ARCEP simplifies and reduces the amount of information required from operators

Paris, 27 March 2014

To be able to fulfil its regulatory duties, on the one hand, and to monitor electronic communications and postal markets on the other, ARCEP needs to collect a range of information from operators, through electronic channels, of which a portion is protected by business secrecy.

Ongoing developments in markets, technologies and services, along with the growing demand for transparency, have resulted in a growing amount of information being requested from operators in recent years – with operators themselves often requesting information that ARCEP makes publicly available.

Today, it appears both possible and advisable to reduce the number and scale of information requests being sent out to businesses. Advisable, to contribute to government efforts to reduce the amount of paperwork being required from enterprises. And possible because technological and organisational changes in the sector have rendered certain data less useful.

As a result, ARCEP is publishing a single decision today that applies to both of the sectors concerned, i.e. telecoms and postal, combining five of the existing information gathering decisions that apply to electronic communications. The Authority is committed to reducing significantly the number of indicators required from operators.

Moreover, before the end of April, ARCEP will launch a public consultation with the sector’s stakeholders – i.e. telcos, analysts, public agencies, etc. – on the scope of the information collected, the methods used to collect it (questionnaire format, frequency, etc.), and on the content and format of resulting publications and outputs.

ARCEP will use the feedback from this consultation to draft its follow-up decision in 2014, which will come into effect in 2015. This will complete the simplification and reduction process begun with today’s decision.