WRITTEN QUESTION E-2687/97 by W.G. van Velzen (PPE) to the Commission (1 September 1997)

Subject: Legislation on telecommunications

The European telecommunications sector is currently preparing for full liberalization on 1 January 1998. I would ask the Commission to give detailed answers to the following questions and to throw light on any obscure aspects of legislation or the communication on access.

1. The tariffs for universal service were recently fixed in France. They seem to be on the high side and to form an obstacle to the development of a competitive telecommunications market. Does the Commission agree? If so, what does it intend to do about it? If not, on what criteria does it base its conclusion?

2. A problem for the telecommunications sector is the procedure that must be adopted when an access problem is encountered. An approach can be made to the national regulatory authority, a national court, the national or European (DG 4) competition authority, the ONP committee and the national media authority (in the case of cable operators). How does the Commission view this problem? Has it had consultations with the Member States about competence problems arising between different authorities in the Member States? If so, what is the outcome? How does the Commission intend to solve competence problems in the future?

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission (13 October 1997)

France has notified its universal service scheme under Directive 96/19/EC amending Directive 90/388/EEC with regard to the implementation of full competition in telecommunications markets ((OJ L 74, 22.3.1996. )). Under this Directive the Commission has to ensure that possible contributions to universal service provision are compatible with the Treaty. It appears from the data provided by the French government that the universal service contributions could increase to a certain extent the cost of terminating local calls (from 6.1 to 7.35 centimes per minute) and, given the current level of the local tariffs of France Telecom, reduce the opportunities of competition in the local loop. The Commission is therefore assessing the methodology used by the French government to calculate the net burden of universal service provision and will soon start discussing the matter with the French authorities. The Commission will only take a final position after these discussions.

As regards the various recourses available in case of disagreement regarding access conditions, no case of conflict has been brought to the Commission's attention. In cases where there are a number of authorities are competent to handle a case, discussion between the various authorities will be necessary to determine which is best placed to handle the case, taking into account the nature of the infringement, its importance at the national and European level and the ability of the various authorities to take effective remedial action.

In some circumstances it may be appropriate for more than one authority to deal with the matter. All relevant authorities must then cooperate closely in order to avoid conflicting interpretations by national telecommunication regulatory authorities, competition authorities and the Commission. With this in mind and to clarify the impact of the competition rules, the Commission will soon issue a notice on the application of the competition rules to access agreements in the telecommunications sector.