Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the selection and authorisation of systems providing mobile satellite services (MSS) COM(2007) 480 final — 2007/0174 (COD)
Date: 2007-10-25
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: access to information, satellite, telecommunications, trans-European network, transmission network, waveband

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Official Journal of the European Union

16.2.2008

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a decision of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the selection and authorisation of systems providing
mobile satellite services (MSS)’

COM(2007) 480 final — 2007/0174 (COD)

(2008/C 44/13)

On 7 September 2007 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

On 25 September 2007 the Committee Bureau instructed the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure
and the Information Society to prepare the Committee's work on the subject.

Given the urgent nature of the work, the European Economic and Social Committee appointed Mr Opran as
rapporteur-general at its 439th plenary session, held on 24 and 25 October 2007 (meeting of 25 October),
and adopted the following opinion by 119 votes with 3 abstentions.

1. Conclusions

1.1
The EESC endorses the proposal for a decision of the
European Parliament and of the Council on the selection and
authorisation of systems providing mobile satellite services and
recommends that it be immediately adopted and brought into
effect.

The EESC strongly supports the main objective of the
1.2
proposal, as set down in Title 1, Article 1(1), to create a single,
Community-coordinated procedure for the selection and author-
isation by Member States of mobile satellite communications
systems.

The EESC considers that this decision must be immedi-

1.3
ately adopted, owing to:

a. the natural capability of satellite communications systems to
cover large parts of Europe and several EU Member States at
the same time;

b. the relatively limited amount of radio spectrum made avail-

able for such communications;

c. the diverging selection and authorisation solutions in effect

at national level in the Member States;

d. the current reduced effective use of the available radio spec-

trum.

1.4
The EESC stresses that the creation and use of satellite
communication systems constitute, due to the nature of the area
that they cover, major initiatives for the expansion of the Euro-
pean space industry and development of specific applications in
the field of communications, and are fully in line with the
Lisbon Strategy to promote sustainable development, including
by directly helping to create new jobs in the context of
enhanced competitiveness.

1.5
The EESC is pleased to note that, beneficially for this
proposal, the EU possesses significant technical resources in this
area: three of the world's biggest satellite systems operators are
European, and satellite communications account for 40 % of
current revenues in the European space sector.

1.6
The EESC welcomes the consensus obtained by the
Commission in promoting this proposal, which gained the
support of all the interested parties consulted, even during the
drafting phase:
telecommunications
network operators, the European Space Agency and Member
States' national regulatory bodies.

industry,

satellite

the

final

In parallel, the EESC notes that the decision — in its
1.7
current,
form — fairly resolves the diverging opinions
expressed during the consultation phase, concerning: selection
methods and criteria, the need for greater national flexibility
with regard to the length of time needed to obtain authorisation
and the validity period thereof, and closer coordination of
national authorisation procedures.

1.8
The EESC recommends that the decision be adopted in
its proposed form, bearing in mind that with regard to the
methodology for implementing the provisions on selection and
authorisation, regulations must be set down to protect the indi-
vidual interests of citizens and ensure the privacy of users of
terminal equipment for satellite systems.

2. Introduction

2.1
The creation and implementation of a pan-European
communications system based on satellite technologies consti-
tute an innovative alternative platform for various types of tele-
communications
services,
broadcasting/multicasting
the location of end users, such as high-speed
regardless of

and

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Internet/intranet access, mobile multimedia, public protection
and non-military crisis management (natural or humanitarian
disasters), law and order and security, fleet management applica-
tions, remote medical assistance, etc.

4. General comments

The Commission proposes that the decision be imple-

4.1
mented based on the evaluation of the following points:

2.2
The system is designed in such a way as to help develop
the internal market, boost competitiveness by increasing the
availability of pan-European services, encourage effective invest-
ment, particularly by introducing innovative services to provide
communication capabilities to outlying terrestrial areas and
maritime space.

— operators of mobile satellite systems should be selected

through a Community procedure;

— the selected operators of mobile satellite systems should be

authorised by Member States;

2.3
In the case of pan-European systems, in particular, it is
necessary to set up Community procedures for selecting opera-
tors of mobile satellite communications systems, and to estab-
lish certain provisions regarding nationally coordinated authori-
the selected operators. By harmonising selection
sation of
criteria for mobile satellite communication systems, a uniform
policy can be applied at EU level in this field. The selection by
different Member States of different operators of mobile
communications systems using different satellites could lead to
complex fields of interference or even endanger the smooth
running of the system overall,
if an operator were allocated
different radio frequencies in different Member States. Owing to
these potential dangers, and with a view to ensuring a consistent
the
authorisation approach in the different Member States,
provisions on synchronised assignment of radio spectrum and
on harmonised authorisation conditions should be established
at Community level, without prejudice to specific national
conditions compatible with Community law.

2.4
Satellite communications are an important aspect of the
internal market; they cross national borders and are thus suscep-
tible to international regulation, taking into consideration their
important contribution to achieving European Union objectives
to expand geographical coverage of broadband.

— the selected operators of complementary ground compo-
nents of mobile satellite systems should be authorised by
Member States.

4.2
The EESC understands that the selection and authorisa-
tion of the first 2-3 mobile satellite system operators that will
provide pan-European services using the 2 GHz radio spectrum
will be completed by the end of 2008 or early 2009.

4.3
The EESC considers that the deadline for rolling out
pan-European mobile satellite services for private and commer-
cial clients, including high-speed Internet access, mobile multi-
media, public protection, internal security and defence, should
not exceed the first quarter of 2011.

4.4
The EESC believes that the implementation and rollout
of European global positioning systems should be dealt with as
an absolute priority by the Commission.

that

4.4.1 With regard to this important subject, the Committee
the European satellite navigation programmes
regrets
GALILEO and EGNOS are running five years behind their
original schedule and are facing many problems, and urges the
Commission to find solutions to overcome the current situation.

3. Proposal of the European Parliament and of the Council

4.4.2
An increasing number of modern economic activities
rely on positioning data linked to the use of a high-precision
time base.

The

decision, proposed on the

3.1
legal basis of
Article 95 TEC, sets down the necessary legal framework for
the selection and authorisation of mobile satellite communica-
tions services. Such selection would have to be made in line
with the general objectives and pursuant to a competitive selec-
tion procedure described in the proposal and would involve the
Commission, assisted by the Communications Committee. The
authorisation (rights to use radio spectrum) of selected operators
would be granted at national level subject to a minimum set of
harmonised conditions laid down in the proposal.

The EESC stresses that the completion of the GALILEO
4.4.3
satellite system will make a clear contribution to the implemen-
tation of a high number of Community policies in various
fields, including transport management, transport of hazardous
goods, emergency services, maritime and inland navigation, air
transport, civil protection and humanitarian missions, farming,
fisheries and environmental monitoring, defence and internal
security problems, financial-banking services with the protection
of transaction security.

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5. Specific comments

The proposal for a decision of the European Parliament
5.1
the Council on the selection and authorisation of
and of
systems providing mobile satellite services (MSS) puts forward,
in Titles I (‘Objective, scope and definitions’), II (‘Selection proce-
dure’) and III (‘Authorisation’), various procedures and initiatives
with a view to meeting the objectives of the project.

5.2
The EESC recommends that the decision be adopted in
its proposed form, bearing in mind that at the same time, proce-
dures should be established regarding the primary assignment of
in
the

radio spectrum used by mobile

services

satellite

geographical areas where different communications systems
coexist which can generate harmful interference.

The

EESC considers

that Commission Decision
5.3
2007/98/EC of 14 February 2007 on the harmonised use of
radio spectrum in the 2 GHz frequency bands for the imple-
mentation of systems providing mobile satellite services will
contribute significantly to the achievement of the objectives of
the proposal. In this context, in addition to the requirement that
‘Member States […] make these frequency bands available to
systems providing mobile satellite services in the Community as
of 1 July 2007’, procedures should be specified for monitoring
and assessing the transposition of these measures.

Brussels, 25 October 2007.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Adaptation to the regulatory
procedure with scrutiny Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council
amending Directive 95/50/EC as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission’

COM(2007) 509 final — 2007/0184 (COD)

(2008/C 44/14)

On 25 September 2007 the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

Since the Committee unreservedly endorses the proposal and feels that it requires no comment on its part,
it decided, at its 439th plenary session of 24 and 25 October 2007 (meeting of 24 October) by 153 votes
in favour and 7 abstentions, to issue an opinion endorsing the proposed text.

Brussels, 24 October 2007.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS