EC starts legal proceedings over Electronic Communications Code

The European Commission (EC) started legal proceedings against a group of countries including Spain, Portugal and Sweden for failing to fulfil obligations in the adoption of its Electronic Communications Code.

European Union member states were obliged to fully transpose measures in the code, which covers a wide range of rules related to the telecommunications industry, into national laws and then inform the EC how their regulations adopt the relevant parts.

The rules became legally valid in December 2018 with countries given two years to implement them.

In a statement, the EC explained it had opened infringement procedures against 24 countries for non-compliance in February 2021 and contacted 18 of these again about continued issues seven months later.

It noted ten have still failed to fulfil obligations, with the matter now being referred to the Court of Justice for the European Union, which is able to impose fines for breaches.

Alongside Spain, Portugal and Sweden, the other countries on the hook are Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Ireland, Poland, Romania and Slovenia.

The EC claims the code “modernises EU telecoms rules to the benefit of consumers and the industry by stimulating competition, driving investments, strengthening the internal market and consumer rights”.

It imposes a number of regulations in a wide number of areas related to telecommunications, from minimum durations for spectrum licences to price caps for international calls.

However, during the legislative process some measures attracted criticism from industry, with ETNO in 2018 describing the code as a “missed opportunity” and the GSMA branding parts a “political compromise”. Mobile World Live