COMMOM POSITION (EC) No 16/98 adopted by the Council on 12 February 1998 with a view to adopting Directive 98/.../EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of ... amending Directive 97/33/EC with regard to operator number portability and carrier pre-selection
Date: 1998-02-12
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: communications systems, consumer behaviour, freedom to provide services, public service, telecommunications, transmission network

C  91/42

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

26.3.98

COMMOM  POSITION  (EC)  No  16/98

adopted  by  the  Council  on  12  February  1998

with a view to adopting Directive 98/. . ./EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
. . .  amending  Directive  97/33/EC  with  regard  to  operator  number  portability  and  carrier
pre-selection

(98/C  91/04)

THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND  THE  COUNCIL  OF
THE  EUROPEAN  UNION,

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European
Community  and  in  particular  Article  100a  thereof,

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

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),

Acting  in  accordance  with  the  procedure  laid  down  in
Article  189b  of  the  Treaty (3),

Whereas  the  Commission  organised  a  broad  public
consultation  on  the  basis  of  a  Green  Paper  on  a
numbering  policy  for  telecommunications  services  in
Europe;

Whereas  on  17  July  1997  the  European  Parliament
adopted  a  resolution (5)  calling  on  the  Commission  to
submit  a  proposal  for  an  amendment  to  an  already
existing  directive  with  a  view  to  introducing  carrier
pre-selection  and  number  portability;

Whereas, in the interests of the consumer and taking into
account  specific  national  market  situations,  national
regulatory  authorities  may  extend  the  obligation  to
provide  carrier  pre-selection  with  call-by-call  override  to
organisations  operating  public 
telecommunications
networks  without  significant  market  power,  where  this
does  not  impose  a  disproportionate  burden  on  such
organisations  or  create  a  barrier  to  entry  in  the  market
for  new  operators;

Whereas  Directive  97/33/EC  of  the  European  Parliament
and of the Council of 30 June 1997 on interconnection in
telecommunications  with  regard  to  ensuring  universal
service  and  interoperability  through  application  of  the
principles  of  open  network  provision  (ONP) (6)  should
therefore  be  amended  accordingly,

Whereas  this  consultation  underlined  the  importance  of
equal  quantitative  and  qualitative  access  to  numbering
the  crucial
for  all  market  players  and 
resources 
significance  of  adequate  numbering  mechanisms, 
in
particular for number portability and carrier selection, as
facilitators  of  consumer  choice  and  effective
key 
telecommunications
competition 
environment;

liberalised 

in 

a 

Whereas  the  Council  adopted  a  resolution (4)  on  22
September  1997  inviting  the  Commission  to  submit
proposals to the European Parliament and to the Council
regarding 
introduction  of  number
portability  and  regarding  the  introduction  of  carrier
pre-selection;

the  accelerated 

(1)  OJ  C  330,  1.11.1997,  p.  19,  and  OJ  C  13,  17.1.1998,  p.

10.

(2)  OJ  C  73,  9.3.1998,  p.  107.
(3)  Opinion  of  the  European  Parliament  of  20  November  1997
(OJ C 371, 8.12.1997, p. 180), Council common position of
12  February  1998  and  Decision  of  the  European  Parliament
of  . . .  (not  yet  published  in  the  Official  Journal)).

(4)  OJ  C  303,  4.10.1997,  p.  1.

HAVE  ADOPTED  THIS  DIRECTIVE:

Article  1

Directive  97/33/EC  is  hereby  amended  as  follows:

1.  the  following  definitions  shall  be  added  to  Article

2(1):

‘(h)  “subscriber”  means  any  natural  or  legal  person
who  or  which  is  party  to  a  contract  with  the
provider 
available
telecommunications  services  for  the  supply  of
such  services;

publicly 

of 

(5)  OJ  C  286,  22.9.1997,  p.  232.
(6)  OJ  L  199,  26.7.1997,  p.  32.

26.3.98

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

C  91/43

(i)  “geographic  number”  means  a  number  from  the
national  numbering  plan  where  part  of  its  digit
structure  contains  geographic  significance  used
for  routing  calls  to  the  physical  location  of  the
network  termination  point  of  the  subscriber  to
whom  the  number  has  been  assigned;’;

2.  the  first  subparagraph  of  Article  12(5)  shall  be

replaced  by  the  following:

‘5. National  regulatory  authorities  shall  encourage
the  earliest  possible  introduction  of  operator  number
portability  whereby  subscribers  who  so  request  can
retain  their  number(s)  on  the  fixed  public  telephone
network  and  the  integrated  services  digital  network
(ISDN)  independent  of  the  organisation  providing
service,  in  the  case  of  geographic  numbers  at  a
specific  location  and  in  the  case  of  other  than
geographic  numbers  at  any  location,  and  shall  ensure
that this facility is available by 1 January 2000 at the
latest  or,  in  those  countries  which  have  been  granted
an  additional  transition  period,  as  soon  as  possible
after, but no later than two years after any later date
liberalisation  of  voice  telephony
agreed  for  full 
services.’;

3.  the  following  paragraph  shall  be  added  to  Article

12:

operating 

organisations 

I  and  notified  by  national 

‘7. National  regulatory  authorities  shall  require  at
least 
public
telecommunications  networks  as  set  out  in  Part  1  of
regulatory
Annex 
authorities  as  organisations  having  significant  market
power,  to  enable  their  subscribers,  including  those
using  ISDN,  to  access  the  switched  services  of  any
interconnected  provider  of  publicly 
available
this  purpose
telecommunications 
facilities  shall  be  in  place  by  1  January  2000  at  the
latest  or,  in  those  countries  which  have  been  granted
an  additional  transition  period,  as  soon  as  possible
thereafter,  but  no  later  than  two  years  after  any  later
date  agreed  for  full  liberalisation  of  voice  telephony
services,  which  allow  the  subscriber  to  choose  these
services  by  means  of  pre-selection  with  a  facility  to
override any pre-selected choice on a call-by-call basis
by  dialling  a  short  prefix.

services.  For 

In  order  to  ensure  that  charges  to  consumers  are
reasonable,  national  regulatory  authorities  shall
ensure  that  pricing  for  interconnection  related  to  the
provision  of  this  facility  is  reasonable.’;

4.  the first sentence of Article 20(2) shall be replaced by

the  following:

‘2. Deferment  of  the  obligations  under  Article  12(5)
and  (7)  may  be  requested  where  the  Member  States
concerned  can  prove  that  they  would  impose  an
excessive burden on certain organisations or classes of
organisation.’.

Article  2

1. Member  States  shall  take  the  measures  necessary  to
comply  with  this  Directive  before  31  December  1998.
They  shall  forthwith  inform  the  Commission  thereof.

When  Member  States  adopt  these  measures  they  shall
contain  a  reference  to  this  Directive  or  shall  be
accompanied  by  such  reference  on  the  occasion  of  their
official  publication.  The  methods  of  making  such
reference  shall  be  laid  down  by  the  Member  States.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission
the  text  of  the  main  provisions  of  domestic  law  which
they  adopt  in  the  field  governed  by  this  Directive.

Article  3

This  Directive  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  day  of  its
publication  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the  European
Communities.

Article  4

This  Directive  is  addressed  to  the  Member  States.

Done  at  . . .

For  the  European  Parliament

For  the  Council

The  President

The  President

C  91/44

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Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

26.3.98

STATEMENT  OF  THE  COUNCIL’S  REASONS

I. 

INTRODUCTION

1.  On 1 October 1997, the Commission adopted a proposal amending Directive 97/33/EC
to  operator  number  portability  and  carrier

interconnection  with  regard 

on 
pre-selection.

The  proposal  is  based  on  Article  100a  of  the  EC  Treaty.

2.  The  European  Parliament  delivered  its  first-reading  opinion  on  20  November  1997.

The  Econonic  and  Social  Committee  delivered  its  opinion  on  10  December  1997.

In  the  light  of  these  opinions,  the  Commission  submitted  an  amended  proposal  on  1
December  1997.

3.  The  Council  adopted  its  common  position,  under  Article  189b  of  the  Treaty,  on  12

February  1998.

II.  OBJECTIVE

The  proposal  was  put  forward  by  the  Commission  in  response  to  the  results  of  the  public
consultation  on  its  Green  Paper  on  numbering  policy  and  the  views  of  the  European
Parliament and the Council as expressed respectively in their resolutions of 17 July and 22
September  1997.

This  proposal  amends  in  two  main  respects  the  Interconnection  Directive,  which  is  an
essential  part  of  the  new  regulatory  framework  for  the  liberalised  telecommunications
market  from  1  January  1998.  It  brings  forward  the  date  for  the  introduction  of  operator
number  portability  from  1  January  2003  at  least  in  all  major  centres  of  population  to  1
January  2000  for  all  of  the  fixed  network  and  creates  a  legal  base  for  EU-wide
introduction  of  carrier  pre-selection  by  1  January  2000.

III.  COMMON  POSITION

1.  General  comments

The  Council’s  common  position  is  generally  in  line  with  the  objective  of  the
Commission  proposal  to  require  the  rapid  introduction  of  number  portability  and
carrier  pre-selection.  However,  the  Council  has  amended  the  proposal  so  that  the
common  position  more  closely  reflects  the  views  expressed  by  the  Council  in  its
Resolution  of  22  September  1997  with  regard  to  the  date  for  the  introduction  of
number  portability  and  carrier  pre-selection  and  on  whom  the  obligation  to  offer
carrier  pre-selection  may  be  placed.

The Council has accepted the one amendment proposed by the European Parliament in
its  first  reading  which  extends  the  possibility  for  deferment  under  Article  20(2)  of  the
Interconnection  Directive (1)  for  number  portability  to  include  carrier  pre-selection.

(1)  It should be noted that the Commission has provided a statement for the minutes of the Council which

clarifies  the  circumstances  under  which  deferment  under  Article  20(2)  would  be  granted.

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Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

C  91/45

2.  Specific  comments

The  modifications  to  the  Commission’s  proposal,  apart  from  the  amendment  from  the
European  Parliament,  are  summarised  hereafter:

(i)  Date  for  the  introduction  of  number  portability  and  carrier  pre-selection  (Articles

12(5)  and  12(7))

As  indicated  above,  the  common  position  confirms  introduction  of  these  facilities
by 1.1.2000, but allows for later introduction of not more than two years after the
respective  dates  for  liberalisation  of  voice  telephony  services  in  those  Member
States  (ES,  IRL,  P,  GR  and  LUX)  which  have  been  granted  a  transition  period  in
that  respect.

This  would  therefore  give  these  Member  States  the  same  amount  of  time  as  other
Member States in which to prepare for the introduction of these new facilities after
the  liberalisation  of  voice  telephony  services.

It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  with  a  view  to  conformity  of  presentation  the  reference
to  the  date  of  1  January  2000  has  been  deleted  from  the  fourth  recital.

(ii)  Scope  of  the  obligation  to  provide  carrier  pre-selection  (Article  12(7))

The common position goes further than the Commission proposal in that it allows
Member States to extend, in the interest of the consumer, the obligation to provide
carrier  pre-selection  to  operators  other  than  those  with  significant  market  power
(‘. . .  at  least  . . .  organisations  having  significant  market  power  . . .’).

In  order  to  clarify  the  circumstances  in  which  national  regulatory  authorities  may
extend  this  obligation  to  organisations  without  significant  market  power,  a  new
recital  has  been  added.

(iii) Reference  to  integrated  services  digital  network  (ISDN)  (Article  12(5)  and  12(7))

In order to clarify that operators are obliged to offer number portability and carrier
pre-selection  to  all  subscribers  using  the  fixed  public  telephone  network,  including
those  using  ISDN,  the  common  position  contains  a  specific  reference  to  ISDN  in
paragraphs  5  and  7  of  Article  12.

(iv)  Other  changes

Where  it  has  made  other  changes  to  the  Commission  proposal,  the  Council’s
attitude  has  been  guided  by  a  concern  to:

—  ensure consistency with the Interconnection Directive (i.e. the last subparagraph
of Article 12(5) relating to reasonable charges to the consumer for the provision
of  number  portability  has  been  added  to  Article  12(7)  so  that  this  concept  also
applies  to  carrier  pre-selection),

—  clarify  the  scope  of  certain  provisions,  in  particular  in  what  circumstances
subscribers  can  retain  their  numbers  on  the  fixed  network  (i.e.  in  Article  12(5)
the  term  ‘operator  number  portability’  is  used;  a  reference  to  ‘geographic’  and
non-geographic  numbers  has  been  inserted;  definitions  of  ‘subscriber’  and
‘geographic  number’  have  been  added  to  Article  2  of  the  Interconnection
Directive).