eCommunications: BEREC Work Programme 2012

The blog post What is the EU doing for growth and jobs? presented the main economic reform programmes in the European Union. The entry Electronic communications in EU: BEREC blog posts focused on one part of the ongoing work on the Digital Agenda and the Digital Single Market, by compiling recent articles about the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).


BEREC Work Programme 2012 documents

The public process started with the draft Work Programme BoR (11) 40 Rev1 (October 2011; 16 pages).

After the public consultation from 6 October to 4 November 2011, including an oral hearing 21 October, BEREC published a report on the public consultation BoR (11) 61 (9 December 2011; 15 pages). The contributions from fifteen interested parties are available on the BEREC page for public consultations.

I presented the consultation procedure and the consultation report.

The BEREC Board of Regulators, meeting in Bucharest (Romania) 8-9 December 2011, decided to publish the consultation report and the adopted WP 2012:

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


BEREC Work Programme 2012

BEREC noted that the Digital Agenda complements the objectives of the revised 2009 regulatory framework for eCommunications and welcomed the goals and ambitions set out therein (page 3).

BEREC contributes to the development and better functioning of the internal market for electronic communications networks and services by aiming to ensure a consistent application of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications (page 4).

The Work Programme 2012 discusses BEREC's key objectives and planned actions with regard to (pages 5-11):

* Framework Directive Article 7/7a procedures
* International roaming (including the reforms proposed by the Commission)
* Universal service provisions (including the recent review communication from the Commission)
* Consumer empowerment (including transparent pricing and broadband speeds)
* Network neutrality (with key issues: transparency, minimum service requirements, discrimination, IP interconnection)
* Next generation networks (NGN) and access (NGA)
* Evaluation of BEREC and its office


Further topics are presented from page 11. They include (although I have not respected the difference between levels of headlines):

* Consistency of remedies and further developments
* Review and update of BEREC Common Positions (CPs)
* Implementation of key remedies
* Non-discrimination
* Regulatory accounting
* Implementation of recommendations
* Recommendation on termination rates
* Benchmarks
* Promotion of broadband
* Access to special rate services
* Cross-border and demand side related issues
* Business services
* Cooperation with RSPG and ENISA
* International cooperation


The BEREC Work Programme 2012 offers clear information about the ongoing and future activities, but leaving scope for queries from the EU institutions.

Nit-picking: BEREC is a body for cooperation between national regulators and its other stakeholders are mainly expert market participants. Still, even among them, far from everyone is a walking dictionary of English acronyms. BEREC could afford the luxury to explain each abbreviation at least when it first appears.



Ralf Grahn

Report on the consultation of the BEREC draft Work Programme 2012

BEREC, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, is an important cog in the machinery to deliver on the Digital Agenda for Europe. BEREC enhances cooperation among national regulatory authorities (NRAs) and strengthens the internal market in electronic communications networks.

In the previous blog post I looked at some procedural aspects (transparency) and the scope of ”interested parties”. Here I turn to the contents of the report with the Work Programme 2012 consultation summary.

Following the WP 2012 public consultation from 6 October to 4 November 2011, including an oral hearing 21 October, BEREC published a report. The fifteen stakeholder contributions are available in full on the BEREC page for public consultations.

The consultation summary title more exactly:

BEREC report on the consultation of the BEREC draft Work Programme 2012 BoR (11) 61 (9 December 2011; 15 pages)


WP consultation report

The report advances through the draft WP, mentioning both the comments made by the interested parties and the proposed reactions prepared for the Board of Regulators (BoR).

Thus, the contributions offer an overview of issues seen as critical, at least by some. They also indicate (group) interests of individual contributors regarding electronic communications in Europe.

In addition to themes covered by the draft WP, contributors proposed additional issues to address in the course of BEREC work.


WP 2012 adapted

Here are a few issues where BEREC indicated a clear will to adapt the text of the final Work Programme 2012 (although naturally feedback can influence future actions without textual adjustments). I quote the theme and the BEREC comment.

Universal Service Provisions: The remarks made by PhoneAbility, Telecom Italia and SFR where taken into account and the theme of calculation of net costs has been added to the Work Programme.

Recommendation on termination rates: As a result BEREC added the evaluation of SMS termination to the Work Programme.

Benchmarks: BEREC added the evaluation to include further benchmark exercises in the future to the Work Programme.

Access to special rate services: BEREC takes note of the comments. The concrete suggestions such as DQ services have been added to the Work Programme.

Cross-border and demand side related issues: BEREC is glad to see so much support for this issue. The harmonisation question as well as further detailed evaluation in the field of cross-border issues and business services will be covered in the Work Programme with regard to the outcome of two reports on this issue by the end of 2011.

Cooperation with RSPG (Radio Spectrum Policy Group) and ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency): BEREC will evaluate questions of further harmonisation in the Work Program Programme.

Additional items... Migration from legacy services: BEREC welcomes the comment made on this issue and will look into it within the existing EWGs.

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In some cases, such as the adoption of certain standards for seamless interoperability and the creation of a single market for pan-European businesses, BEREC saw the proposals as going beyond its remit.



Ralf Grahn

BEREC draft Work Programme 2012 consultation procedure

After the public consultation from 6 October to 4 November 2011, including an oral hearing 21 October, BEREC published a report on the public consultation. The fifteen stakeholder contributions are available in full on the BEREC page for public consultations.

The consultation summary:

BEREC report on the consultation of the BEREC draft Work Programme 2012 BoR (11) 61 (9 December 2011; 15 pages)

In this blog post I present the basic procedural aspects, before I look at the ”interested parties”.


Transparency

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

With regard to transparency, Article 17, in Chapter IV General Provisions, lays down a general rule on consultation, subject to confidentiality (Article 20) and further to the rules on public access to documents (Article 22):

Article 17
Consultation

Where appropriate, BEREC shall, before adopting opinions, regulatory best practice or reports, consult interested parties and give them the opportunity to comment within a reasonable period. BEREC shall, without prejudice to Article 20, make the results of the consultation procedure publicly available.

The annual work programme is specifically mentioned as requiring consultation ahead of adoption, in Article 5(4) about the tasks of the Board of Regulators:

4. The Board of Regulators shall, after consulting interested parties in accordance with Article 17, adopt the annual work programme of BEREC before the end of each year preceding that to which the work programme relates. The Board of Regulators shall transmit the annual work programme to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission as soon as it is adopted.

By publishing the draft, the consultation announcement, the contributions, the consultation summary and the final Work Programme 2012, BEREC acted in accordance with the principles on transparency. (A minor detail: The calls for contributions could further identify the document in question by adding the number to the name as well as by linking.)


Interested parties

During this consultation regarding future activities BEREC received contributions from fifteen stakeholders interested enough to want to influence electronic communications policies at the European level (summary page 2, consultations web page): EIDQ Association – the Association for the Directory Information and Related Search Industry, FTTH Council of Europe, The Number – Directory provider, The Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition Europe, Virgin Media, Telekom Austria, Telecom Italia, Belgacom, INTUG – International Telecommunications Users Group, ECTA, Cable Europe, Bundesverband Breitbandkommunikation, ETNO, Phone Ability and SFR.

In comparison, on a more concrete issue, the public consultation on draft guidelines on Transparency in the scope of Net Neutrality received 77 contributions (report BoR (11) 66).

On the other hand, some public consultations have received far fewer comments than the draft Work Programme 2012.

Participation is still way below the true numbers of participants in market and regulation activities. My impression is that the public and private players in the European electronic communications markets have not yet fully discovered BEREC as a new hinge between Digital Agenda aims at the European level and (converging) regulatory activity at the national level.



Ralf Grahn

EU electronic communications: BEREC Work Programme 2012

After the brief presentation of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), we looked at the ongoing public consultation on the draft BEREC medium term strategy outlook.

Relating to the Digital Agenda for Europe, in this blog post we turn to the BEREC Work Programme 2012 documents.


Board of Regulators

The conclusions of the BEREC Board of Regulators meeting in Bucharest (Romania) 8-9 December 2011 deal with the Work Programme for next year in point 7 (page 3). The conclusions after some editing:

7. Draft 2012 BEREC WP

Summary of the contributions received during the public consultation on the 2012 draft BEREC WP BoR (11) 61

Revised 2012 draft BEREC WP BoR (11) 62

Proposal for operationalisation of the BEREC WP 2012 – set-up of EWGs BoR (11) 63

Background

The 2012 BEREC Chair (RTR) presented the results from the public consultation on the BEREC WP for 2012, held in the period 6 October - 4 November 2011, the revised draft WP and a proposal for operationalisation of the BEREC WP 2012, incl. the set-up of EWGs.

Conclusion

The BEREC 2012 WP and the consultation report were approved for publication and implementation.


Documents

If we concentrate on the main documents for the public, we have the draft Work Programme BoR (11) 40 Rev1 (October 2011; 16 pages).

After the public consultation from 6 October to 4 November 2011, including an oral hearing 21 October, BEREC published a report on the public consultation BoR (11) 61 (9 December 2011; 15 pages). The fifteen contributions are available also on the BEREC page for public consultations.

The final WP:

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

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For the future BEREC could consider linking directly to the relevant documents in its conclusions.

I am going to look at the consultation summary and the final Work Programme 2012 in future blog posts.



Ralf Grahn

Barroso: The state of the Commission’s Work Programme

Yesterday The European Citizen called José Manuel Barroso’s “State of the Union” address The Commissarial Speech (8 September 2010).

According to Eurocentric:

The speech itself actually wasn't that bad, if you dropped your preconceptions about the State of the Union imagery. As Honor Mahony pointed out, it was quite good as a work programme speech (particularly for a Barroso-speech).

Honor Mahony’s EUobserver blog post The speech (7 September 2010).


In my view, Eurocentric and Mahony clearly showed the conflict between a speech about the Commission's Work Programme (which it was) and a State of the Union address (which it wasn't, but was marketed as).

Underlining the 'special relationship' between the Commission and the European Parliament meant that Barroso directed the speech even more at the MEPs, who know pretty well what's coming up in their Committees anyway, and are fairly blasé.

This effectively excluded a speech to the citizens of the European Union, as well as themes, concerns and images they (we) relate to.

Eurocentric’s headline and post encapsulated this well.

For some strange reason, both Commission leadership (president Barroso) and EP leaders (president Jerzy Buzek) have wanted to market Barroso’s speech as an EU “State of the Union” address (a first), and the concept lies buried in an obscure point in an annex to the revised framework agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission, soon to be approved and to enter into force.




However, essentially Barroso’s intervention was about the Commission’s Work Programme for 2011, which he presented in two parts: a letter to the Members of the European Parliament and in his speech to the EP plenary session.

Read them as such, and they begin to make sense.

But what should they call it, when some day one of the EU presidents decides to starts discussing with the citizens of the European Union?

A fireside chat?




Ralf Grahn

EU tax policy: ECOFIN 19 January 2010

I start by mentioning two interesting documents for those who want to see the big picture of European Union activities in the area of taxation.



Developments 2004-2009



A suitable starting point is the Commission booklet Achievements in the areas of taxation and customs 2004-2009, published 8 February 2010 (75 pages including annexed speeches, from page 20).



Objectives



From recent developments it is natural to advance to the work programme of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union. The part concerning the ECOFIN Council has a section on the aims regarding tax matters: Taxation: The fight against fraud (pages 5 to 7).



ECOFIN





We should then be ready for the Council (Economic and Financial Affairs; ECOFIN) meeting 19 January 2010, which led to the following conclusions on tax issues (document 5400/10; page 7 to 8):

SAVINGS TAXATION AND OTHER TAX GOVERNANCE MEASURES

The Council examined a package of measures aimed at improving tax governance and clamping down on tax evasion in Europe.

It reached agreement on a general approach, pending the opinion of the European Parliament, on one of the measures, namely a draft directive aimed at strengthening mutual assistance between member states in the recovery of taxes.

The directive will be adopted at a forthcoming Council meeting, once the Parliament's opinion is available.

The other measures in the package comprise:

– a draft directive aimed at enlarging the scope of directive 2003/48/EC on the taxation of savings interest;

– a draft directive aimed at strengthening cooperation between the member states in the field of direct taxation;

– a draft agreement with Liechtenstein on measures to combat tax fraud;

– a draft decision authorising the Commission to negotiate anti-fraud agreements with Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, as well as a new anti-fraud agreement with Switzerland.



Mutual assistance in the recovery of taxes

The draft directive is aimed at better meeting the member states' needs with regard to the recovery of taxes, providing an overhaul of directive 76/308/EEC (codified by directive 2008/55/EC), on the basis of which the member states have engaged in mutual assistance since 1976 aimed at clamping down on tax evasion.

National provisions on tax recovery are limited in scope to national territories, and fraudsters have taken advantage of this to organise insolvencies in member states where they have debts. Member states therefore increasingly request the assistance of other member states to recover taxes, but existing provisions have only allowed a small proportion of debts to be recovered.

The draft directive is intended to provide for an improved assistance system, with rules that are easier to apply, including as regards information held by banks and other financial institutions; it is intended to provide for more flexible conditions for requesting assistance, requiring the spontaneous exchange of information.

Ralf Grahn

Swedish EU Council Presidency programme

Sweden has published the Work programme for the Swedish Presidency of the EU 1 July --- 31 December 2009.



As an overview, here are the contents of the 46 page work programme:


Table of contents

PART 1
Taking on the challenge

1. Economy and employment - EU emerges stronger from the economic crisis

2. Climate – a new climate agreement in place

3. Justice and Home Affairs – a Stockholm Programme that safeguards security and the rights of individuals

4. The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea, a cleaner marine environment and a more competitive region

5. The EU, its neighbourhood and the world

6. New Parliament, Commission and Treaty of Lisbon


PART 2
Priorities within each Council configuration

1. Horizontal issues for a better EU
GAERC – General affairs

2. The EU as a global actor
GAERC - External relations

3. Reversing economic developments
ECOFIN – the Economic and Financial Affairs Council

4. A more secure and open Europe
Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA)

5. Full employment and good health
The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO)

6. A competitive Europe
Competitiveness Council

7. Towards an eco-efficient economy
Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (TTE)

8. Using resources without using them up
Agriculture and Fisheries Council

9. A credible EU for the environment
Environment Council

10. High standards promote better growth
Education, Youth and Culture Council

Annex: Planned meetings of the Council during the Swedish Presidency of the EU




Ralf Grahn

Energy priorities: European Commission

The gas crisis exposed the vulnerability of the European Union to outside disturbances and lack of interconnection in the energy area.

What is the EC Commission doing to tackle the problems?

***

The Commission’s Legislative and Work Programme 2009, Acting now for a better Europe (Brussels, 5.11.2008 COM(2008) 712 final), deals with Climate Change and Sustainable Europe as the second priority area, after Growth and Jobs.

Climate change is ambitions are presented first, but the programme then continues with more specific energy issues. The objectives are crammed into the following paragraph:



The other key target of the package is to make European energy secure, sustainable and competitive. The hike in energy prices seen in 2008 has again underlined the vulnerability of Europe in terms of energy, and the pressing need to promote energy security. The Commission's Strategic Energy Review will set out an overall strategy for improving energy security, which should be a major focus for 2009. This will include driving ahead with concrete steps on energy efficiency; realising a common objective of interconnection and effective stock management, particularly so that the newer Member States are linked up to the European grid; and a coordinated approach on improving and diversifying supply from outside the Union. It also underlines the importance of securing adoption of proposals on the internal market for gas and electricity, with new arrangements in place to ensure increased competitiveness and appropriate prices, and that national regulators can work together.


Acting now for a better Europe is available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/programmes/docs/clwp2009_en.pdf


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EU Strategic Energy Review

The ‘beef’ of the Legislative and Work Programme 2009 was refer the interested reader to the Commission’s (Second) Strategic Energy Review.





Commission web page Second Strategic Energy Review – Securing our Energy Future is available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/strategies/2008/2008_11_ser2_en.htm


The press release Securing your energy future: Commission presents energy security, solidarity and efficiency proposals (IP/08/1696 Brussels, 13 November 2008) offers an overview of the energy package:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1696&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en


An unofficial version of the coming official proposal is the Communication Second Startegic Energy Review, An EU energy security and solidarity action plan, available here:

http://ec.europa.eu/energy/strategies/2008/doc/2008_11_ser2/strategic_energy_review_communication.pdf


The 21 page Communication presents a more comprehensive picture of the proposals.
The draft Communication is accompanied by two Commission Staff Working Papers, SEC(2008) 2794 and SEC(2008) 2795, with further detail.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The Work Programme of the Czech EU Council Presidency, quoted in the previous blog post, is available at:

http://www.eu2009.cz/en/czech-presidency/programme-and-priorities/programme-and-priorities-479/

French EU presidency programme

For those who want to dig deeper than the media reports at the start of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Work programme 1 July – 31 December 2008 is available in English on the presidency web pages:

http://www.ue2008.fr/webdav/site/PFUE/shared/import/0601_presidence_du_conseil_programme/programme_EN.pdf

Called ‘Europe taking action to meet today’s challenges’, the 33 page Work programme is a valuable inventory of ongoing and commencing matters in the European Union. The main themes, divided under a plethora of subheadings, are:

1. Making Europe a model of sustainable social, ecological and economic development
2. Making Europe more attentive to the rights, security and aspirations of citizens
3. Reinforcing Europe’s role on the international stage

Given effective vacation closure during August, the events calendar for the rest of this ‘short’ presidency is packed with conferences and events, which give the reader an additional view into topical EU themes.


Ralf Grahn