1990L0388 — EN — 01.01.1996 — 002.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSION DIRECTIVE
of 28June 1990
on competition in the markets for telecommunications services
(90/388/EEC)
(OJ L 192, 24.7.1990, p. 10)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1 Commission Directive 94/46/EC of 13 October 1994 L 268 15 19.10.1994
►M2 Commission Directive 95/51/EC of 18 October 1995 L 256 49 26.10.1995
Corrected by:
►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 308, 29.11.1996, p. 59 (95/51/EC)
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COMMISSION DIRECTIVE
of 28June 1990
on competition in the markets for telecommunications services
(90/388/EEC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 90 (3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) The improvement of telecommunications in the Community is
an essential condition for the harmonious development of eco-nomic activities and a competitive market in the Community,from the point of view of both service providers and users. The
Commission has therefore adopted a programme, set out in its
Green Paper on the development of the common market for tel-ecommunications services and equipment and in its communica-tion on the implementation of the Green Paper by 1992, forprogressively introducing competition into the telecommunica-
tions market. The programme does not concern mobile tele-
phony and paging services, and mass communication servicessuch as radio for television. The Council, in its resolution of 30June 1988 (
1), expressed broad support for the objectives of this
programme, and in particular the progressive creation of anopen Community market for telecommunications services. The
last decades have seen considerable technological advances in
the telecommunications sector. These allow an increasingly var-ied range of services to be provided, notably data transmissionservices, and also make it technically and economically possiblefor competition to take place between different service provi-
ders.
(2) In all the Member States the provision and operation of tele-
communications networks and the provision of related services
are generally vested in one or more telecommunications organi-
zations holding exclusive or special rights. Such rights are char-acterized by the discretionary powers which the State exercises,in various degrees with regard to access to the market for tele-communications services.
(3) The organizations entrusted with the provision and operation ofthe telecommunications network are undertakings within the
meaning of Article 90 (1) of the Treaty because they carry on
an organized business activity, namely the provision of telecom-munications services. They are either public untertakings or pri-vate enterprises to which the State has granted exclusive or spe-cial rights.
(4) Several Member States, while ensuring the performance of pub-lic service tasks, have already revised the system of exclusiveor special rights that used to exist in the telecommunications
sector in their country. In all cases, the system of exclusive or
special rights has been maintained in respect of the provisionand operation of the network. In some Member States, it hasbeen maintained for all telecommunications services, while inothers such rights cover only certain services. All Member
States have either themselves imposed or allowed their telecom-
munications administrations to impose restrictions on the freeprovision of telecommunications services.
(5) The granting of special or exclusive rights to one or moreundertakings to operate the network derives from the discretion-ary power of the State. The granting by a Member State ofsuch rights inevitably restricts the provision of such services byother undertakings to or from other Member States.
(1) OJ No C 257, 4. 10. 1988, p. 1.
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(6) In practice, restrictions on the provision of telecommunications
services within the meaning of Article 59 to or from other
Member States consist mainly in the prohibition on connectingleased lines by means of concentrators, multiplexers and otherequipment to the switched telephone network, in imposingaccess charges for the connection that are out of proportion tothe service provided, in prohibiting the routing of signals to or
from third parties by means of leased lines or applying volume
sensitive tariffs without economic justification or refusing togive service providers access to the network. The effect of theusage restrictions and the excessive charges in relation to netcost is to hinder the provision to or from other Member States
of such telecommunications services as:
— services designed to improve telecommunications functions,
e.g. conversion of the protocol, code, format or speed,
— information services providing access to data bases,
— remote data-processing services,
— message storing and forwarding services, e.g. electronic
mail,
— transaction services, e.g. financial transactions, electronic
commercial data transfer, teleshopping and telereservations,
— teleaction services, e.g. telemetry and remote monitoring.
(7) Articles 55, 56 and 66 of the Treaty allow exceptions on non-
economic grounds to the freedom to provide services. Therestrictions permitted are those connected, even occasionally,
with the exercise of official authority, and those connected with
public policy, public security or public health. Since these areexceptions, they must be interpreted restrictively. None of thetelecommunications services is connected with the exercise ofofficial authority involving the right to use undue powers com-pared with the ordinary law, privileges of public power or a
power of coercion over the public. The supply of telecommuni-
cation services cannot in itself threaten public policy and cannotaffect public health.
(8) The Court of Justice caselaw also recognizes restrictions on thefreedom to provide services if they fulfil essential requirementsin the general interest and are applied without discriminationand in proportion to the objective. Consumer protection does
not make it necessary to restrict freedom to provide telecommu-
nications services since this objective can also be attainedthrough free competition. Nor can the protection of intellectualproperty be invoked in this connection. The only essentialrequirements derogating from Article 59 which could justifyrestrictions on the use of the public network are the mainte-
nance of the integrity of the network, security of network opera-
tions and in justified cases, interoperability and data protection.The restrictions imposed, however, must be adapted to theobjectives pursued by these legitimate requirements. MemberStates will have to make such restrictions known to the publicand notify them to the Commission to enable it to assess their
proportionality.
(9) In this context, the security of network operations means ensur-ing the availability of the public network in case of emergency.
The technical integrity of the public network means ensuring itsnormal operation and the interconnection of public networks inthe Community on the basis of common technical specifica-tions. The concept of interoperability of services means comply-
ing with such technical specifications introduced to increase the
provision of services and the choice available to users. Dataprotection means measures taken to warrant the confidentialityof communications and the protection of personal data.
(10) Apart from the essential requirements which can be included asconditions in the licensing or declaration procedures, MemberStates can include conditions regarding public-service require-ments which constitute objective, non-discriminatory and trans-
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parent trade regulations regarding the conditions of permanence,
availability and quality of the service.
(11) When a Member State has entrusted a telecommunications orga-nization with the task of providing packet or circuit switched
data services for the public in general and when this service
may be obstructed because of competition by private providers,the Commission can allow the Member State to impose addi-tional conditions for the provision of such a service, withrespect also to geographical coverage. In assessing these mea-
sures, the Commission in the context of the achievement of the
fundamental objectives of the Treaty referred to in Article 2thereof, including that of strengthening the Community's eco-nomic and social cohesion as referred to in Article 130a, willalso take into account the situation of those Member States inwhich the network for the provision of the packet or circuit
switched services is not yet sufficiently developed and which
could justify the deferment for these Member States until 1 Jan-uary 1996 of the date for prohibition on the simple resale ofleased line capacity.
(12) Article 59 of the Treaty requires the abolition of any otherrestriction on the freedom of nationals of Member States whoare established in a Community country to provide services to
persons in other Member States. The maintenance or introduc-
tion of any exclusive or special right which does not correspondto the abovementioned criteria is therefore a breach of Article90 in conjunction with Article 59.
(13) Article 86 of the Treaty prohibits as incompatible with the com-mon market any conduct by one or more undertakings thatinvolves an abuse of a dominant position within the common
market or a substantial part of it. Telecommunications organiza-
tions are also undertakings for the purposes of this Articlebecause they carry out economic activities, in particular the ser-vice they provide by making telecommunications networks andservices available to users. This provision of the network consti-
tutes a separate services market as it is not interchangeable with
other services. On each national market the competitive envir-onment in which the network and the telecommunications ser-vices are provided is homogeneous enough for the Commissionto be able to evaluate the power held by the organizations pro-viding the services on these territories. The territories of the
Member States constitute distinct geographical markets. This is
essentially due to the existing difference between the rules gov-erning conditions of access and technical operation, relating tothe provision of the network and of such services. Furthermore,each Member State market forms a substantial part of the com-
mon market.
(14) In each national market the telecommunications organizationshold individually or collectively a dominant position for the
creation and the exploitation of the network because they arethe only ones with networks in each Member State covering thewhole territory of those States and because their governmentsgranted them the exclusive right to provide this network either
alone or in conjunction with other organizations.
(15) Where a State grants special or exclusive rights to provide tele-communications services to organizations which already have a
dominant position in creating and operating the network, theeffect of such rights is to strengthen the dominant position byextending it to services.
(16) Moreover, the special or exclusive rights granted to telecommu-nications organizations by the State to provide certain telecom-munications services mean such organizations:
(a) prevent or restrict access to the market for these telecom-
munications services by their competitors, thus limiting con-sumer choice, which is liable to restrict technological pro-gress to the detriment of consumers;
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(b) compel network users to use the services subject to exclu-
sive rights, and thus make the conclusion of network utiliza-tion contracts dependent on acceptance of supplementary
services having no connection with the subject of such con-
tracts.
Each of these types of conduct represents a specific abuse of a
dominant position which is likely to have an appreciable effecton trade between Member States, as all the services in questioncould in principle be supplied by providers from other MemberStates. The structure of competition within the common market
is substantially changed by them. At all events, the special or
exclusive rights for these services give rise to a situation whichis contrary to the objective in Article 3 (f) of the Treaty, whichprovides for the institution of a system ensuring that competi-tion in the common market is not distorted, and requires a for-
tiori that competition must not be eliminated. Member States
have an obligation under Article 5 of the Treaty to abstain fromany measure which could jeopardize the attainment of theobjectives of the Treaty, including that of Article 3 (f).
17) The exclusive rights to telecommunications services granted to
public undertakings or undertakings to which Member States
have granted special or exclusive rights for the provision of thenetwork are incompatible with Article 90 (1) in conjunctionwith Article 86.
(18) Article 90 (2) of the Treaty allows derogation from the applica-tion of Articles 59 and 86 of the Treaty where such applicationwould obstruct the performance, in law or in fact, of the parti-cular task assigned to the telecommunications organizations.This task consists in the provision and exploitation of a univer-sal network, i.e. one having general geographical coverage, and
being provided to any service provider or user upon request
within a reasonable period of time. The financial resources forthe development of the network still derive mainly from theoperation of the telephone service. Consequently, the opening-up of voice telephony to competition could threaten the finan-
cial stability of the telecommunications organizations. The voice
telephony service, whether provided from the present telephonenetwork or forming part of the ISDN service, is currently alsothe most important means of notifying and calling up emer-gency services in charge of public safety.
(19) The provision of leased lines forms an essential part of the tele-communications organizations' tasks. There is at present, inalmost all Member States, a substantial difference betweencharges for use of the data transmission service on the switchednetwork and for use of leased lines. Balancing those tariffswithout delay could jeopardize this task. Equilibrium in such
charges must be achieved gradually between now and 31
December 1992. In the meantime it must be possible to requireprivate operators not to offer to the public a service consistingmerely of the resale of leased line capacity, i.e. including onlysuch processing, switching of data, storing, or protocol conver-
sion as is necessary for transmission in real time. The Member
States may therefore establish a declaration system throughwhich private operators would undertake not to engage in sim-ple resale. However, no other requirement may be imposed onsuch operators to ensure compliance with this measure.
(20) These restrictions do not affect the development of trade tosuch an extent as would be contrary to the interests of the Com-munity. Under these circumstances, these restrictions are com-patible with Article 90 (2) of the Treaty. This may also be thecase as regards the measures adopted by Member States to
ensure that the activities of private service providers do not
obstruct the public switched-data service.
(21) The rules of the Treaty, including those on competition, applyto telex services; however, the use of this service is graduallydeclining throughout the Community owing to the emergence of
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competing means of telecommunication such as telefax. The
abolition of current restrictions on the use of the switched tele-phone network and leased lines will allow telex messages to be
retransmitted. In view of this particular trend, an individual
approach is necessary. Consequently, this Directive should notapply to telex services.
(22) The Commission will in any event reconsider in the course of1992 the remaining special or exclusive rights on the provision
of services taking account of technological development and the
evolution towards a digital infrastructure.
(23) Member States may draw up fair procedures for ensuring com-pliance with the essential requirements without prejudice to theharmonization of the latter at Community level within the fra-mework of the Council Directives on open network provision
(ONP). As regards data-switching, Member States must be able,
as part of such procedures, to require compliance with traderegulations from the standpoint of conditions of permanence,availability and quality of the service, and to include measuresto safeguard the task of general economic interest which they
have entrusted to a telecommunications organization. The pro-
cedures must be based on specific objective criteria and beapplied without discrimination. The criteria should in particularbe justified and proportional to the general interest objective,and be duly motivated and published. The Commission must beable to examine them in depth in the light of the rules on free
competition and freedom to provide services. In any event,
Member States that have not notified the Commission of theirplanned licensing criteria and procedures within a given timemay no longer impose any restrictions on the freedom to pro-vide data transmission services to the public.
(24) Member States should be given more time to draw up generalrules on the conditions governing the provision of packet- orcircuit-switched data services for the public.
(25) Telecommunications services should not be subject to anyrestriction, either as regards free access by users to the services,or as regards the processing of data which may be carried out
before messages are transmitted through the network or after
messages have been received, except where this is warranted byan essential requirement in proportion to the objective pursued.
(26) The digitization of the network and the technological improve-ment of the terminal equipment connected to it have brought
about an increase in the number of functions previously carried
out within the network and which can now be carried out byusers themselves with increasingly sophisticated terminal equip-ment. It is necessary to ensure that suppliers of telecommunica-tion services, and notably suppliers of telephone and packet orcircuit-switched data transmission services enable operators to
use these functions.
(27) Pending the establishing of Community standards with a view
to an open network provision (ONP), the technical interfacescurrently in use in the Member States should be made publiclyavailable so that firms wishing to enter the markets for the ser-vices in question can take the necessary steps to adapt their ser-
vices to the technical characteristics of the networks. If the
Member States have not yet established such technical inter-faces, they should do so as quickly as possible. All such draftmeasures should be communicated to the Commission in accor-dance with Council Directive 83/189/EEC (
1), as last amended
by Directive 88/182/EEC (2).
(28) Under national legislation, telecommunications organizations are
generally given the function of regulating telecommunications
(1) OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.
(2) OJ No L 81, 26. 3. 1988, p. 75.
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services, particularly as regards licensing, control of type-
approval and mandatory interface specifications, frequency allo-cation and monitoring of conditions of use. In some cases, the
legislation lays down only general principles governing the
operation of the licensed services and leaves it to the telecom-munications organizations to determine the specific operatingconditions.
(29) This dual regulatory and commercial function of the telecom-munications organizations has a direct impact on firms offering
telecommunications services in competition with the organiza-
tions in question. By this bundling of activities, the organiza-tions determine or, at the very least, substantially influence thesupply of services offered by their competitors. The delegationto an undertaking which has a dominant position for the provi-
sion and exploitation of the network, of the power to regulate
access to the market for telecommunication services constitutesa strengthening of that dominant position. Because of the con-flict of interests, this is likely to restrict competitors' access tothe markets in telecommunications services and to limit users'freedom of choice. Such arrangements may also limit the out-
lets for equipment for handling telecommunications messages
and, consequently, technological progress in that field. Thiscombination of activities therefore constitutes an abuse of thedominant position of telecommunications organizations withinthe meaning of Article 86. If it is the result of a State measure,the measure is also incompatible with Article 90 (1) in conjunc-
tion with Article 86.
(30) To enable the Commission to carry out effectively the monitor-
ing task assigned to it by Article 90 (3), it must have availablecertain essential information. That information must in particu-lar give the Commission a clear view of the measures of Mem-ber States, so that it can ensure that access to the network and
the various related services are provided by each telecommuni-
cations organization to all its customers on non-discriminatorytariff and other terms. Such information should cover:
— measures taken to withdraw exclusive rights pursuant to this
Directive,
— the conditions on which licences to provide telecommunica-
tions services are granted.
The Commission must have such information to enable it to
check, in particular, that all the users of the network and ser-vices, including telecommunications organizations where they
are providers of services, are treated equally and fairly.
(31) The holders of special or exclusive rights to provide telecom-
munications services that will in future be open to competitionhave been able in the past to impose long-term contracts ontheir customers. Such contracts would in practice limit the abil-ity of any new competitors to offer their services to such custo-
mers and of such customers to benefit from such services. Users
must therefore be given the right to terminate their contractswithin a reasonable length of time.
(32) Each Member State at present regulates the supply of telecom-munications services according to its own concepts. Even thedefinition of certain services differs from one Member State toanother. Such differences cause distortions of competition likely
to make the provision of cross-frontier telecommunications ser-
vices more difficult for economic operators. This is why theCouncil, in its resolution of 30 June 1988, considered that oneof the objectives of a telecommunications policy was the crea-tion of an open Community market for telecommunications ser-
vices, in particular through the rapid definition, in the form of
Council Directives, of technical conditions, conditions of useand principles governing charges for an open network provision(ONP). The Commission has presented a proposal to this end tothe Council. Harmonization of the conditions of access is nothowever the most appropriate means of removing the barriers to
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trade resulting from infringements of the Treaty. The Commis-
sion has a duty to ensure that the provisions of the Treaty areapplied effectively and comprehensively.
(33) Article 90 (3) assigns clearly-defined duties and powers to theCommission to monitor relations between Member States andtheir public undertakings and undertakings to which they have
granted special or exclusive rights, particularly as regards the
removal of obstacles to freedom to provide services, discrimina-tion between nationals of the Member States and competition.A comprehensive approach is necessary in order to end theinfringements that persist in certain Member States and to giveclear guidelines to those Member States that are reviewing their
legislation so as to avoid further infringements. A Directive
within the meaning of Article 90 (3) of the Treaty is thereforethe most appropriate means of achieving that end,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Directive:
— ‘telecommunication organizations’ means public or private bodies,
and the subsidiaries they control, to which a Member State grants
special or exclusive rights for the provision of a public telecommu-
nications network and, when applicable, telecommunications ser-vices,
— ‘exclusive rights’ means the rights that are granted by a Member
State to one undertaking through any legislative, regulatory oradministrative instrument, reserving it the right to provide a tele-
communication service or undertake an activity within a given
geographical area,
— ‘special rights’ means the 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 geo-graphical area,
— limits to two or more the number of such undertakings author-
ized to provide a service or undertake an activity, otherwise
than according to objective, proportional and non-discrimina-tory criteria, or
— designates, otherwise than according to such criteria, several
competing undertakings as being authorized to provide a ser-vice or undertake an activity, or
— confers on any undertaking or undertakings, otherwise than
according to such criteria, legal or regulatory advantages whichsubstantially affect the ability of any other undertaking to pro-
vide the same telecommunications service or to undertake the
same activity in the same geographical area under substantiallyequivalent conditions,
— ‘public telecommunications network’ means the public telecommu-
nications infrastructure which permits the conveyance of signalsbetween defined network termination points by wire, by micro-wave, by optical means or by other electromagnetic means,
— ‘telecommunications services’ means services whose provision
consists wholly or partly in the transmission and/or routing of sig-
nals on a telecommunications network,
— ‘satellite earth station network’ means a configuration of two or
more earth stations which interwork by means by means of a satel-lite,
— ‘satellite network services’ means the establishment and operation
of satellite earth station networks; these services consist, as a mini-mum, in the establishment, by satellite earth stations, of radiocom-munications to space segment (‘uplinks’), and in the establishment▼
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of radiocommunications between space segment and satellite earth
stations (‘downlinks’),
— ‘satellite communications services’ means service whose provision
makes use, wholly or partly, of satellite network services,
— ‘satellite services’ means the provision of satellite communications
services and/or the provision of satellite networks services,
— ‘network termination point’ means all physical connections and
their technical access specifications which form part of the publictelecommunications network and are necessary for access to andefficient communication through that public network,
— ‘essential requirements’ means the non-economic reasons in the
general interest which may cause a Member State to restrict access
to the public telecommunications network or public telecommuni-cations services. ►
M1Those reasons are security of network
operations, maintenance of network integrity, and, in justifiedcases, interoperability of services, data protection and, in the caseof satellite network services, the effective use of the frequency
spectrum and the avoidance of harmful interference between satel-
lite telecommunications systems and other space-based or terres-trial tecnical systems. ◄
Data protection may include protection of personal data, the confi-
dentiality of information transmitted or stored as well as the pro-
tection of privacy,
— ‘voice telephony’ means the commercial provision for the public
of the direct transport and switching of speech in real-timebetween public switched network termination points, enabling anyuser to use equipment connected to such a network terminationpoint in order to communicate with another termination point,
— ‘telex service’ means the commercial provision for the public of
direct transmission of telex messages in accordance with the rele-vant Comité consultatif international télégraphique et téléphonique(CCITT) recommendation between public switched network termi-nation points, enabling any user to use equipment connected tosuch a network termination point in order to communicate with
another termination point,
— ‘packet- and circuit-switched data services’ means the commercial
provision for the public of direct transport of data between publicswitched network termination points, enabling any user to useequipment connected to such a network termination point in order
to communicate with another termination point,
— ‘simple resale of capacity’ means the commercial provision on
leased lines for the public of data transmission as a separate ser-vice, including only such switching, processing, data storage orprotocol conversion as is necessary for transmission in real time toand from the public switched network,
— ‘cable TV network’ means any mainly wire-based infrastructure
approved by a Member State for delivery or distribution of radioor television signals to the public.
This Directive shall be without prejudice to the specific rules adopted
by the Member States in accordance with Community law, governingthe distribution of audiovisual programmes intended for the generalpublic, and the content of such programmes.
2. This Directive shall not apply to the telex service or to terrestrial
mobile radiocommunications.▼
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Article 2
Without prejudice to Article 1 (2), Member States shall withdraw all
those measures which grant:
(a) exclusive rights for the supply of telecommunications services
otherwise than voice telephony and
(b) special rights which limit to two or more the number of undertak-
ings authorized to supply such telecommunication services, other-wise than according to objective, proportional and non-discrimina-tory criteria, or
(c) special rights which designate, otherwise than according to such
criteria, several competing undertakings to provide such telecom-munication services.
They shall take the measures necessary to ensure that any operator is
entitled to supply any such telecommunications services, otherwise
than voice telephony.
Member States which make the supply of such services subject to a
licensing or declaration procedure aimed at compliance with theessential requirements shall ensure that the conditions for the grant oflicences are objective, non-discriminatory and transparent, that reasons
are given for any refusal, and that there is a procedure for appealing
against any such refusal.
Without prejudice to Article 3, Member States shall inform the Com-
mission no later than 31 December 1990 of the measures taken tocomply with this Article and shall inform it of any existing regulations
or of plans to introduce new licensing procedures or to change exist-
ing procedures.
Member States shall communicate the criteria on which authorizations
are granted, together with the conditions attached to such authoriza-tions and to the declaration procedures for the operation of transmit-ting earth stations.
Member States shall continue to inform the Commission of any plans
to introduce new licensing procedures or to change existing proce-dures.
Article 3
As regards packet- or circuit-switched data services, Member States
may, until 31 December 1992, under the authorization procedures
referred to in Article 2, prohibit economic operators from offeringleased line capacity for simple resale to the public.
Member States shall, no later than 30 June 1992, notify to the Com-
mission at the planning stage any licensing or declaration procedure
for the provision of packet- or circuit-switched data services for thepublic which are aimed at compliance with:
— essential requirements, or
— trade regulations relating to conditions of permanence, availability
and quality of the service, or
— measures to safeguard the task of general economic interest which
they have entrusted to a telecommunications organization for the
provision of switched data services, if the performance of that task
is likely to be obstructed by the activities of private service provi-ders.
The whole of these conditions shall form a set of public-service speci-
fications and shall be objective, non-discriminatory and transparent.
Member States shall ensure, no later than 31 December 1992, that
such licensing or declaration procedures for the provision of such ser-vices are published.▼
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Before they are implemented, the Commission shall verify the com-
patibility of these projects with the Treaty.
Article 4
Member States which maintain special or exclusive rights for the pro-
vision and operation of public telecommunications networks shall takethe necessary measures to make the conditions governing access to
the networks objective and non-discriminatory and publish them.
In particular, they shall ensure that operators who so request can
obtain leased lines within a reasonable period, that there are no
restrictions on their use other than those justified in accordance withArticle 2.
Member States shall:
— abolish all restrictions on the supply of transmission capacity by
cable TV networks and allow the use of cable networks for the
provision of telecommunications services, other than voice tele-phony;
— ensure that interconnection of cable TV networks with the public
telecommunications network is authorized for such purpose, in par-ticular interconnection with leased lines, and that the restrictionson the direct interconnection of cable TV networks by cable TVoperators are abolished.
Member States shall inform the Commission no later than 31 Decem-
ber 1990 of the steps they have taken to comply with this Article.
Each time the charges for leased lines are increased, Member States
shall provide information to the Commission on the factors justifying
such increases.
Article 5
Without prejudice to the relevant international agreements, Member
States shall ensure that the characteristics of the technical interfacesnecessary for the use of public networks are published by 31 Decem-ber 1990 at the latest.
Member States shall communicate to the Commission, in accordance
with Directive 83/189/EEC, any draft measure drawn up for this pur-pose.
Article 6
Member States shall, as regards the provision of telecommunications
services, and existing restrictions on the processing of signals beforetheir transmission via the public network or after their reception,
unless the necessity of these restrictions for compliance with public
policy or essential requirements is demonstrated.
Without prejudice to harmonized Community rules adopted by the
Council on the provision of an open network, Member States shallensure as regards services providers including the telecommunicationsorganizations that there is no discrimination either in the conditions ofuse or in the charges payable.
Member States shall ensure that any fees imposed on providers of ser-
vices as part of authorization procedures, shall be based on objective,
transparent and non-discriminatory criteria.
Fees, the criteria upon which they are based, and any changes thereto,
shall be published in an appropriate and sufficiently detailed manner,so as to provide easy access to that information.
Member States shall notify to the Commission no later than nine
months after publication of this Directive, and thereafter wheneverchanges occur, the manner in which the information is made available.▼
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The Commission shall regularly publish references to such notifica-
tions.
Member States shall inform the Commission of the measures taken or
draft measures introduced in order to comply with this Article by 31December 1990 at the latest.
Member States shall ensure that any regulatory prohibition or restric-
tions on the offer of space-segment capacity to any authorized satelliteearth station network operator are abolished, and shall autorize within
their territory any space-segment supplier to verify that the satellite
earth station network for use in connection with the space segment ofthe supplier in question is in conformity with the published conditionsfor access to his space segment capacity.
Article 7
Member States shall ensure that from 1 July 1991 the grant of operat-
ing licences, the control of type approval and mandatory specifica-
tions, the allocation of frequencies and surveillance of usage condi-
tions are carried out by a body independent of the telecommunicationsorganizations.
They shall inform the Commission of the measures taken or draft
measures introduced to that end no later than 31 December 1990.
Article 8
Member States shall ensure that as soon as the relevant special or
exclusive rights have been withdrawn, telecommunications organiza-tions make it possible for customers bound to them by a contract with
more than one year to run for the supply of telecommunications ser-
vices which was subject to such a right at the time it was concludedto terminate the contract at six months' notice.
Article 9
Member States shall communicate to the Commission the necessary
information to allow it to draw up, for a period of three years, at theend of each year, an overall report on the application of this Directive.The Commission shall transmit this report to the Member States, theCouncil, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Com-
mittee.
Article 10
In 1992, the Commission will carry out an overall assessment of the
situation in the telecommunications sector in relation to the aims ofthis Directive.
In 1994, the Commission shall assess the effects of the measures
referred to in Article 3 in order to see whether any amendments needto be made to the provisions of that Article, particularly in the lightof technological evolution and the development of trade within the
Community.
Article 11
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.▼
B
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▼B