Legal groundwork begun for EU comms directive


5 Mar 2003

The first stage in the transposition of the new EU regulatory package of legislative proposals designed to bring community legislation on electronic communications into line with changes in the telecommunications, media and IT sector has been signed in law.

The document was signed yesterday by Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern TD.

The purpose of the regulations is to enable the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) to gather data, including financial information, necessary for it to carry out market definition and analysis required under the EU Framework Directive.

ComReg should then be prepared, on the introduction of the new regulatory regime in July of this year, to decide whether or not to impose, maintain or withdraw regulatory obligations on operators with significant market power.

This would enable ComReg to, for example, oblige Eircom to live up to certain responsibilities with regard to competition or to loosen them by referring to its market research.

By Suzanne Byrne