Notice under section 12(2) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 — Proposed modification to all public telecommunications operator licences
Date: 2002-02-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer protection, deregulation, provision of services, telecommunications

C 33/18

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

6.2.2002

NOTICE UNDER SECTION 12(2) OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT 1984

Proposed modification to all public telecommunications operator licences

(2002/C 33/10)

1. The Director General of Telecommunications (the (cid:145)Director(cid:146))
in accordance with section 12(2) of the Telecommunications
Act 1984 as amended by the Electronic Communications
Act 2000 (the (cid:145)Act(cid:146)) hereby gives notice that he proposes
to make a modification to all licences granted during the
period beginning 22 June 1984 and ending on 18 January
2002 under section 7 of
to particular persons
which the Secretary of State has designated by order
under section 9 of the Act as having public telecommuni-
cations systems, collectively referred to hereinafter as the
(cid:145)PTO licences(cid:146).

the Act

2. Both the effect of and the reason for the proposed modifi-
cation are set out in the Schedule below. They have been
detailed in full in the consultation document of June 2001
entitled (cid:145)Use of automatic calling equipment review(cid:146). The full
text of the proposed modification is set out in Annex B to
Oftel’s Statement of
January 2002. Both documents are
available through the Oftel website at www.oftel.gov.uk.

3. Section 12(A)(7) of the Act provides that a modification is

deregulatory if

(a) the effect of the conditions to be modified is to impose
a burden affecting the holder of the licence in which
those conditions are included;

6. Representations on or objections to the proposed modifi-
cation may be made to Selina Chadha, Oftel, 50 Ludgate
Hill, London EC4M 7JJ, United Kingdom (tel. (44-207) 634
53 07, e-mail: selina.chadha@oftel.gov.uk) by no later than
18 February 2002.

7. Any confidential information should be clearly marked as
such and separated out into a confidential annex. All repre-
sentations received by Oftel, with the exception of material
marked confidential, will be made available for inspection in
Oftel’s Research and Intelligence Unit and may be published.

any

representations

8. The Director is required by section 12(2) of the Act to
consider
the
proposed modifications duly made and not withdrawn.
Subject
the Director proposes to
make the modifications as soon as practicable after the
statutory consultation has been completed.

to such consideration,

objections

on

or

9. Copies of

the proposed modifications and a full

list of
licences affected can be obtained from Gabrielle Dakhama,
Oftel, 50 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7JJ, United Kingdom
(tel. (44-207) 634 87 35,
e-mail: gabrielle.dakhama@oftel.gov.uk).

(b) the modification would remove or reduce the burden

without removing any necessary protection; and

SCHEDULE

1. The words (cid:145)in writing(cid:146) in Condition 17.2(a) are to be deleted.

(c)

the modification is such that no person holding a
licence granted under
to a
particular person would be unduly disadvantaged by
the modification in competing with the holder of the
licence in which those conditions are included.

section 7 of

the Act

4. In the opinion of the Director, the proposed modification of
the PTO licences is deregulatory within the meaning of
section 12(A)(7) of the Act for the reasons set out in the
Schedule below.

5. The Director is seeking comments on the proposed modi-
fication to the PTO licences. Interested parties have 28 days
from the day after publication of this notice to make repre-
sentations on the proposed modification. There will be no
further period for interested parties to make comments on
any representations made during the abovementioned
period.
the Act,
In accordance with section 12(6)(D) of
representations made against
the proposed modification
shall be taken to constitute an objection only if they are
accompanied by a written statement that they are to be so
taken.

2. In its present form, Condition 17 prohibits the use of ACE
where the resultant call does not consist of
live speech,
unless written consent has been obtained from the
recipient of the call.

3. The effect of

the modification is that Licensees will no

longer have to obtain consent in writing.

and services

the requirement

could offer benefits

4. The Director considers that requiring consent to be obtained
in writing is inhibiting the development and launch of new
to
that
products
consumers. The retention of
to obtain
remain adequately
consent will ensure that consumers
protected. However,
this
to be obtained in writing will allow more
consent
products and services using ACE to be provided that will
enable consumers
to receive the benefit of automated
services should they wish to. This is in line with Oftel’s
long-term strategy of ensuring that regulation is kept to
the minimum necessary to obtain the appropriate outcome.

removing the requirement

for

6.2.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 33/19

5. The Director considers this amendment to be deregulatory

for the following reasons:

(i) In its present form, Condition 17 imposes a burden on
licensees by prohibiting the use of ACE where the
resultant call does not consist of
live speech, unless
written consent has been obtained from the recipient
of the call;

(ii) the proposed modification reduces

this burden by
removing the requirement that consent be obtained in

writing. It does not remove any necessary protection as
the retention of
to obtain consent,
the requirement
albeit not in writing, will ensure adequate consumer
protection; and

(iii) the modification will not unduly disadvantage any
person holding a licence granted under section 7 of
the Act to a particular person as the proposed modifi-
cation will apply to all licence holders which have been
designated under section 9 of the Act as having public
telecommunication systems.

Prior notification of a concentration

(Case COMP/M.2650 (cid:151) Haniel/Cementbouw/JV (CVK))

(2002/C 33/11)

(Text with EEA relevance)

1.
On 24 January 2002 the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to
Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1310/97 (2),
by which the undertakings Haniel Bau-Industrie GmbH (Haniel, Germany), controlled by Franz
Haniel & Cie GmbH, and Cementbouw Handel & Industrie BV (Cementbouw, Netherlands), belonging to
CVC Capital Partners Group Ltd (CVC, Channel
joint control within the
meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Regulation, of the undertaking Co(cid:246)peratieve Verkoop- en Produktiev-
ereniging van Kalkzandsteenproducenten (CVK, Netherlands) by way of a purchase of shares from RAG AG
(Germany).

Islands), acquired,

in 1999,

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

(cid:151) Haniel: manufacture and sale of building materials, raw materials and fixtures,

(cid:151) Cementbouw: manufacture and sale of building materials and ready-mix concrete, trade of building

materials and raw materials, DIY centres,

(cid:151) CVC: asset management and consultancy services to investment funds,

(cid:151) CVK: manufacture and sale of sand lime products for the building industry.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified concentration could fall within

3.
the scope of Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit

4.
proposed operation.

their possible observations on the

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication.
Observations can be sent by fax (No (32-2) 296 43 01 or 296 72 44) or by post, under reference
COMP/M.2650 (cid:151) Haniel/Cementbouw/JV (CVK) to:

European Commission,
Directorate-General for Competition,
Directorate B (cid:151) Merger Task Force,
J-70,
B-1049 Brussels.

(1) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1; corrigendum: OJ L 257, 21.9.1990, p. 13.
(2) OJ L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1; corrigendum: OJ L 40, 13.2.1998, p. 17.