Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC)

One part of the new EU regulatory framework for electronic communications, the telecoms package approved in 2009, was the establishment of BEREC.

The BEREC Regulation 1211/2009, published two years ago, is available in 23 official EU languages; the English version:

REGULATION (EC) No 1211/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 November 2009 establishing the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the Office (Text with EEA relevance); OJEU 18.12.2009 L 337/1

It did not take the governments of the EU member states more than about half a year to agree to establish the BEREC office in Riga (Latvia), or maybe they waited for the transposition date of the telecoms package to pass:

DECISION TAKEN BY COMMON ACCORD BETWEEN THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES of 31 May 2010 on the location of the seat of the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) (2010/349/EU); OJEU 23.6.2010 L 156/12

The BEREC office was inaugurated 14 October 2011, so it has been fully operational in Riga for less than three months.

The BEREC website can be described as spartan. Given the area – electronic communications – the absence of an RSS feed comes as a surprise. There is no social media presence (blog, Twitter, Facebook) I am aware of.


Board of Regulators

According to Regulation 1211/2009, BEREC is composed of a Board of Regulators (BoR), with one member from the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) in each member state. (BoR Rules of Procedure)

The NRAs from European Economic Area (EEA) states and from the candidates for EU accession have observer status.

The Regulation 1211/2009 established the office as a Community body with legal personality, with a Management Committee composed of one representative per member state NRA. (MC Rules of Procedure)


National Regulatory Authorities NRAs

In addition to the 27 EU member NRAs, there are observer NRAs from Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. The names and links are on offer here.


Digital Agenda & digital single market

At the inauguration ceremony in Riga, Commission vice-president Neelie Kroes outlined the contribution of BEREC and the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) in the success of the Digital Agenda for Europe goal of a vibrant digital single market. The crucial tasks she mentioned were roaming, net neutrality, superfast broadband and getting every European digital.


BEREC medium term strategy consultation

BEREC has announced a public consultation, which runs until 16 January 2012. The draft strategy document the stakeholders are invited to comment on is:

Draft BEREC medium term strategy outlook; 14 December 2011 BoR (11) 58 (7 pages)


BEREC Work Programme 2012

The recently published Work Programme for 2012 offers more detail about the coming activities in the short term:

Work Programme 2012 BEREC Board of Regulators; 9 December 2011 BoR (11) 62 (18 pages)



Ralf Grahn

Digital Agenda for Europe: News roundup

Yesterday we linked to the EU Council conclusions on the Digital Agenda:



Council conclusions on Digital Agenda for Europe, by the 3017th Council meeting (Transport, Telecommunications and Energy = TTE) Brussels, 31 May 2010.





In a separate press release the TTE Council confirmed that the seat of BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) will be placed in Riga, the capital of Latvia.


Digital Agenda in the news



If you look at some of the available reports, you are in for a surprise. The Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union (and EU business) claims that the Digital Agenda project was launched 19 April [2010] in Granada, so for instance this blog must have missed the point completely with a number of posts last year and this year about the programme to succeed the EU’s i2010 policy framework for the information society. These are the risks, if you try to deal with matters at European level, instead of focusing on the essentials of national glory.




EurActiv: EU plays catch-up with US digital economy (1 June 2010)



Europolitics, Nathalie Vandystadt: Ministers back EU’s digital strategy (31 May 2010)



The Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union: Telecommunications Ministers back the new European Digital Agenda (31 May 2010)



EUbusiness: EU aims to bridge the digital divide (1 June 2010)



European Voice, Simon Taylor: Telecoms regulator to be based in Latvia (31 May 2010)




Ralf Grahn