Ambassador Tibor Stelbaczky and Deputy Secretary of State Ákos Mernyei represented Hungary in the TTE Telecommunications Council on 9 June in Luxembourg.
The Ministers took stock of the progress made and held a policy debate on the review of the EU telecoms regulatory framework on the basis of a discussion paper prepared by the Maltese presidency. The discussion addressed topics related to two legislative proposals under the so called 'connectivity package' presented by the European Commission on 14 September 2016. The main proposal in the package is the draft 'European Electronic Communications Code', which merges four existing telecoms directives (Framework, Authorisation, Access and Universal service) in the form of a recast directive. The Commission also proposes updated rules for the body of European regulators BEREC.
In the debate, member states expressed their general support for the connectivity objectives in the proposals, which now emphasize very high speed connectivity for all. They find it important to promote investment and foster competition. Ministers generally agreed on the importance of a clear and transparent regulatory framework and good coordination to encourage private investment. As regards coordination for timely release of spectrum, member states find sharing of best practices the most useful way forward. Most member states agreed that the existing framework, including the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), could well support the required cooperation for spectrum management. There is no need to create additional layers of cooperation or turn BEREC into a European Agency.
In the debate, Hungary stressed that a clear and comprehensive framework is the prerequisite of investment certainty. Talking to the representatives of the industry, it is always among their first request to ensure investment certainty and not to change the different relevant legislation year-by-year. Investment certainty is very important, because it can contribute to the developments of the sector, which has a positive impact on our economies too. As far as the issue of coordination is concerned, we believe the current mechanisms work well. If we look at the Member State level, it is necessary to strike a right balance between government policies, the regulatory authorities, and the competent authorities. This should be handled primarily at national level. At EU level, there is also a need for proper coordination. In our opinion the current institutional framework functions well and it contributes to the developments of the ICT sector. We believe, that Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) and BEREC provides proper forum for exchanging best practices, therefore we think it is unnecessary to introduce significant institutional changes.
The Council reached a general approach on the proposal for cross-border parcel delivery services. The objectives of the proposal are to make markets work more effectively by making the regulatory oversight of the parcels markets more effective and to increase the transparency of tariffs in order to reduce unjustifiable tariff differences and to lower the tariffs paid by individuals and small businesses.
The Ministers took stock of the progress made on proposed new rules to ensure respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications (ePrivacy). The proposal aims to update current rules, extending their scope to all electronic communication providers and aligns the rules for electronic communications with the new world-class standards of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The presidency briefed ministers on the state of play of two other legislative files:
The wholesale roaming regulation was published in the EU Official Journal on 9 June. Having this regulation in place was a pre-condition for the introduciton of the 'roam like at home' concept. Roaming fees can be abolished from 15 June 2017.
A political agreement was reached on the draft WiFi4EU regulation on EU-funded internet hotspots on 29 May. The objective is to have the WiFi4EU scheme ready as soon as possible, so that public sector bodies and citizens can quickly start benefiting from it. Budget issues relating to the mid-term review of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) will be finalised later.
Following the publication by the Commission of its mid-term review of the Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy on 10 May 2017, the Commission briefed ministers on the state of play of the strategy and the progress made so far as well as the next steps. The review takes stock of the progress made, calls on co-legislators to swiftly act on all proposals already presented, and outlines further actions on online platforms, data economy and cybersecurity. The Commission also referred to the latest Europe's digital progress report (EDPR). The report combines the quantitative data from the digital economy and society index (DESI), with country-specific policy insights, thus allowing to keep track of the progress made in terms of digitalization by each EU country.
The Commission briefed ministers on cybersecurity issues after the recent cyberattack where a wave of ransomware attacks impacted organizations and citizens across the globe. It was the first time where Member States exchanged information on cybersecurity incident within the mechanism for operational cooperation under the network and information security (NIS) Directive.
Lastly, the incoming Estonian presidency presented its telecommunications work programme for the first half of 2017.
