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Europe threatens fines for telecoms breaches
24 November 2011
European Commissioner Neelie Kroes warns of fines after 16 member states fail to implement consumer laws
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The European Commission has written to 16 member states which have failed to put new European Union telecoms rules into their national laws, six months after the deadline to do so.
Neelie Kroes, the media and telecoms commissioner in Brussels, has listed the countries facing action: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain — more than half the 27 members of the EU.
Only seven countries — Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the UK — met the May 25 2011 deadline for full implementation, and the others are more than six months overdue. However, the Commission admits, “legislative processes are ongoing in all EU member states”.
The new rules that the EU is trying to implement give customers rights regarding fixed telephony, mobile services and internet access — for instance, the right to switch telecoms operators in one day without changing their phone number and the right to clarity about data traffic management practices employed by internet service providers.
The Commission has warned the 16 late states that if they no not fully implement the new laws they risk referral to the EU’s Court of Justice and potential financial penalties.
To implement the new rules in full, Member States need to implement two new EU directives into national law: the better regulation directive and the citizens’ rights directive, which together amended five different existing eu directives — the framework directive, access directive, authorisation directive, universal service directive and e-privacy directive). GTB
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