Communiqué de presse

Joëlle Toledano and Nicolas Curien join the ARCEP Board

Paris, 30th June 2005

The law of 20 May 2005 on the regulation of postal activities designates ART (which then became ARCEP: Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes) as the regulator of the postal sector.

 

An independent administrative authority created in January 1997 and granted specific powers for telecommunications, ARCEP now has a new mission in the postal field to monitor the opening and proper functioning of the market, as well as the financing and protection of universal service.

 

Its Board of Directors is now composed of seven members (previously five for ART) who are named for a term of six years based on their economic, legal and economic qualifications in the areas of electronic communications, postal and regional economics.

 

Named by the President of the Republic, the President of the Senate and the President of the National Assembly, membership is irrevocable and non-renewable.

 

Two new members of the Board were recently named.

  • Joëlle Toledano
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On 23rd June, the President of the National Assembly named Joëlle Toledano as member of the Authority.

 

Joëlle Toledano holds a PhD in mathematics and economics. She has had a double career in academia and business. She began her career as a research associate with the CNRS, France’s national research council. She was then named associate professor in economics at Université de Rouen.

 

At the same time, she held various positions of responsibility with computing and telecommunications firms, before joining the Strategy Division at La Poste in 1993.

 

In 2001, she was named Director of European and National Regulation at La Poste, a position she held until February 2005, when she became a professor at Supélec.

 

In 2004, Joëlle Toledano’s book Economie postale : les fondements was published in the Economica collection.

 

  • Nicolas Curien
  •  

 

On 29th June, the President of the Senate named Nicolas Curien as member of the Authority.

 

Born in 1950, and a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique, he began his career as a teacher-researcher at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST), then as economic studies manager at Direction Générale des Télécommunications (DGT). In 1987, he joined the Ministry of Defence as official representative with the minister André Giraud, then as manager of the Economic Studies sub-division with the Délégation aux Etudes générales.

 

In 1992, Nicolas Curien was granted the Telecommunications Economics and Policies chair at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers and became the director of the Econometrics Laboratory in 1999. He is a member of the CSSPPCE (Commission Supérieure du Service Public des Postes et des Communications Électroniques) and of the Académie des Technologies.

 

A founding member of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS), Nicolas Curien has been both a teacher (at Ecole Polytechnique) and scientific advisor (at Commission de Regulation de l'Electricite-CRE and Groupe des Ecoles de Télécommunications-GET).

 

He has written a number of works, including L’Economie des Réseaux, in the Repères collection (published by La Découverte).

 

  • ARCEP’s new missions for postal concerns
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The law of 20 May 2005 transposed into national law the European directive of 15 December 1997, for the creation of an independent regulator, and the directive of 10 June 2002 regarding the continuation of the opening to competition of postal services. The regulation of postal activities aims to reconcile the existence and viability of universal postal service with the gradual introduction of competition on the postal market.

 

ARCEP will take on this mission, and will:

- issue authorisations for activities which will be opened to competition
-perform accounting and pricing checks of the universal service provider
- settle disputes
- monitor the universal service mission of La Poste and its performance in quality of service
- make recommendations and issue opinions on the financing of universal service

     

 

The law on the regulation of postal activities also requires the creation of a postal banking institution, and defines the regional development mission conferred on La Poste. ARCEP is not involved in the implementation of these measures.