2000/373/EC: Commission Decision of 26 May 2000 concerning the request by France to maintain pursuant to Article 18(3) of Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (the 'R&TTE Directive') a requirement for telecommunications terminal equipment intended for connection to the analogue public switched telephone network of France Telecom (notified under document number C(2000) 1390) (Text with EEA relevance) (Only the French text is authentic)
Date: 2000-05-26
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: France, telecommunications equipment, telephone, transmission network

8.6.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 135/25

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 26 May 2000

concerning the request by France to maintain pursuant to Article 18(3) of Directive 1999/5/EC of
the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘R&TTE Directive’) a requirement for tele-
communications terminal equipment intended for connection to the analogue public switched
telephone network of France Telecom

(notified under document number C(2000) 1390)

(Only the French text is authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2000/373/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parlia-
ment and of the Council of 9 March 1999 on radio equipment
and telecommunications terminal equipment and the mutual
recognition of their conformity (1), and in particular Article
18(3), thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

terminal

and telecommunications

Directive 1999/5/EC establishes a regulatory framework
for the placing on the market,
free movement and
putting into service in the Community of radio equip-
ment
equipment.
Member States must apply its provisions and notably
ensure that equipment meeting the essential require-
ments contained in article 3 as of 8 April 2000. Apart
from the essential requirements referred to in Article
3(1), the Member States may request to continue, for a
period of up to 30 months following this date to require
telecommunications
to be
capable of causing unacceptable deterioration of a voice
telephony service accessible within the framework of the
universal service as defined in Directive 98/10/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council (2).

terminal equipment not

(2)

France requested by letter of 18 October 1999 to apply
Article 18(3)
for the full period of 30 months for
terminal equipment to be attached to the network of

(1) OJ L 91, 7.4.1999, p. 10.
(2) OJ L 101, 1.4.1998, p. 24.

France Telecom. The main reason for the request is the
fact that around 22,2 % of the analogue extension lines
of
the France Telecom network offering the Voice
Telephony service are not equipped to limit power
consumption by terminals.
in the
network as well as end-user equipment connected to
such extension lines risk to wear out more quickly due
to overheating if terminals don't limit current. Therefore
a particular situation within the meaning of Article 18(3)
can be considered to exist in France, justifying a contin-
uation for the affected lines of the existing regulatory
requirements.

Interface

cards

(3)

(4)

(5)

France Telecom is taking measures to resolve this situa-
tion by introducing current limitation in the network.
These measures will minimise the risks within 30
months after 8 April 2000.

According to Article 6(3) of Directive 1999/5/EC, manu-
facturers have to provide information for the user on the
telecommunications terminal equip-
intended use of
ment. Such information shall be sufficient to identify
interfaces of the public telecommunications networks to
which the equipment is intended to be connected.

Only equipment declared for connection to the affected
lines needs to delimit current to ensure that unaccept-
able deterioration of a voice telephony service is not
caused,

L 135/26

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

8.6.2000

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 2

Article 1

This Decision is addressed to the French Republic.

France may continue to require telecommunications terminal
equipment, intended for connection to lines of the network of
France Telecom which don't delimit current used by such
equipment, not to be capable of causing unacceptable deteri-
oration of a voice telephony service accessible within the
framework of the universal service accessible within the frame-
work of the universal service as defined in Directive 98/10/EC.

Done at Brussels, 26 May 2000.

For the Commission

Erkki LIIKANEN

Member of the Commission