are represented in BEREC. BEREC is in the process of staffing their office and should be finished by the end of 2011. If you would like to receive BEREC information, send an email to [email protected] to be placed on the BEREC news list distribution. The BEREC home site is at http://erg.eu.int/. Europe's Information Society Thematic Portal has a brief discussion of the tasks BEREC has to perform.

BEREC's primary tasks include:

* Providing opinions on cross-border telecommunications disputes
* Dissemination of best practices, assisting National Regulatory Authorities (NRA), advising the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, and assisting these institutions and the NRAs in their third party relations
* Offering opinions on draft recommendations and/or guidelines on the form, content and level of detail to be given in notifications
* Consulting on relevant product and service market draft recommendations
* Producing opinions on draft decisions on the identification of transnational markets; this is important to enterprises
* Consulting on draft measures relating to effective access to the emergency call number 112 (like 911) used within the EU
* Consulting on draft measures relating to the effective implementation of the 116 numbering range reserved in national numbering plans for "Harmonized Services of Social Value", e.g. missing children, crime victims
* Offering opinions on draft decisions and recommendations on harmonization
* Producing opinions that ensure the development of common rules and requirements for providers of cross-border business services; this is very important to enterprises
* Participating in consultations under the Single Market Consultation (Article 7) procedure

BEREC has yet to satisfy these tasks since it is still in formation. Decisions will require a 2/3 majority, 19 out of 27 board members, to reject any NRA regulations. There have been national regulators, who are on the board that acted before May 25 by sending the EU decisions to review so they could avoid BEREC review. So the board members may actually work to undercut BEREC effectiveness. The question at hand will be "will BEREC be paralyzed by political self interests?" BEREC could become a strong force or be hindered by EU infighting. BEREC, with reinforced powers, can make it more difficult for National Regulatory Authorities to bypass EU law.