Activites

• 1994/07/19 Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading
  • T4-0001/1994 summary

    Parliament rejected the Council text and called on its President to declare that the draft act had not been adopted. �

• 1994/07/15 Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading
  • A4-0001/1994
• 1994/04/26 Final decision by Conciliation Committee
• 1994/03/29 Formal meeting of Conciliation Committee
• 1994/03/28 Parliament's amendments rejected by Council
• 1994/01/19 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T3-0015/1994 summary

    The European Parliament applied for the first time the new codecision procedure introduced by the Maastricht Treaty when it adopted in a second reading its recommendation on the application to voice telephony of the principles of open network provision. In line with the proposals of its rapporteur, Mrs Read from the UK Labour Party, Parliament retabled its amendments on equal treatment and information for users, compensation for failure to meet quality requirements and - a problem which had arisen countless times and would continue to arise concerning committee procedures - the substitution of an advisory committee for the regulatory committee provided for by the Council.�

• 1994/01/18 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

• 1993/12/20 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A3-0006/1994
• 1993/12/16 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• 1993/10/26 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

• 1993/10/13 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A3-0287/1993
• 1993/06/30 Council position published
  • 06957/1/1993 summary

    In its Common Position, the Council adopted 20 of the 24 amendments proposed by the European Parliament and accepted by the Commission. The main amendments covered the following points: - questions relating to interconnection with a view to Community-wide interoperability: the text specified the obligations on telecommunications organisations to satisfy their requests for interconnection. The regulatory authorities should ensure that telecommunications organisations adhere to the principle of non-discrimination when entering into interconnection agreements with others; - cost accounting principles: the cost accounting principle was aligned with the principle set out in the Directive on the application of open network provision to leased lines. Other cost accounting schemes could be applied only if they allowed for the application of the tariff principles set out in the Directive, if they had been approved by the national regulatory authorities and notified in advance to the Commission; - itemised billing: calls to emergency call numbers, which are free of charge for the caller, should not included in itemised bills; - numbering: the national regulatory authorities should encourage the use of any European numbering plans for the supply of pan-European supplementary services such as green or freephone numbers, kiosk billing, automatic reverse charging facility, etc.; - procedure for Community-wide convergence of targets and common services implemented by Member States: the procedure under which the Commission may set harmonised targets and target dates for the application of the Directive was limited to the implementation by the Member States of provisions on targets relating to service provision and quality, provision of additional advanced services and itemised billing; - procedures for conciliation and settlement of disputes: only the Community conciliation procedure and the national settlement of disputes were concerned. A dispute settlement procedure at Community level was not adopted; - comitology: the Common Position laid down the type IIIa regulatory committee procedure; - review: the Commission should submit to the European Parliament and the Council a first report on the operation of the Directive at the latest four years after its adoption. �

• 1993/05/07 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1993)0182 summary

    In its amended proposal, the Commission took up 16 of the 37 amendments adopted by the European Parliament at first reading, in particular those on the following points: - the need to ensure equitable treatment of users throughout the Community; - the provision of voice telephony services supplementing the minimum range of services described in the Directive should not lead to unreasonable increases in the prices for basic voice telephony services; - requests for access to the public telephone network at points other than the network termination points offered to the majority of telephone users should be reasonable in terms of economic and technical viability; - users should be able to obtain, on request, a connection to the public telephone network and benefit from the connection and use of approved terminal equipment on users' premises; - information on the provision of new services should be published and readily accessible to users; - the termination of provision of existing services or a change modifying their use should take place only after expiry of a period of notice set by the national regulatory authority; - refund mechanisms should be introduced in cases of failure to comply with contractually agreed service quality levels; - telecommunications organisations should reply immediately to connection requests and give users an estimated date for provision of the service; they should also obtain the agreement of the regulatory authority to amend tariff and supply conditions; - telecommunications organisations should obtain the agreement of the national authorities to refuse or restrict special network access; users should be able to obtain a prompt explanation as to why the request had been refused; - users should not have to pay for functions not required for the service requested. Parliament's amendments rejected by the Commission referred to additional consultation and the need to inform Parliament and the Council and dealt with the problems encountered by small and medium-sized telecommunications bodies in the case of interconnection to the network of large telecommunications organisations. �

• 1993/03/10 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T3-0143/1993 summary

    Parliament approved at first reading the report by Mrs Read (Soc., UK) and all the amendments tabled by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. These included an amendment that defined small or medium-sized telecommunications organisations as 'public or private bodies to which a Member State grants special or exclusive rights for the operation of a public telecommunications network and, where applicable, public telecommunications services, and whose annual turnover from such operations and services does not exceed 10% of the national market'. Parliament called on telecommunications organisations to respond to requests for connection to the public telephone network without delay and to give the user an estimated target date for the provision of service. Parliament also wished for 'itemised billing [to] be made available to users with the exception of calls to helplines or unless the user expressly requests not to have such a facility'.�

• 1993/03/09 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

• 1993/02/18 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A3-0064/1993
• 1992/10/26 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1992/08/27 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1992)0247 summary

    This proposal for a directive on the application of open network provision to voice telephony had three objectives: - to establish the rights of users with regard to connection to the fixed public telephone network and the use of that network for voice and non-voice telephony; - to improve access to the public telephone network infrastructure for all users, including service providers; - to enhance Community-wide provision of voice telephony services. The Commission's proposal, which included no less than 9 chapters and 32 articles, sought in particular to: - improve access to the public telephone network infrastructure for all users, including service providers, on a equitable and non-discriminatory basis; - establish the rights of users of voice telephony services in their dealings with the relevant telecommunications organisations in each of the Member States.�

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1992)0247
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A3-0064/1993
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T3-0143/1993
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1993)0182
• Council position published: 06957/1/1993
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A3-0287/1993
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A3-0006/1994
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T3-0015/1994
• Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading: A4-0001/1994
• Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading: T4-0001/1994

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)