EU names and shames telecoms laggards

Seven EU member states could end up in court for failing to incorporate EU telecoms rules into national law, Brussels revealed on Friday.

The European Commission said infringement proceedings had already begun against France and Germany, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal, blacklisted for not opening their telecoms networks to competition.

The new telecoms rules, which came into force in July 2003, aim to allow new companies cheap and easier access to all telecoms sector markets.

National regulators could end the dominance of incumbent operators such as France Telecom or Deutsche Telekom by imposing pricing and transparency requirements.

Infringement proceedings against member states that have not adopted the legislation were opened in October this year and the commission is expected to make a ruling on December 16.

"We fully acknowledge the substantial work done by those member states that have adopted the legislation. But considering the importance of the electronic communications package, it is vital that the remaining countries quickly follow suit," said EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti.

"We are monitoring this very closely and were already forced to open infringement proceedings against those member states that are lagging behind."

Member states will have two months to implement the rules after the December decision or end up in the European Court of Justice - the EU's highest law court.

 

 

 

 

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