COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 19 November 1992 on the promotion of Europe-wide cooperation on numbering of telecommunications services (92/C 318/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

1. Whereas the Council resolution of 30 June 1988 on the development of the common market for telecommunications services and equipment up to 1992 (1) calls for promotion of the creation of Europe-wide services according to market requirements and appropriate social needs;

2. Whereas Commission Directive 90/388/EEC of 28 June 1990 on competition in the markets for telecommunications services (2) provides for competitive provision of telecommunications services and services based on public telecommunications networks and/or services;

3. Whereas Council Directive 90/387/EEC of 28 June 1990 on the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision (3) emphasizes the need for open and efficient access to and use of public telecommunications services;

4. Whereas numbers are the key for access to, and use of, telecommunications services and, as such, are essential for the provision of telecommunications services and services based thereon, particularly as regards the introduction of new and competitively-provided services; whereas, in addition, the ease of use of telephony-based services is largely dictated by how familiar and easily understood numbering and dialling arrangements are;

5. Whereas numbering changes can cause high levels of cost and disruption to service providers and users, particularly where they are required to change their existing numbers;

6. Whereas competition and innovation in telecommunications service provision will serve further to intensify demands on the supply of numbers;

7. Whereas the design of numbering schemes from which numbers are allocated is an important factor in the design of networks and equipment which support pan-European services serving areas employing different numbering schemes, since numbering information is used to perform essential functions such as route selection and charging;

8. Whereas management of numbering schemes in Europe is undertaken by individual Member States;

9. Whereas there is a requirement for increased coordination in the management of numbering schemes at the European level in order best to support the development of, and growth in, services with Europe-wide applications;

10. Whereas management of numbering schemes for pan-European services must be carried out within a framework of Europe-wide cooperation allowing account to be taken, in a timely manner, of the opinions of representatives of national authorities concerned with numbering schemes, network operators including an appropriate involvement of the Association of European Telecommunications Network Operators (ETNO), service providers, industry and users;

11. Whereas such a framework of cooperation must respect the principle of separation of regulatory and operational functions required according to Directive 90/388/EEC; whereas, therefore, decisions on the development of numbering schemes and procedures for the allocation of numbers must rest with national regulatory authorities, according to this principle;

12. Whereas management of numbering schemes must be carried out in an objective, transparent and non-discriminatory manner in order to ensure equality of treatment of the requirements for numbers of different categories of service providers and users;

13. Whereas such a framework should draw on the organizational experience of existing cooperation mechanisms involving the Conférence Européenne des Postes et Télécommunications (CEPT); whereas, in this respect, such a framework might be brought about through the creation of a European Numbering Office (ENO) and draw on established mechanisms of regulatory coordination, in particular the European Committee for Telecommunications Regulatory Affairs (ECTRA);

14. Whereas the Commission should be involved as appropriate in such a framework;

15. Whereas such a framework should facilitate long-term number supply planning at European level; whereas this should have regard to the most efficient use of numbering space and the significant timescales needed to phase out or relocate existing uses and the substantial investments which may accompany such numbering changes;

16. Whereas such a framework may also facilitate the working out of common European positions concerning numbering at the global level, in particular with regard to the work of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in this area; whereas the Council resolution of 30 June 1988 recognizes the desirability of Community coordination in relation to international telecommunications matters, which include the field of numbering;

17. Whereas the opening of a European numbering space as a means of establishing common telephony numbering and dialling arrangements could promote the functioning of the single market through facilitating provision of Europe-wide services;

18. Whereas such a European telephony numbering space could be created through a number of different options;

19. Whereas there is a need to study further the possible implementation of each option for the creation of a European telephony numbering space, including routing, tariffing and general policy issues, as well as practical questions, related to numbering management, flexibility and efficiency; whereas appropriate consultation with network operators, service providers and users is still required;

20. Whereas the creation of a European telephony numbering space should be a first priority for a framework of cooperation;

21. Whereas this resolution proposes that detailed work on numbering could be carried out by the Member States in the framework of the ENO that could be created, and to the extent that the objectives of the proposed actions cannot be sufficiently achieved on an individual basis by the Member States for reasons of effectiveness of this work, appropriate Community action may be required,

CONSIDERS THE FOLLOWING POINTS AS MAJOR POLICY GOALS IN THIS AREA:

1. Strengthening cooperation at European level on the numbering arrangements for services with pan-European applications, with the objectives of:

- ensuring that long-term demand for numbers for such services can be met according to the needs of the European market and different categories of use,

- working towards the fair equitable and timely allocation of numbers for provision and use of such services,

- promoting the most efficient use of numbering space by taking timely account of service and user requirements against the background of industrial development and global changes in numbering.

2. Facilitating the development of common European positions in relation to global numbering developments, in particular with regard to the work of the ITU in this area.

3. The creation of a European telephony numbering space to support the achievement of European telecommunications policy goals, in particular:

- promotion of the development of Europe-wide applications according to market requirements and appropriate social needs,

- open and efficient access to, and use of, public telecommunications networks and services.

4. In order to facilitate the achievement of these goals, encouraging development of a Europe-wide framework of cooperation on numbering between representatives of national authorities concerned with numbering schemes, network operators, service providers, industry and users, drawing on the organizational experience of existing coordination mechanisms set up by the CEPT, in particular as regards the arrangements relating to radio frequencies which may provide, where appropriate, a suitable model on which to base the arrangements for numbering and which could, in this respect, include the setting up of the ENO. Such a framework should:

- be open to the opinions of any member of the categories mentioned above,

- provide a forum for common studies towards development of European numbering schemes in a manner most suited for existing and future services, taking due account of the diversity of market and technological factors influencing service and product development,

- have available the resources to carry out analyses of long-term market and technology implications of numbering recommendations at European level;

INVITES THE MEMBER STATES:

5. to coordinate their actions within CEPT to promote the development and implementation, in conformity with Community law and in particular the competition rules of the Treaty, of a framework of Europe-wide cooperation on numbering allowing the opinions of all interested parties to be taken into account and involving the Commission as appropriate. This framework, which could in this respect include the setting up of the ENO on the basis of an appropriate statute, for which the resources necessary to ensure efficiency and the ability to respond rapidly to changes in the demand for, and use of, numbers should be made available. The tasks carried out within this framework should include:

- undertaking studies to support the long-term development of European numbering schemes and capabilities such as number portability, taking into account market needs, the needs of different categories of user and global considerations, and forwarding recommendations to regulatory authorities and the Community as appropriate,

- carrying out investigations to support developments in practices of management and allocation of numbers and forwarding recommendations to regulatory authorities and the Community,

- undertaking studies in preparation of common positions at ITU numbering fora as required to facilitate the attainment of common global positions,

- liaison with bodies responsible for numbering scheme management, particularly at national level, and with authorities charged with the registration of names, numbers and addresses, particularly as regards the ongoing development of European directory services,

- cooperation and interaction with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and other standardization bodies in order to take full account of the link between standards development and numbering resource management;

and, as a high priority,

- investigation of the case for the introduction of a European area code for use in parallel with Member States' existing country codes, as a mechanism by which the creation of a European telephony numbering space may be achieved and, should this case be established, subsequent investigation of the choice of such a code, including the preparation of a coordinated proposal to the ITU for the issuing of such a code,

- completing, not later than 1 October 1993, studies for the creation of the European telephony numbering space and proposing, during 1994, any feasible solutions arising from these studies,

- development of coordinated procedures for the management and allocation of telephony numbers from the European numbering space, in particular with regard to the provision of the pan-European services listed in the Annex,

INVITES THE COMMISSION:

6. should investigations within the framework of European cooperation demonstrate that the introduction of a European area code is feasible and justified, to facilitate, where necessary, its coordinated introduction in the Community;

7. subject to the outcome of these investigations, to facilitate the rapid introduction of pan-European services numbered from the European telephony numbering space.

(1) OJ No C 257, 30. 11. 1988, p. 1.

(2) OJ No L 192, 24. 7. 1990, p. 10.

(3) OJ No L 192, 24. 7. 1990, p. 1.

ANNEX

Pan-European services which may be introduced under the final indent of point 5 - Europe-wide subscriber telephony numbers,

- Flexible routing service,

- providing the ability flexibly to route calls to different answering points, e.g. according to country of call origination, time of day, etc,

- Europe-wide green/freephone call service,

- particularly making use of flexible routing,

- Europe-wide kiosk billing service,

- including flexibility for private service operators to choose the charge for a call, up to a maximum set by the national regulatory authority,

- Europe-wide shared cost call service,

- Europe-wide mobile services.