Thursday 30 May 2013

Commission asks The Netherlands to ensure independence of Dutch regulator

EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press Release - April infringements package: main decisions: "The 2009 EU Regulatory Framework for telecoms requires that national regulators have full independence in how they apply market regulation. The Commission believes that current Dutch regulation limits this regulatory discretion by attempting to directly regulate the market in two ways. In the first case, broadcasters subject to "must-carry obligations" are forced to offer for resale their television programmes, as well as the transmission service that carries them, at wholesale level at "cost-oriented" prices (to prevent undue profits). The second provision obliges the ACM to force companies found to have significant market power to resell their programmes to competitors at cost-oriented prices.
The Commission is mainly concerned about how these regulatory provisions were imposed. It should be up to independent regulators to decide on whether such measures should be imposed, rather than the Dutch Government. The Commission is therefore sending a reasoned opinion (the second stage in EU infringement proceedings). The Netherlands has two months to reply. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may refer it to the EU Court of Justice." 'via Blog this'

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