29 Amendments of Franc BOGOVIČ related to 2023/0046(COD)
Amendment 93 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) It can be significantly more efficient for operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks, in particular new entrants, to reuse existing physical infrastructure, including that of other utilities, to roll out very high capacity networks or associated facilities. This is the case, in particular, in areas where no suitable electronic communications network is available or where it may not be economically feasible to build new physical infrastructure. Moreover, synergies across sectors may significantly reduce the need for civil works relating to the deployment of very high capacity networks. This reuse can also reduce the social and environmental costs linked to these works, such as pollution, noise and traffic congestion. Therefore, this Regulation should apply not only to operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks but also to owners or holders of rights to use extensive and ubiquitous physical infrastructure suitable to host electronic communications network elements, such as physical networks for the provision of electricity, gas, water and sewage and drainage systems, and heating and transport services. In the case of holders of rights, this does not change any property rights of third parties.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
Amendment 109 #
(19) In order to ensure legal certainty and avoid disproportionate burdens on network operators resulting from the simultaneous application of two distinct access regimes to the same physical infrastructure, physical infrastructure subject to access obligations imposed by national regulatory authorities pursuant to Directive (EU) 2018/1972 or access obligations resulting from the application of Union State aid rules should not be subject to access obligations set out in this Regulation for as long as such access obligations remain in place. However, this Regulation should be applicable where a national regulatory authority has imposed an access obligation under Directive (EU) 2018/1972 that limits the use that can be made of the physical infrastructure concerned. For instance, this could occur when an operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network planning to connect base stations requests access to existing physical infrastructure to which access obligations are imposed in the market for access to wholesale dedicated capacity37 . _________________ 37 Commission Recommendation (EU) 2020/2245 of 18 December 2020 on relevant product and service markets within the electronic communications sector susceptible to ex ante regulation in accordance with Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Electronic Communications Code, 18.12.2020, C(2020) 8750, OJ L 439, 29.12.2020, p. 23.
Amendment 115 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) To facilitate the reuse of existing physical infrastructure, where operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks request access in a specified area, network operators and public sector bodies that own or control physical infrastructure should make an offer for the shared use of their facilities under fair and reasonable terms and conditions, including price, unless access is refused for objective and justified reasons. Public sector bodies should also be required to offer access under non- discriminatory terms and conditions. Depending on the circumstances, several factors could influence the conditions under which such access is granted. These include: (i) any additional maintenance and adaptation costs; (ii) any preventive safeguards to be adopted to limit adverse effects on network safety, security and integrity; (iii) any specific liability arrangements in the event of damages; (iv) the use of any public subsidy granted for the construction of the infrastructure, including specific terms and conditions attached to the subsidy or provided under national law in compliance with Union law; (v) the ability to deliver or provide infrastructure capacity to meet public service obligations; and (vi) any constraints stemming from national provisions aiming to protect the environment, public health, public security or to meet town and country planning objectives.
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) Public sector bodies that own or control physical infrastructure may lack sufficient resources, experience or the necessary technical knowledge to engage in negotiations with operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks on access. To facilitate access to these public sector bodies’ physical infrastructure, a body could be appointed to coordinate the access requests, provide legal and technical advice for negotiating access terms and conditions, and make relevant information on such physical infrastructure available via a single information point. The coordinating body could also support public sector bodies in preparing model contracts and monitor the outcome and the length of time of the access requests process. The body could also help if disputes arise on access to physical infrastructure that public sector bodies own or control.
Amendment 123 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) OperatUndertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks should have access to minimum information on physical infrastructure and planned civil works in the area of deployment. This will enable them to effectively plan deploying very high capacity networks and ensure the most effective use of existing physical infrastructure, suitable for rolling out such networks, and planned civil works. Such minimum information is a pre-requisite to assess the potential for using existing physical infrastructure or coordinating the planned civil works in a specific area, as well as to reduce damage to any existing physical infrastructures. In view of the number of stakeholders involved (covering publicly and privately financed civil works as well as existing or planned physical infrastructure) and to facilitate access to that information (across sectors and borders), the network operators and public sector bodies subject to transparency obligations should proactively (rather than upon request) provide and maintain such minimum information via a single information point. This will simplify managing requests to access such information and enable operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks to express their interest in accessing physical infrastructure or coordinating civil works, for which timing is critical. The minimum information on planned civil works should be provided via a single information point as soon as the information is available to the network operator concerned and, in any event and where permits are required, no later than 3 months before the permit application is first submitted to the competent authorities.
Amendment 126 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) The minimum information should be made available promptly via the single information point under proportionate, non-discriminatory and transparent terms so that operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks can submit their requests for information. The single information point should consist of a repository of information in electronic format, where information can be accessed and requests can be made online using digital tools, such as webpages, digital applications, and digital platforms. The information made available may be limited to ensure network security and integrity, in particular that of critical infrastructure, national security, or to safeguard legitimate operating and business secrets. The single information point does not have to host the information as long as it ensures that links are available to other digital tools, such as web portals, digital platforms or digital applications, where the information is stored. The single information point may provide additional functionalities, such as access to additional information or support to the process of requests for access to existing physical infrastructure or to coordinate civil works.
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) In addition, if the request is reasonable, in particular if needed to share existing physical infrastructures or coordinate civil works, operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks should be granted the possibility to make on-site surveys and request information on planned civil works under transparent, proportionate and non-discriminatory conditions and without prejudice to the safeguards adopted to ensure network security and integrity, protection of confidentiality, as well as operating and business secrets.
Amendment 128 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) Advanced transparency of planned civil works via single information points should be incentivised. This can be done by easily redirecting operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks to such information whenever available. Transparency should also be enforced by making permit-granting applications subject to prior publication of information on planned civil works via a single information point.
Amendment 132 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 34
Recital 34
(34) Member States should maximise the results of civil works fully or partially financed by public means, by exploiting the positive externalities of those works across sectors and ensuring equal opportunities to share the available and planned physical infrastructure to deploy very high capacity networks. The main purpose of civil works financed by public means should not be adversely affected. However, timely and reasonable requests to coordinate the deployment of elements of very high capacity networks should be met by the network operator carrying out the civil works concerned directly or indirectly (for example, through a sub- contractor) under proportionate, non- discriminatory and transparent terms. For example, the requesting operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network should cover any additional costs, including those caused by delays and keep changes to the original plans to a minimum Such provisions should not affect the right of Member States to reserve capacity for electronic communications networks even in the absence of specific requests. This will enable Member States to meet future demand for physical infrastructures to maximise the value of civil works or to adopt measures giving similar rights to operators of other types of networks, such as transport, gas or electricity, to coordinate civil works.
Amendment 137 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 38
Recital 38
(38) A number of different permits for deploying elements of electronic communications networks or associated facilities may be necessary in order to protect national and Union general interests. These can include digging, building, town planning, environmental and other permits as well as rights of way. The number of permits and rights of way required for deploying different types of electronic communications networks or associated facilities and the local character of the deployment could involve applying different procedures and conditions, which can cause difficulties in the network deployment. Therefore, to facilitate deployment, all rules on the conditions and procedures applicable to granting permits and rights of way should be streamlined and consistent at national level. While preserving the right of each competent authority to be involved and maintain its decision-making prerogatives in accordance with the subsidiarity principle, all information on the procedures and general conditions applicable to granting permits for civil works and rights of way should be available via single information points. This could reduce complexity and increase efficiency and transparency for all operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks and particularly new entrants and smaller operatorundertakings not active in that area. Moreover, operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks should have the right to submit their requests for permits and rights of way in electronic format via a single information point. Those undertakings should also be able to retrieve information in electronic format about the status of their requests and whether they have been granted or refused.
Amendment 143 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 39
Recital 39
(39) Permit-granting procedures should not be barriers to investment or harm the internal market. Member States should therefore ensure that a decision on whether or not to grant permits on the deployment of elements of very high capacity networks or associated facilities is made available within 4 months from the receipt of a complete permit request. This is without prejudice to other specific deadlines or obligations laid down for the proper conduct of the procedure, which are applicable to the permit-granting procedure in accordance with national or Union law. Competent authorities should not restrict, hinder or make the deployment of very high capacity networks or associated facilities economically less attractive. Specifically, they should not prevent procedures for granting permits and rights of way from proceeding in parallel, where possible, or require operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks to obtain one type of authorisation before they can apply for other types of authorisations. Competent authorities should justify any refusal to grant permits or rights of way under their competence, based on objective, transparent, non- discriminatory and proportionate conditions.
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 40
Recital 40
(40) To avoid undue delays, competent authorities must determine the completeness of the permit request within 15 days from its receipt. The permit request should be deemed complete unless the competent authority invites the applicant to provide any missing information within that period. For reasons of equal treatment and transparency, the competent authorities should not consider permit requests for civil works to be admissible if the minimum information required under this Regulation has not been made available via a single information point within 3 months before the first permit request is submitted to the competent authorities. Where, in addition to permits, rights of way are required for deploying elements of very high capacity networks, competent authorities should, by way of derogation from Article 43 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, grant such rights of way within 4 months from the receipt of the request. Other rights of way not needed in conjunction with permits for civil works should continue to be granted within 6 months in accordance with Article 43 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972. OperatUndertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks that suffer damage due to the delay of a competent authority to grant permits or rights of way within the applicable deadlines should have the right to compensation.
Amendment 168 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 53
Recital 53
(53) To foster the modernisation and agility of administrative procedures and reduce the cost of and time spent on the procedures for deploying very high capacity networks, the services of single information points should be performed fully online. To that end, single information points should provide easy access to the necessary digital tools, such as web portals, digital platforms, and digital applications. The tools should give access in an efficient manner to the minimum information on existing physical infrastructure and planned civil works and the possibility to request information. Such digital tools should also give access to the electronic administrative procedures for granting permits and rights of way and related information on the applicable conditions and procedures. Where more than one single information point is set up in a Member State, all single information points should be easily and seamlessly accessible, by electronic means, via a single national digital entry point. This entry point should have a common user interface ensuring access to the online single information points. The single national digital entry point should facilitate interaction between operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks and competent authorities performing the functions of the single information points.
Amendment 182 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point 1 – point a
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point 1 – point a
(a) an operator as defined in Article 2, point (29), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972undertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network;
Amendment 212 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
1. Upon written request of an operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network, public sector bodies owning or controlling physical infrastructure or network operators shall meet all reasonable requests for access to that physical infrastructure under fair and reasonable terms and conditions, including price, with a view to deploying elements of very high capacity networks or associated facilities. Public sector bodies owning or controlling physical infrastructure shall meet all reasonable requests for access also under non-discriminatory terms and conditions. Such written requests shall specify the elements of the physical infrastructure for which the access is requested, including a specific time frame.
Amendment 235 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) in the specific case of access to physical infrastructure of operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks, the economic viability of those investments based on their risk profile, any time schedule for the return on investment, any impact of access on downstream competition and consequently on prices and return on investment, any depreciation of the network assets at the time of the access request, any business case underpinning the investment at the time it was made, in particular in the physical infrastructures used for the provision of connectivity, and any possibility previously offered to the access seeker to co-invest in the deployment of the physical infrastructure, notably pursuant to Article 76 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, or to co- deploy alongside it.
Amendment 263 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 7
Article 3 – paragraph 7
7. OperatUndertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks shall have the right to offer access to their physical infrastructure for the purpose of deploying networks other than electronic communications networks or associated facilities.
Amendment 267 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
In order to request access to physical infrastructure in accordance with Article 3, any operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network shall have the right to access, upon request, the following minimum information on existing physical infrastructure in electronic format via a single information point:
Amendment 270 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Any operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network requesting access to information pursuant to this Article shall specify the area in which it envisages deploying elements of very high capacity networks or associated facilities.
Amendment 278 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 3
Article 4 – paragraph 3
3. Network operators and public sector bodies shall meet reasonable requests for on-site surveys of specific elements of their physical infrastructure upon specific request of an operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network. Such requests shall specify the elements of the physical infrastructure concerned with a view to deploying elements of very high capacity networks or associated facilities. On-site surveys of the specified elements of the physical infrastructure shall be granted under proportionate, non- discriminatory and transparent terms within 1 month from the date of receipt of the request, subject to the limitations set out in paragraph 1, fourth subparagraph.
Amendment 287 #
5. OperatUndertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks that obtain access to information pursuant to this Article shall take appropriate measures to ensure respect for confidentiality and operating and business secrets.
Amendment 288 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. Any network operator shall have the right to negotiate agreements on the coordination of civil works, including on the apportioning of costs, with operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks with a view to deploying elements of very high capacity networks or associated facilities.
Amendment 289 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Any network operator when performing or planning to perform directly or indirectly civil works, which are fully or partially financed by public means, shall meet any reasonable written request to coordinate those civil works under transparent and non-discriminatory terms made by operatundertakings providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks with a view to deploying elements of very high capacity networks or associated facilities.
Amendment 309 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Amendment 321 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 3
Article 7 – paragraph 3
3. Any operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network shall have the right to submit, via a single information point in electronic format, applications for permits or rights of way and to retrieve information about the status of its application.
Amendment 329 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 4
Article 7 – paragraph 4
4. The competent authorities shall, within 15 working days from its receipt, reject applications for permits, including for rights of way, for which the minimum information has not been made available via a single information point, pursuant to Article 6(1) first subparagraph, by the same operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network which applies for that permit.
Amendment 377 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 11
Article 7 – paragraph 11
11. Any operatundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications network that has suffered damage as a result of non-compliance with the deadlines applicable under paragraphs 5 and 6 shall receive compensation for the damage suffered, in accordance with national law.
Amendment 439 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2
Where the dispute relates to access to the infrastructure of an operatorundertaking providing or authorised to provide public electronic communications networks and the national dispute settlement body is the national regulatory authority, the objectives set out in Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 shall be taken into account, where appropriate.