Europe - simplifying notification of regulatory decisions

Commission streamlines notification procedure for national regulators

The Commission decided on 15 October to reduce administrative demands on national telecoms regulators when submitting draft regulatory measures to the Commission. Since 2003, the Commission has reviewed more than 800 national regulators' decisions to break traditional telecoms monopolies and open up networks for competitors. Today, the Commission adopted a new Recommendation on procedural rules for the EU-wide consultation mechanism, also known as 'the Article 7 procedure', that allows national regulators to use a simplified and shortened standard form to notify the Commission of certain decisions. This will considerably simplify and speed up the EU consultation mechanism. To further streamline the process, the Recommendation also invites national regulators to submit their market analyses together with the proposed remedies instead of separately, as it is already best practice in most EU Member States. These rules are another step towards a timelier implementation of regulatory measures and increased legal certainty for market players investing in the European telecoms sector, which ultimately benefits consumers.