COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION of 5 June 1992 on the harmonized provision of a minimum set of packet-switched data services (PSDS) in accordance with open network provision (ONP) principles (92/382/EEC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to Council Directive 90/387/EEC fo 28 June 1990 on the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision (1),

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas Council Directive 90/387/EEC considers, inter alia, the principles for the application of open network provision (ONP) to the areas of packet and circuit-switched data services;

Whereas Directive 90/387/EEC provides in point 3 of Annex III for the adoption of a recommendation on the supply of technical interfaces, conditions of usage and tariff principles applying to the provision of packet-switched data services (PSDS) complying with open network principles;

Whereas packet-switched public data networks are the most common networks through which packet-switched data services (PDS) are made available in all Member States;

Whereas packet-switched public data networks have developed on a national basis an the availability in each Member State of packet-switched public data networks with equivalent capabilities and providing full interconnectivity is important to meet the requirements of pan-European data networking for value-added services provision;

Whereas PSDSs are important in supporting value added services at a European-wide level;

Whereas Directive 90/387/EEC calls for the availability in each Member State of a harmonized PSDS;

Whereas Member States should notify to the Commission those organizations whose provision of PSDSs enables Member States to comply with the provisions of point 3 of Annex III to Council Directive 90/387/EEC; whereas other organizations may offer PSDSs in accordance with this recommendation;

Whereas, pursuant to the principle of non-discrimination, PSDSs shall be available and provided on request without discrimination to all users; whereas, therefore, the terms and conditions which apply to telecommunication organizations when using PSDSs for the provision of services for which no special or exclusive rights may be maintained should be equivalent to the terms and conditions which apply to other users;

Whereas, in accordance with Directive 90/387/EEC, the conditions of ONP may not restrict access to and use of PSDSs except in the application of essential requirements as defined in the said Directive; whereas these restrictions must be objectively justified, follow the principle of proportionality and not be excessive in relation to the aim pursued;

Whereas, in accordance with Article 3 (5) of Directive 90/387/EEC, the Commission will determine the rules for uniform application of the essential requirements in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 10 of that Directive;

Whereas usage conditions for PSDSs must be derived from essential requirements compatible with Community law and are to be imposed through regulatory means and not through technical restrictions;

Whereas, in accordance with Commission Directive 90/388/EEC (2), Member States may make the supply of packet- or circuit-switched data services subject to licensing or declaration procedures which are aimed at compliance with essential requirements, or trade regulations relating to conditions of permanence, availability and quality of 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 providers;

Whereas, in accordance with Directive 90/387/EEC, the Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (3) the list of packet-switched public data networks standards suitable for ONP; this list may be amended by further publication;

Whereas common ordering procedures, one-stop-ordering and one-stop billing and maintenance are desirable in order to encourage the use of PSDSs and the development of competition in the provision of value added services throughout the Community and have been requested by users; whereas any cooperation between organizations in that area is subject to compliance with Community competition law; whereas, in particular, such procedures should not result in price fixing or market sharing; whereas, these procedures are to be established through commercial arrangements, e.g. through memoranda of understanding;

Whereas the implementation of one-stop ordering and one-stop billing procedures by telecommunications organizations must not prevent offers by service providers other than telecommunications organizations;

Whereas, in order to promote European-wide operation by service providers using PSDSs, it is desirable to allow for a system where the called party pays for the calls on the basis of the number called, allowing the offering of free-of-charge calls to the subscriber accessing the service offered by the provider (green number type arrangements);

Whereas, in order to promote the use of PSDSs by small- and medium-size providers of value-added services, it is desirable that billing arrangements which facilitate such operations across the Community are established; whereas such billing arrangements should allow for a system where the cost of the value-added service and the cost of the call are combined in a single bill collected by the organization supplying PSDSs ('kiosk type arrangement');

Whereas it is important in this context that appropriate allocation of harmonized numbering capacity is made to allow the etablishment of such service arrangements across the Community; whereas such allocation should be made in accordance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment;

Whereas quality of service as perceived by the users is an essential aspect of packet-switching; whereas information for users should allow for a comparison between achieved performance and typical or target values;

Whereas, in accordance with Directive 90/387/EEC, tariffs must be based on objective criteria, taking into account that, in a competitive environment, tariffs will align with cost; whereas they must be transparent and properly published and sufficiently unbundled in accordance with the competition rules of the Treaty; whereas they must be non-discriminatory and must guarantee equal treatment;

Whereas Member States may restrict use and provision of PSDS to the extent necessary to ensure compliance with the regulations on the protection of data, including protection of personal data, the confidentiality of information transmitted or stored and the protection of privacy compatible with Community law;

Whereas other offerings provided by organizations supplying PSDSs in addition to those provided in accordance with the provisions of this recommendation shall not impede the provision of the minimum set;

Whereas, in accordance with the principle of separation of regulatory and operational functions and pursuant to the principle of subsidiarity, the national regulatory authority of each Member State should play an important role in the application of this recommendation;

Whereas, to enable the Commission to monitor effectively the application of this recommendation, it is necessary that Member States provide the relevant information requested by the Commission;

Whereas the Committee referred to in Articles 9 and 10 of Directive 90/387/EEC should play an important role in the application of this recommendation,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

1. That Member States ensure that on their territory a minimum set of packet-switched data services (PSDSs) with harmonized technical characteristics in accordance with Annex I is provided, taking into account market demand.

2. That modifications necessary to adapt Annex I to new technical developments and to changes in market demand be determined by the Commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 10 of Directive 90/387/EEC, taking into account the state of development of the national networks.

3. That Member States take the necessary steps so that, in respect of the PSDSs provided in accordance with point 1, information is published on technical characteristics, supply and usage conditions, tariffs, licensing and/or declaration conditions and the conditions for the attachment of terminal equipment, in accordance with the presentation given in Annex II.

4. That the supply conditions referred to in point 3 include at least:

- information concerning the ordering procedure,

- the typical delivery periods, which are the periods counted from the date when the user has made a firm request for the service in question and in which 80 % of the requests for each type of PSDSs have been put through to the users.

Each period will be established on the basis of the actual delivery periods for each type of PSDSs during a recent time interval of reasonable duration. The calculation must not include cases where late delivery periods were requested by users. For new types of PSDSs, a target delivery period shall be published in place of the typical delivery period,

- contractual periods, which include periods generally prescribed for contracts and the minimum contractual periods which the user is obliged to accept for each type of PSDSs,

- typical repair times, which are the periods, counted from the time when a failure message has been given to the responsible unit within the organization supplying PSDSs up to the moment in which 80 % of all PSDSs of the same type have been re-established and, in appropriate cases, notified as back in operation to the users. For new types of PSDSs a target repair time period shall be published in place of the typical repair time. Where different classes of quality of repair are offered for the same type of PSDSs, the different typical repair times shall be published,

- any refund procedure,

- target values for the indicators of quality of service established in accordance with point 6.

5. That Member States, taking into account the work of the European Conference on Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) (4), encourage the establishment, in accordance with the procedural and substantive rules of competition of the Treaty and in consultation with users, of harmonized procedures for user access to PSDSs, provided in accordance with the provisions of this recommendation, in particular via the establishment of the following procedures:

- a common ordering procedure for PSDSs throughout the Community, i.e. an ordering procedure for the procurement of intra-Community PSDSs which ensures that there is commonality, across the organizations supplying PSDSs, in the information which has to be supplied by the user and the organization supplying PSDSs and the format in which the information is presented,

- a one-stop ordering procedure for PSDSs, to be applied where requested by the user, i.e. a system whereby all transactions involving a user which are required for the procurement of intra-Community PSDSs supplied by more than one organization to a single user can be completed at one location between the user and a single organization supplying PSDSs,

- a one-stop-billing procedure for PSDSs, to be applied where requested by the user, i.e. a system whereby the billing and payment transaction for intra-Community PSDSs supplied by more than one organization to a single user can be completed at one location between the user and a single organization supplying PSDSs, and

- a one-stop-maintenance procedure for PSDSs, to be applied where requested by the user, i.e. a system whereby the reporting of faults for intra-Community PSDSs supplied by more than one organization to a single user can be done at one location between the user and a single organization supplying PSDSs, which will coordinate the restoration of services.

The inclusion of the provision of Community-wide charging and billing procedures, allowing notably facilities which enable the called party to pay for the calls (5) or the combination in a single bill for the charge for the calls and the charge for the value-added service used (6), is to be envisaged, taking into account its technical and administrative feasibility and commercial viability.

These harmonized procedures are to be established through commercial arrangements, e.g. through memoranda of understanding.

6. That common indicators and common measurement methods be adopted for the network performance aspects of the quality of service by organizations supplying PSDSs in accordance with this recommendation, notably for those indicators in Annex III, in order to allow for the determination of a representative sample of the performance of the PSDSs as well as the statistical end-to-end performance achieved by the network as a whole.

7. That national regulatory authorities take the necessary steps so that annual statistical information showing achieved performance in relation to the quality of service indicators identified in Annex III is made publicly available.

The first annual period should run from 1 January to 31 December 1993.

8. That tariffs be transparent, based on objective criteria and independent of the type of application implemented by the users of the PSDSs, where the same type of offerings is used.

9. That tariffs for PSDSs normally contain the following elements:

- an initial connection charge,

- a periodic rental charge,

- a usage charge,

Where other tariff elements are applied, these must be in accordance with point 8.

10. That Member States inform the Commission before 31 December 1992 of those organizations whose provision of PSDSs enables Member States to comply with the provisions of point 3 of Annex III to Council Directive 90/387/EEC and, thereafter, of any changes to this information.

11. That national regulatory authorities prepare annual summary reports in particular with regard to the availability of PSDSs provided in accordance with point 1 of this recommendation. These summary reports should be sent to the Commission no later than five months after the end of each calender year, this requirement being reviewed by the Commission in consultation with the ONP Committee in accordance with Article 9 of Directive 90/387/EEC during 1995. The Commission will transmit these summary reports to the ONP Committee.

12. That national regulatory authorities keep available and submit to the Commission on request data on the application of the supply conditions under points 3 and 4 and the statistical information under point 7.

13. That national regulatory authorities establish simple procedures for users of PSDSs which may be invoked in the event of any difficulties encountered in relation to the application of this recommendation.

14. That the Commission, in consultation with the ONP Committee, examine the results of the application of this recommendation, with a view to the fulfilment of the objectives of Directive 90/387/EEC, on the basis of the summary reports provided under point 11.

Done at Luxembourg, 5 June 1992.

For the Council

The President

Joaquim FERREIRA DO AMARAL

(1) OJ No L 192, 24. 7. 1990, p. 1.(2) OJ No L 192, 24. 7. 1990, p. 10.(3) OJ No C 327, 29. 12. 1990, p. 19. List of standards reference - Packet-switched public data networks.(4) One-stop shopping service Specific Schedule for PSPDN, CAC October 1990.(5) Green number type arrangements.(6) Kiosk type arrangements.

ANNEX I

DEFINITION OF A COMMUNITY-WIDE MINIMUM SET OF PACKET-SWITCHED DATA SERVICES WITH HARMONIZED TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS IN ACCORDANCE WITH POINT 1 AND RECOMMENDED TIMETABLE FOR THEIR AVAILABILITY A. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

The recommendation aims at the harmonized provision by the organizations notified in accordance with point 10 of a minimum set of PSDSs in accordance with open network provision principles to users in order to facilitate the development of European-wide services.

These services should:

(i) be made available on an adequately unbundled basis in order to give users maximum flexibility;

(ii) be structured in the following way (on a service basis):

ONP core offering:

- access/feature set(s) which must be offered by all the networks,

- user selects (one) set in order to have the basic service,

- set to be tariffed as a bundle.

ONP user options:

- feature offered by all networks on an individual basis,

- feature which may be selected by user,

- may in specific cases substitute core offerings features;

(iii) take into account technological development and the growth in availability of features not considered in the proposed service.

B. STANDARDS TO BE UTILIZED

The standards applicable for this minimum set of PSDSs with harmonized technical characteristics are in particular those in the indicative list of packet-switched public data networks standards suitable for ONP published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, in accordance with the procedure in Article 5 (1) of Directive 90/387/EEC. The initial indicative list of PSDS standards suitable for ONP already published in the Official Journal of the European Communities will be amended/updated by further publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

C. TECHNICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF EACH SERVICE AND RECOMMENDED TIMETABLE FOR IMPLEMENTATION C.1. Offerings to be provided at the latest by 31 December 1992 C.1. SERVICE

OFFERING

X.25

CORE OFFERING

access link data rates:

2 400, 4 800, 9 600 bit/s

layer 3 for VC (one logical channel)

USER OPTIONS

additional logical channels at least to a total of 32 for 9 600 bit/s

options indicated (¹) in CEPT T/TE 08-02 (²)

as E or EA

C.1. SERVICE

OFFERING

X.28 (³)

dial-in only

CORE OFFERING

access link data rate 300 bit/s (V.21 modem), 1 200 bit/s (V.22 modem)

X.28 standard terminal profiles

USER OPTIONS

NUI

additional standardized profiles selection (& {È%};)

reverse charging (& {È%};)

X.32

Unidentified service

CORE OFFERING

for national use at least one of the two sets:

1. 2 400 bit/s (V.22 bis or V.32 modem)

2. 4 800, 9 600 bit/s (V.32 modem)

one or more logical channels

reverse charging

VC operation

X.32

Identified service

dial-in only

CORE OFFERING

data rates and modems as per unidentified case

identification by NUI or XID

support of DTEs as per unidentified case

one or more logical channels, VC operation

(¹) Except: Call redirection within a network with the same DNIC

International use of CUG facilities

International use of reverse charging facilities

Hunt group

Called line address modified notification

Extended interrupt

CCITT specified DTE facilities

(²) Interworking aspects of packet-switched public data networks.

(³) The X.28 messages are not intended for automatic DTE operation and as a consequence may be nationally dependent. The progressive implementation of X.3 (1988) and X.28 (1988) will allow to set an X.3 parameter to determine whether CCITT standardized or national messages shall be used at the interface.

(& {È%};) For national use.

C.2. Offerings to be provided in addition to those in C.1 at the latest by 30 June 1993 C.1. SERVICE

OFFERING

X.25

CORE OFFERING

access link data rate

48 000 bit/s or 64 000 bit/s

USER OPTIONS

additional logical channels at least to a total of 128 for 48 000 or 64 000 bit/s

Hunt group

call redirection within a network with the same DNIC

extended interrupt

CCITT specified DTE facilities

intra-community use of CUG facilities

called line address modified notifications

C.3. Offerings to be provided in addition to those in C.1 and C.2 at the latest by 31 December 1993 C.1. SERVICE

OFFERING

X.25

USER OPTIONS

intra-community use of reverse charging facilities

X.28

dial-in only

CORE OFFERING

access link data rate:

2 400 bit/s (V.22 bis modem)

USER OPTIONS

intra-community use of reverse charging facilities

X.32

Unidentified service

CORE OFFERING

intra-community use of the service

ANNEX II

PUBLICATION PRESENTATION FOR THE INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED IN RESPECT OF PACKET-SWITCHED DATA SERVICES IN ACCORDANCE WITH POINT 3 The information referred to in point 3 of the recommendation should follow the presentation given below.

A. TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The technical characteristics include the physical and electrical characteristics as well as the detailed technical and performance specifications which apply at the network termination point, without prejudice to Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (¹). Clear reference shall be made to the standards implemented.

B. SUPPLY CONDITIONS

The supply conditions include at least the elements identified in point 4.

C. USAGE CONDITIONS

The conditions resulting from the application of essential requirements.

D. TARIFFS

In accordance with point 9, tariffs will normally include an initial connection charge, a periodic rental charge and a usage charge. Usage charge will normally include:

(a) a fixed per-call charge, based either on a minimum time and/or volume charge or on a call set-up charge;

(b) a volume related charge based on the use of an integral number of segments (²),

(c) a duration charge based on time intervals sufficiently short to avoid discrimination against short-type transactions.

Clear indication of other charges, e.g. charges related to quality of service, or bulk provision, should be available.

E. LICENSING AND/OR DECLARATION CONDITIONS FOR USE OF PSDSs, WHERE APPLICABLE

This should include information on any licensing conditions which have to be met by the user or by its customers.

F. CONDITIONS FOR THE ATTACHMENT OF TERMINAL EQUIPMENT

Conditions approved by the national regulatory authority, in accordance with the provisions of Directive 91/263/EEC (³).

(¹) OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.

(²) A segment is up to 64 octets (or bytes) of user data where the octet is 8 bits.

(³) OJ No L 128, 23. 5. 1991, p. 1.

ANNEX III

INDICATORS FOR THE NETWORK PERFORMANCE ASPECTS OF THE QUALITY OF SERVICE OF PSDSs Indicators for the network performance aspects of the quality of service of PSDSs and measurement methods should be based on the ongoing work in CEPT, and notably on recommendations T/CAC 2 (¹), T/CAC 3 (²), T/CAC 4 (³).

For each of the above performance criteria, indicators should be chosen which are representative of the service:

AvailabilityUnsuccessful network congestion (NC) calls ratio (UNCR),

Service availability,

Dependability Mean time between NC disconnections (MTNC),

Speed of service Transmitted throughput (TTP),

Received throughput (RTP),

Round trip delay (RTD),

Call set-up delay (CSD).

(¹) Indicators for the network performance aspects of the quality of service of international packet-switched services.

(²) Monitoring of network performance aspects of quality of international packet-switched service using internally derived indicators.

(³) Monitoring of network performance aspects of quality of international packet-switched service using externally derived indicators.