COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION of 3 June 1991 on the coordinated introduction of digital European cordless telecommunications (DECT) into the Community (91/288/EEC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, in particular Article 235 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),

Whereas recommendation 84/549/EEC (4) calls for the introduction of services on the basis of a common harmonized approach in the field of telecommunications;

Whereas the Council in its resolution of 30 June 1988 (5) on the development of the common market for telecommunication services and equipment up to 1992 calls for the promotion of Europe-wide services according to market requirements;

Whereas the resources offered by modern telecommunications networks should be utilized to the full for the economic development of the Community;

Whereas the potential for cordless telecommunications in the Community has been demonstrated by recent developments such as recent agreements on public telepoint services; whereas the European Telecommunications Standard (ETS) for digital European cordless telecommunications (DECT) currently being developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) will greatly enhance the possibilities of cordless telecommunications;

Whereas the development of the ETS must take account of the safety of users, and the need for Europe-wide interoperability, enable users provided with a service based on DECT technology in one Member State to gain access to the service in any other Member State, where appropriate;

Whereas the European implementation of DECT technology will provide an important opportunity to establish truly European digital cordless telephone facilities;

Whereas a coordinated policy for the introduction of common standards for cordless telephones will make possible the establishment of a European market in mobile handsets which will be capable of creating, by virtue of their size, service features, and costs, the necessary development conditions to establish a lead in worldwide markets;

Whereas such a future system, offering both voice and data services, is to be based on digital techniques, thereby facilitating compatibility with the general digital environment and the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) in the Community in accordance with recommendation 86/659/EEC (6);

Whereas the future Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning telecommunications terminal equipment, including the mutual recognition of their conformity will allow the rapid establishment of common conformity specifications for DECT;

Whereas consideration shall be given 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 (7), as last amended by Directive 90/230/EEC (8);

Whereas consideration should be given to Council Decision 87/95/EEC of 22 December 1986 on standardization in the field of information technology and telecommunications (9);

Whereas Council Directive 89/336/EEC of 3 May 1989 on the approximation of the laws of Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility (10) is applicable, and particular attention should be taken to avoid harmful electromagnetic interference;

Whereas it is advantageous to facilitate access to cordless communications and necessary to allow free circulation of DECT equipment throughout the Community;

Whereas it is appropriate to make full use of the potential of the Community's allocated financial instruments in order to promote the development of the Community's telecommunications infrastructure in the Community;

Whereas consideration should be given to recommendation 87/371/EEC (11) which points out that special attention should be paid to the urgent requirement of certain users for pan-European land-based communications; whereas the Commission could in future submit other proposals in the field of mobile communications;

Whereas the implementation of such a policy will lead to closer cooperation within Europe between the public telecommunications administrations, the recognized public and private operating agencies and other authorized agencies offering public mobile telecommunications service, herein referred to as 'telecommunications organizations';

Whereas favourable opinions on this recommendation has been delivered by the telecommunications organizations by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) and by the telecommunications equipment manufacturers in the Member States;

Whereas these measures will allow the economic benefit and rapidly increasing market potential of cordless telephones to be fully realized in the Community;

Whereas the Treaty does not provide, for this recommendation, powers other than those of Article 235,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS: 1. that Member States and/or the telecommunications organizations, as appropriate, create the conditions for the coordinated introduction into the Community of digital European cordless telecommunications according to the technical requirements described in the Annex. For the purposes of this recommendation, digital European cordless telecommunications shall mean technology conforming to the European Telecommunications Standard for digital cordless telecommunications known as DECT.

2. that the telecommunications organizations continue the cooperation within the CEPT and/or ETSI, for the completion of the specifications and the introduction and exploitation of DECT technology;

3. that the Commission takes appropriate initiatives, within the application of existing Directives, to encourage the completion of the specifications and the introduction and exploitation of DECT technology;

4. that the Commission prepares a long-term strategy in collaboration and consultation with interested parties, for the evolution of the soon to be introduced pan-European digital cellular and paging systems, and digital cordless systems, taking account of the general development towards a future universal personal communications system, and recent studies and the ETSI work programme;

5. that the Community's allocated financial instruments take this recommendation into account within the framework of their interventions, particularly regarding capital investments required for the implementation of the infrastructure for the DECT system;

6. that efforts are encouraged to develop the appropriate infrastructure to allow the use of DECT equipment also in a public environment and to work towards the coordinated introduction of DECT technology in such an environment, maintaining in particular those features necessary to allow Europe-wide interoperability;

7. that Member States inform the Commission at the end of each year, from the end of 1992 onwards, of the measures taken and the problems encountered in the course of implementing this recommendation; that measures be taken to consult telecommunications organizations, users, consumers, manufacturers, persons providing services, employer organizations and trade unions; that the progress of work be examined by the Commission and Senior Officials Group on Telecommunications (SOG-T) which was set up by the Council on 4 November 1983; and that the European Parliament be regularly informed, at least once a year. Done at Luxembourg, 3 June 1991. For the Council

The President

A. BODRY (1) OJ No C 24, 1. 2. 1990, p. 20 and OJ No C 9, 15. 1. 1991, p. 3. (2) OJ No C 19, 28. 1. 1991, p. 96. (3) OJ No C 332, 31. 12. 1990, p. 172. (4) OJ No L 298, 16. 11. 1984, p. 49. (5) OJ No C 257, 4. 10. 1988, p. 1. (6) OJ No L 382, 31. 12. 1986, p. 36. (7) OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8. (8) OJ No L 128, 18. 5. 1990, p. 15. (9) OJ No L 36, 7. 2. 1987, p. 31. (10) OJ No L 139, 23. 5. 1989, p. 19. (11) OJ No L 196, 17. 7. 1987, p. 81.

ANNEX

DETAILED REQUIREMENTS ON THE COORDINATED INTRODUCTION OF DIGITAL EUROPEAN CORDLESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS (DECT) INTO THE COMMUNITY

Table of contents

1. General requirements

2. Choice of transmission system

3. Network architecture

4. System specification and implementation

5. System features

6. Tariff considerations

7. Time scale

1. General requirements

The future DECT systems should be developed in accordance with the ETS being developed by ETSI and should comply with the following general requirements:

- be suitable for operation over the frequency band 1880-1900 MHz to be made available for DECT in the Community in conformity with Directive 91/287/EEC,

- provide a means, using cordless technology, for meeting user requirements in respect of the following applications:

- a residential application that will interconnect to ISDN/PSTN,

- a business cordless telecommunications application that combines the features of a PABX with the mobility of cordless telecommunications for both voice and non-voice application,

- an application that offers public network access to a handset through a public, or privately owned, base station,

- an application that provides a radio means of extending public and private networks into customer user premises,

- permit simultaneous operation of two or more independent systems in the same geographical area.

2. Choice of transmission system

The detailed specification of the DECT transmission characteristics should be completed by October 1991 and should take account of the relevant international guidelines on limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields, and the Directive 89/336/EEC. The technology must be able to support geographically co-located DECT systems.

3. Network architecture

The standard for the network structure and the definition and allocation of functions between the various system components should be completely specified for all the applicable OSI layers, by October 1991.

4. DECT specification and implementation

The implementation of the system should be able to support full intersystem roaming where required. Roaming in the context of this recommendation is the ability to use handsets based on DECT technology to access the public network in any Member State.

5. System features

The system specification should provide a minimum number of generic capabilities and facilities as follows:

- satisfy the general requirements of section 1 above,

- provision of emergency services,

- provision for dialling and calling security,

- compatibility between residential, business and public access applications.

The provision of an additional service or facility beyond generic capability on any system should not impact the provision of the minimum service on other systems.

6. Tariff considerations

Agreement on such matters as the charging for the Community service and accounting between operators should be identified in a timely manner where required.

7. Time scale

Facilities for applications based on DECT technology should progressively be available from the end of 1992.