Commission Directive 2008/63/EC of 20 June 2008 on competition in the markets in telecommunications terminal equipment (Codified version) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2008-06-20

num: Article 1
paragraphs: For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:
1.
‘terminal equipment’ means:
(a)
equipment directly or indirectly connected to the interface of a public telecommunications network to send, process or receive information; in either case (direct or indirect), the connection may be made by wire, optical fibre or electromagnetically; a connection is indirect if equipment is placed between the terminal and the interface of the network;
(b)
satellite earth station equipment;
2.
‘satellite earth station equipment’ means equipment which is capable of being used for the transmission only (‘transmit-only’), or for the transmission and reception (‘transmit/receive’), or for the reception only (‘receive-only’) of radio communication signals by means of satellites or other space-based systems;
3.
‘undertaking’ means a public or private body, to which a Member State grants special or exclusive rights for the importation, marketing, connection, bringing into service of telecommunications terminal equipment and/or maintenance of such equipment;
4.
‘special rights’ means rights that are granted by a Member State to a limited number of undertakings, through any legislative, regulatory or administrative instrument, which, within a given geographical area:
(a)
limits to two or more the number of such undertakings, otherwise than according to objective, proportional and non-discriminatory criteria; or
(b)
designates, otherwise than according to the criteria referred to in point (a), several competing undertakings; or
(c)
confers on any undertaking or undertakings, otherwise than according to the criteria referred to in points (a) and (b), any legal or regulatory advantages which substantially affect the ability of any other undertaking to import, market, connect, bring into service and/or maintain telecommunication terminal equipment in the same geographical area under substantially equivalent conditions.
num: Article 2
paragraphs: Member States which have granted special or exclusive rights to undertakings shall ensure that all exclusive rights are withdrawn, as well as those special rights which:
(a)
limit to two or more the number of undertakings, otherwise than according to objective, proportional and non-discriminatory criteria; or
(b)
designate, otherwise than according to the criteria referred to in point (a), several competing undertakings.
They shall inform the Commission of the measures taken or draft legislation introduced to that end.
num: Article 3
paragraphs: Member States shall ensure that economic operators have the right to import, market, connect, bring into service and maintain terminal equipment.
However, Member States may:
(a)
in the case of satellite earth station equipment, refuse to allow such equipment to be connected to the public telecommunications network or to be brought into service where it does not satisfy the relevant common technical regulations adopted in pursuance of Directive 1999/5/EC or, in the absence thereof, the essential requirements laid down in Article 3 of that Directive; in the absence of common technical rules of harmonised regulatory conditions, national rules shall be proportionate to those essential requirements and shall be notified to the Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC where that Directive so requires;
(b)
in the case of other terminal equipment, refuse to allow such equipment to be connected to the public telecommunications network where it does not satisfy the relevant common technical regulations adopted in pursuance of Directive 1999/5/EC or, in the absence thereof, the essential requirements laid down in Article 3 of that Directive;
(c)
require economic operators to possess the technical qualifications needed to connect, bring into service and maintain terminal equipment on the basis of objective, non-discriminatory and publicly available criteria.
num: Article 4
paragraphs: Member States shall ensure that users have access to new public network interface points and that the physical characteristics of these points are published by users of the telecommunications public network.
num: Article 5
paragraphs: Member States shall ensure that all specifications for terminal equipment are formalised and published.
Member States shall notify those technical specifications in draft form to the Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC.
num: Article 6
paragraphs: Member States shall ensure that in monitoring the specifications referred to in Article 5, the application is entrusted to a body independent of public or private undertakings offering goods and/or services in the telecommunications sector.
num: Article 7
paragraphs: Member States shall provide the Commission at the end of each year with a report allowing it to monitor compliance with the provisions of Articles 2, 3, 4, and 6.
An outline of the report is set out in Annex I.
num: Article 8
paragraphs: Directive 88/301/EEC, as amended by the Directive listed in Annex II, Part A, is repealed, without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time limits for transposition into national law of the Directives set out in Annex II, Part B.
References to the repealed Directive shall be construed as references to this Directive and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table in Annex III.
num: Article 9
paragraphs: This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.