Paris, 26 February 2010
Following the establishment of BEREC (1) (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications) on 28 January 2010, the new authority held its first working meeting in Paris on 25 and 26 February, which was hosted by ARCEP.
Thirty four heads of national regulatory authorities (NRAs) (2), along with representatives of the European Commission and the EFTA Surveillance Authority, were in attendance. During the meeting, the members of the BEREC Board of Regulators adopted several major reports (3) concerning wholesale products for new generation access networks, relevant market definitions and international roaming tariffs.
The participants also discussed the implementation and transposition of the new European regulatory framework for electronic communications and the installation of the Office that was created to provide support for BEREC.
The Chairman of ARCEP, Jean-Ludovic Silicani, was pleased to see the implementation of governance arrangements for BEREC. He underscored the current main areas of focus (namely ultra high-speed fixed and mobile network rollouts, consumer protection and network neutrality) that will demand original solutions from regulators - a process that will itself require prior in-depth discussions between NRAs and with the European Commission.
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(1) BEREC was created by a European regulation passed on 25 November 2009, published in the ECOJ of 18 December 2009. Its purpose is to advise European institutions and especially to contribute to the development of a single EU-wide electronic communications networks and services market and to improving the way it operates.
(2) Come from the 27 European Union Member States, three EU candidate countries and the four EFTA (European Free Trade Association) countries.
(3) These reports are available online at: www.erg.eu.int
