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EC refers Luxembourg, Belgium to ECJ over telecom regulation
2014-10-17 11:58:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The European Commission has decided to refer Luxembourg and Belgium to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for their breach of EU telecoms rules. Luxembourg is accused of not having conducted regular analyses of its telecoms sector with a view to determining whether obligations need to be imposed on operators to promote competition. National regulators such as Luxembourg's ILR are required to carry out reviews of the wholesale and retail parts of the telecoms market every three years, but the ILR hasn't conducted an analysis of the retail market for fixed voice calls and the wholesale market for leased broadband lines since 2007, meaning ex ante regulation may have to be withdrawn, according to the EC. In Belgium's case, the EC said the country has failed to heed a formal request issued in April to amend its laws to guarantee the independence of its telecoms regulator, BIPT. The EC ordered the government to give up its powers to suspend decisions taken by the BIPT and require the BIPT to submit its multi-annual strategy for approval, which could "limit the independence of the BIPT when implementing EU telecom rules and have negative consequences for competition in the sector," according to the EC.
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Category:Telecommunications