EN Official Journal of the European Union C 63/40

Reference for a preliminary ruling from Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division) made on 11 January 2010 — The Number Ltd, Conduit Enterprises Ltd v Office of Communications and British Telecommunications PLC

(Case C-16/10)

2010/C 63/63

Language of the case: English

Referring court

Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division)

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: The Number Ltd, Conduit Enterprises Ltd

Defendant: Office of Communications and British Telecommunications PLC

Questions referred

1. Is the power afforded to Member States under Article 8(1) of Directive 2002/22/EC (1) (‘the Universal Service Directive’), read together with Article 8 of Directive 2002/21/EC (2) (‘the Framework Directive’), Articles 3(2) and 6(2) of Directive 2002/20/EC (3) (‘the Authorisation Directive’), and Article 3(2) of the Universal Service Directive and other material provisions of EC law, to designate one or more undertakings to guarantee the provision of universal service, or different elements of universal service, as identified in Articles 4, 5,6, 7 and 9(2) of the Universal Service Directive, to be interpreted as: (a) Permitting the Member State, where it decides to designate an undertaking pursuant to this provision, only to impose specific obligations on that undertaking which require the undertaking itself to provide to end users the universal service or element thereof in respect of which it is designated? Or (b) Permitting the Member State, when it decides to designate an undertaking under this provision, to place the designated undertaking under such specific obligations as the Member State considers to be most efficient, appropriate and proportionate for the purpose of guaranteeing the provision of the universal service or element thereof to end users, whether or not those obligations require the designated undertaking itself to provide the universal service or element thereof to end users?

2. Do the above provisions, when read also in light of Article 3(2) of the Universal Service Directive, permit Member States, in circumstances where an undertaking is designated under Article 8(1) of the Universal Service Directive in relation to Article 5(l)(b) of that Directive (comprehensive telephone directory enquiry service) without being required to supply such a service directly to end users, to impose specific obligations on that designated undertaking: (a) to maintain and update a comprehensive database of: subscriber information; (b) to make available in machine readable form the contents of a comprehensive database of subscriber information, as updated on a regular basis, to any person seeking to provide publicly available directory enquiry services or directories (whether or not that person intends to provide a comprehensive directory enquiry service to end-users); and (c) to supply the database on terms which are fair, objective, cost oriented and non-discriminatory to such a person?

(1) Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive)

OJ L 108, p. 51

(2) Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive)

OJ L 108, p. 33

(3) Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive)

OJ L 108, p. 21