WRITTEN QUESTION E-1290/00 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission. The High Authority for Telecommunications.
Date: 2000-04-19
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU policy - national policy, Italy, liberalisation of the market, public expenditure, telecommunications

6.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 72 E/39

(2001/C 72 E/042)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1290/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(19 April 2000)

Subject: The High Authority for Telecommunications

The High Authority for Telecommunications which Italy has set up in Naples (cid:129) in breach of the law and
against all common sense (cid:129) was supposed to be a streamlined, anti-bureaucratic, efficient and impartial
body. Instead it has proved to be a sprawling bureaucratic body with hundreds of under-worked employees
(despite the willingness to work of some employees) who go to (cid:145)work(cid:146)
in an 18-storey building (in
Caltagirone) in the administrative centre in Naples.

Recently (cid:129) and this is but one of many examples (cid:129) the Authority awarded the cleaning contract for the
building to a local firm. The contract is worth 712 million lire over two years (nearly one million lire a
day).

What can the European Commission do to ensure that Italy wastes less public money, and in particular to
ensure that the virtually pointless activities of the Authority for Telecommunications are brought to an
end?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(9 June 2000)

The Community(cid:146)s regulatory package for telecommunications provides for the establishment of national
regulatory authorities in the Member States with specific powers and competences in relation to the
regulation of the newly liberalised telecommunications market. Responsibility for the implementation of
the regulatory package is delegated in large measure to the national regulatory authorities, which play a
crucial role in this regard in each Member State. They also make an important contribution towards
ensuring the consistent application of the Community(cid:146)s regulatory package through their input to the
licensing and open network provision (ONP) committees, their participation in the high level committee of
national administrations and regulatory authorities and, in the case of regulatory bodies which are separate
from national ministries, their co-ordination through the independent regulators(cid:146) group. These constitute
heavy responsibilities which the Commission considers require an appropriate investment in terms of
personnel and budgetary resources.

The Commission regularly reports on the implementation of the regulatory package in the Community,
including an assessment of the national regulatory authorities (NRA) work. The fifth report on the
implementation of the regulatory package (1) gave overall a positive assessment of the functioning of the
Italian NRA.

On the other hand, on the basis of the information available to the Commission at that time, the Italian
NRA appeared to be significantly understaffed, taking into account the wide range of its responsibilities,
which cover audio-visual, telecommunications, and the press. This contributed to delays in reaching
decisions.

Each Member State is responsible for the organisation of the national regulatory authority. The Com-
mission can not intervene in this respect. The location of the seat of national regulatory authorities
remains the responsibility of the Member States, in full respect of the principle of subsidiarity.

(1) COM(1999) 537 final.