CELEX: 51997PC0032
Language: en
Date: 1997-02-12
Title: AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE amending Council Directives 90/387/EEC and 92/44/EEC for the purpose of adaptation to a competitive environment in telecommunications

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                       Brussels, 12.02.1997
                                       COM(97)32 final
                                       95/0280 (COD)
            OPINION OF THE COMMISSION
    pursuant to Article 189 b (2) (d) of the EC Treaty,
         on the European Parliament's amendments
     to the Council's common position regarding the
                        proposal for a
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
  amending Council Directives 90/387/EEC and 92/44/EEC
              for the purpose of adaptation to a
      competitive environment in telecommunications
 AMENDING THE PROPOSAL OF THE COMMISSION
      pursuant to Article 189 a (2) of the EC Treaty
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                           EXPLAN A TORY MEMORANDUM
   Article 189b(2)(d) requests the Commission to express its opinion on the
   amendments proposed by the European Parliament in its Second Reading.
    The Commission hereby presents its opinion on these amendments to the Council's
   common position regarding the proposal for a European Parliament and Council
   Directive amending Council Directives 90/387/EEC and 92/44/EEC for the
   purpose of adaptation to a competitive environment in telecommunications. This
   includes a modified proposal incorporating the amendments proposed by the
   European Parliament at Second Reading which were accepted by the Commission.
                       OPINION OF THE COMMISSION
l. BACKGROUND
a) The Commission adopted its proposal on 14.11.95, and it was formally transmitted
   to the EP and the Council on 10.1.961.
b) The Economic and Social Committee gave a favourable Opinion on 25.4.961.
c) The European Parliament adopted a favourable Resolution at its First Reading on
   22.5.96, and proposed 17 amendments to the Commission proposal3.
d) The Commission adopted an amended proposal on 31.7.96, and submitted it on
   3.9.19964.
e) The Council adopted its Common Position on 12.9.965.
f) The European Parliament voted on Second Reading on 10.12.96, adopting a
   favourable resolution which included 7 amendments to the Common Position6.
1
      OJ C 62, 1.3.1996, p.3
2
      OJC 204, 15.7.1996, p. 14
3
      OJC 166, 10.6.1996, p. 87
4
      OJC 291, 4.10.1996, p. 18
5
      OJC 315, 24.10.1996, p. 41
6
      A4-0402/96, PV      1996
 ---pagebreak--- 2.       PURPOSE OF THE DIRECTIVE
This Directive is an essential component of the regulatory framework for the future
liberalised telecommunications sector, to be in place by 1.1.98.
The proposed revision of the ONP Framework Directive aims at adapting the basic
principles concerning access to and the use of public telecommunications networks and
services to ensure Europe-wide services in a liberalized environment. It provides for a
voluntary approach by the market players in a competitive context, whilst recognising the
key importance of maintaining and developing universal service and the need for
mandatory requirements in those areas where market forces alone may not be enough to
meet European policy goals.
The revised Leased Lines Directive will ensure that all users have access to leased lines
from at least one operator, under harmonised conditions of access and use, including
access to a mandatory minimum set of leased lines. This obligation-to-provide will
normally be placed only on organisations with significant market power. In any case, full
territorial coverage must be ensured.
3.       POSITION OF THE COMMISSION ON THE EP AMENDMENTS
 3.1     EP AMENDMENTS ACCEPTED BY THE COMMISSION
 Of the 7 amendments adopted by the European Parliament at Second Reading, the
 Commission accepts 4 in full, in part or in principle (i.e. with some reformulation of the
 text).
 The Commission is consistent with its position during the First Reading, and is
 supportive of amendments which can improve the Common Position. On this basis, the
 Commission position on each amendment is the following:
 Amendments accepted in full, in part or in principle: 2, 4, 6, 7
 The Commission's position on each of these amendments is explained in the attached
 table. The most important amendments accepted by the Commission concern the three
 following areas:
 Comitology
  [Amendment 2]
  The Commission supports the EP's amendment which reverses a change introduced by
  Council. The Council had changed an advisory committee procedure to a regulatory
  committee procedure.
 ---pagebreak--- Study of creation of a European regulatory authority
[Amendments 4 and 6(parts)[
The Commission accepts the request in Amendments 4 (last part) and 6 (last part) for
examination, in the report that the Commission is required to present before the end of
1999, of the possibility of establishing a European regulatory authority for
telecommunications. The Council did not accept the EP amendment on this issue at First
Reading.
In supporting the EP amendment, the Commission notes that the issue could be dealt
with in the report proposed for 1999, even if this is not explicitly stated in the Directive.
Number portability
[Amendment 7]
The Commission supports in principle a reference to number portability in the Annex, but
for clarity prefers to make the insertion at a different point in the text.
3.2.     EP AMENDMENTS NOT ACCEPTED BY THE COMMISSION
The Commission has not accepted 3 of the 7 amendments proposed by the European
Parliament.
The amendments not accepted by the Commission are the following:
Amendments not accepted: 1,3,5
The reasons are given below.
Resources for NRAs
 [Amendment 1]
 The Commission considers that the present wording of the Common Position adequately
 reflects the concern of the Parliament that national regulatory authorities should have all
 necessary resources to fulfil their mission in full autonomy.
 The amendment is rejected because the word must is inappropriate in a Recital and
 would be inconsistent with the wording of Recital 10 of the ONP Voice Telephony
 Directive 95/62/EC.
 Directive on costing and financing of universal service
 [Amendment 3]
 The Interconnection Directive sets out a framework for costing and financing of
 universal service. In addition, the Commission has now adopted a Communication on
                                              -4-
 ---pagebreak--- costing and financing of universal service.7 Therefore, the Commission does not share
the need for a specific Directive on this subject.
Definition of leased lines
[Amendment 5]
This amendment would affect the scope of the Leased Lines Directive, as the fixed public
telephone network is commonly used for provision of leased lines. The current definition
is stable and should not be amended. In some circumstances, the proposed amendment
could lead to inconsistency with the non-discrimination requirements of Art. 8(2) of the
Directive.
Review clauses
 [Amendments 4 and 6(parts)]
Requirements for adaptation should be limited to the respective Directive, since each of
them has its own provisions for examination and reporting by the Commission.
The Commission has some sympathy with the concept of further measures proposed in
the form of a single consolidated text, but does not find it appropriate to put this as a
requirement in this Directive
4.       CONCLUSION
The Commission has accepted 4 of the 7 amendments proposed by the European
Parliament at Second Reading either in whole, in part or in principle.
 In accordance with Article 189a paragraph 2 of the EC Treaty, the Commission's
modified proposal incorporates these amendments.
         COM(96) 608, 27.11.1996
 ---pagebreak---                 AMENDED PROPOSAL FOR A
    EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE
amending Council Directives 90/387/EEC and 92/44/EEC
          for the purpose of adaptation to a
    competitive environment in telecommunications
                          -6
 ---pagebreak---                 Common Position text                                         Amended text
                                    Article 1(5), fourth subparagraph
                                   Article 5(4) of Directive 90/387/EEC
                                       (based on EP Amendment 2)
Where a Member State or the Commission                    Where a Member State or the Commission
considers that the harmonized standards and/or            considers that the harmonized standards and/or
specifications referred to in paragraph 1 do not          specifications referred to in paragraph 1 do not
correspond to the objective of open and                   correspond to the objective of open and
efficient access, interconnection and                     efficient access, interconnection and
interoperability, in particular the basic                 interoperability, in particular the basic
principles and the essential requirements                 principles and the essential requirements
referred to in Article 3, it shall be decided             referred to in Article 3, it shall be decided
whether or not it is necessary to withdraw                whether or not it is necessary to withdraw
references to those standards and/or                      references to those standards and/or
specifications from the Official Journal of the           specifications from the Official Journal of the
European Communities in accordance with the               European Communities in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article K).                        procedure laid down in Article 9.
                                                 Article 1(8)
                                     Article 8 of Directive 90/387/EEC
                                       (based on EP Amendment 4)
 The Commission shall examine and report to               The Commission shall examine and report to
 the European Parliament and to the Council on             the European Parliament and to the Council on
 the functioning of this Directive, on the first           the functioning of this Directive, on the first
 occasion no later than 31 December 1999. The              occasion no later than 31 December 1999. The
 report shall be based inter alia on the                   report shall be based inter alia on the
 information supplied by the Member States to              information supplied by the Member States to
 the Commission and to the committee referred              the Commission and to the committee referred
 to in Articles 9 and 10. Where necessary,                 to in Articles 9 and 10. Where necessary, the
 further measures for the adaptation of this               report shall examine what provisions of this
Directive, taking account of developments                 Directive should be adapted in the light of the
towards a fully competitive environment, may              developments in the market. Further measures
be proposed in the report.                                may be proposed in the report for the full
                                                          implementation of the aims of this Directive; in
                                                          particular, the report shall examine the
                                                          possibility of establishing a European
                                                          Regulatory Authority.
                                                  7-
 ---pagebreak---                Common Position text                                          Amended text
                                                Article 2(12)
                                   Article 14 of Directive 92/44/EEC
                                      (based on EP Amendment 6)
The Commission shall examine and report to               The Commission shall examine and report to
the European Parliament and to the Council on            the European Parliament and to the Council on
the functioning of this Directive, on the first          the functioning of this Directive, on the first
occasion no later than 31 December 1999. The             occasion no later than 31 December 1999. The
report shall be based inter alia on the                  report shall be based inter alia on the
information supplied by the Member States to             information supplied by the Member States to
the Commission and to the open network                   the Commission and to the open network
provision Committee. The report shall include             provision Committee. The report shall include
an assessment of the need for continuation of            an assessment of the need for continuation of
this Directive, taking account of developments           this Directive, taking account of developments
towards a fully competitive environment.                 towards a fully competitive environment.
Where necessary, further measures for the                Where necessary, the report shall examine what
adaptation of this Directive may be proposed in           provisions of this Directive should be adapted
the report.                                              in the light of the developments in the market,
                                                         and further measures can be proposed in the
                                                          report for the full implementation of the aims
                                                          of this Directive.
                                                 Annex 1(4)
                                      (based on EP Amendment 7)
Harmonized approach to                                    Harmonized approach to
numbering/addressing/naming                               numbering/addressing/naming
Numbering/addressing and in some instances                Numbering/addressing and in some instances
naming provide for the selection of the                   naming provide for the selection of the
destination or destinations, or for the selection         destination or destinations, or for the selection
of a service, of a service provider or a network          of a service, of a service provider or a network
operator.                                                 operator.
Adherence to a harmonized approach for                    Adherence to a harmonized approach for
numbering/addressing and, where applicable,               numbering/addressing and, where applicable,
naming is therefore essential to guarantee                naming is therefore essential to guarantee
Europe-wide end-to-end interconnection of                 Europe-wide end-to-end interconnection of
 users and the interoperability of services.              users and the interoperability of services.
 Furthermore, the allocation of                           Furthermore, the allocation of
 numbers/addresses/names should be fair,                  numbers/addresses/names should be fair,
 proportionate and consistent with the                    proportionate and consistent with the
 requirements for equal access.                           requirements for equal access.
 To achieve that, it is necessary:                        To achieve that, it is necessary:
 ---pagebreak---              Common Position text                                Amended text
to ensure the provision according to             to ensure the provision according to
harmonized principles of adequate ranges of      harmonized principles of adequate ranges of
numbers and addresses, prefixes and short        numbers and addresses, prefixes and short
codes and, where applicable, of adequate         codes and, where applicable, of adequate
naming, for all public telecommunications        naming, for all public telecommunications
services,                                        services,
to ensure the coordination of national           to ensure the coordination of national
positions in international organizations and     positions in international organizations and
fora where decisions are taken on                fora where decisions are taken on
numbering/addressing/naming, taking into         numbering/addressing/naming, taking into
account possible future developments in          account possible future developments in
numbering/addressing/naming at European          numbering/addressing/naming at European
level,                                           level,
to ensure that the relevant national             to ensure that the relevant national
telecommunications                               telecommunications
numbering/addressing/naming plans are            numbering/addressing/naming plans are
under the supervision of the national            under the supervision of the national
regulatory authority, in order to guarantee      regulatory authority, in order to guarantee
independence from organizations providing        independence from organizations providing
public telecommunications networks or            public telecommunications networks or
publicly available telecommunications            publicly available telecommunications
services,                                        services, and to enable number portability.
to ensure that the procedures for allocating     to ensure that the procedures for allocating
individual numbers/addresses/names, prefixes     individual numbers/addresses/names, prefixes
 and short codes and/or                          and short codes and/or
 addressing/numbering ranges are transparent,     addressing/numbering ranges are transparent,
 equitable and timely and that the allocation is equitable and timely and that the allocation is
 carried out in an objective, transparent and    carried out in an objective, transparent and
 non-discriminatory manner, taking into          non-discriminatory manner, taking into
 account the principle of proportionality,       account the principle of proportionality,
to give national regulatory authorities the      to give national regulatory authorities the
possibility of laying down conditions for the    possibility of laying down conditions for the
use in numbering/addressing plans of certain     use in numbering/addressing plans of certain
prefixes or certain short codes, in particular   prefixes or certain short codes, in particular
where these are used for services of general     where these are used for services of general
public interest (e.g. directory services or      public interest (e.g. directory services or
emergency services), or to ensure equal          emergency services), or to ensure equal
access.                                          access.
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                             COM(97) 32 final
                                             DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                    15 08    06
                                    Catalogue number : CB-CO-97-029-EN-C
                                                              ISBN 92-78-15267-6
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