EU needs more regulatory powers in telecoms

total telecom | EU needs more regulatory powers in telecoms - Monti report
By Pep Kiviniemi, Dow Jones Newswires
Monday 10 May 2010
Former commissioner presents internal report on telecoms to European Commission.

The European Union needs to have stronger regulatory powers over national telecommunications regulators to enable it to create an integrated European-wide market for electronic communications and speed the growth of Europe's digital economy, Mario Monti says in his internal market report to the European Commission Monday.

Monti's main premise is that in telecommunications, e-commerce, and online commerce, the EU falls short of its commercial promise due to complex national laws.

To overcome these issues the EU should have stronger regulatory powers over national regulators, Monti says. In addition the commission should think about introducing a pan-European licensing system, to replace the current model where national governments hand out telecoms licenses to operators. The allocation of radio frequencies, being freed up by the push to digital television, should also be controlled at European level, Monti says.

Click here to find out more!To meet these ends the commission should launch a review of the telecommunications sector with a view to presenting the proposals required for creating an integrated European-wide market for electronic communications.

In addition to facilitating cross border e-commerce, the fragmentation in consumer protection rules must come to an end and be replaced by common rules for delivery of goods, warranty and dispute resolution, Monti says.

To create a more predictable business environment--and especially to help smaller traders benefit from cross border sales--the commission should also try to simplify value added tax rules, as well as cross-border copyright levies.

Work is needed to move copyright rules in general from the current nationally fragmented market, Monti says. In particular, it is "urgent to simplify copyright clearance and management" by introducing pan-European content licensing.

Tasked with suggesting improvements to the working of the European Union's single market, by the commission, Monti is putting forward a raft of new legislative proposals the commission should take onboard.