Case C-273/23, Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni and Others (Criterion of substitutability): Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 19 September 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato – Italy) – Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni and Others v Telecom Italia SpA and Others (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Electronic communications networks and services – Universal service and users’ rights – Directive 97/33/EC – Article 5 – Directive 2002/22/EC – Article 13 – Financing of universal service obligations – Concept of unfair or undue burden – Definition of the entities participating in the mechanism for financing the net cost of those obligations – National legislation providing for the participation of mobile telephone operators in that mechanism – Criteria – Degree of substitutability between fixed telephony services and mobile telephony services)
Date: 2024-09-19
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: competition, competition law, equal treatment, mobile communication, principle of proportionality, regulation of telecommunications, universal service








C_202406392EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/6392


4.11.2024






Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 19 September 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato – Italy) – Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni and Others v Telecom Italia SpA and Others


(Case C-273/23,
                (1)
Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni and Others (Criterion of substitutability))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Electronic communications networks and services - Universal service and users’ rights - Directive 97/33/EC - Article 5 - Directive 2002/22/EC - Article 13 - Financing of universal service obligations - Concept of ‘unfair’ or ‘undue’ burden - Definition of the entities participating in the mechanism for financing the net cost of those obligations - National legislation providing for the participation of mobile telephone operators in that mechanism - Criteria - Degree of substitutability between fixed telephony services and mobile telephony services)
(C/2024/6392)
Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings


Appellants: Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, Telecom Italia SpA

Respondents: Telecom Italia SpA, Vodafone Italia SpA, Fastweb SpA, Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, Tiscali Italia SpA, BT Italia SpA

Intervening parties: Fastweb SpA, Vodafone Italia SpA, Tiscali Italia SpA, Wind Tre SpA, Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, BT Italia SpA, Telecom Italia Sparkle SpA

Operative part of the judgment

Article 5 of 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), and Article 13 of Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive),
must be interpreted as meaning that:






—


it is for the Member States, while respecting the principles of objectivity, transparency, non-discrimination and proportionality, as well as the need to minimise market distortions, and while safeguarding the public interest, to lay down criteria that enable national regulatory authorities to assess, by carrying out an individual assessment of the situation of each undertaking concerned, whether the burden resulting from the net cost of universal service obligations may be regarded as excessive and, accordingly, as being an unfair or undue burden on an operator entrusted with such obligations;










—


as part of that assessment, the competent national regulatory authority must examine all the characteristics particular to the operator in question, taking account of its situation relative to that of its competitors in the relevant market;










—


the degree of substitutability between fixed telephony services and mobile telephony services is capable of constituting a relevant factor for the purposes of that assessment, as are all the competitive constraints to which the universal service provider is subject;










—


those provisions do not preclude national legislation which does not make the participation of mobile telecommunications service operators in the mechanism for sharing the net cost of universal service obligations between providers of electronic communications networks and services subject to the existence of a certain degree of substitutability between fixed telephony services and mobile telephony services, provided that that legislation complies with, inter alia, the principles of transparency, non-discrimination, proportionality, objectivity and minimisation of the impact of the financial burden falling on end users.






(1)  
            OJ C 252, 17.7.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/6392/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)