The Committee of the Regions welcomed the two proposals put forward by the Commission and stressed that further complementary measures were required as a matter of some urgency in order to complete the Community’s regulatory framework for the telecommunications sector, the aim being to create a genuine, open and dynamic telecommunications market under the deadlines set for the deregulation of this sector. The CoR proposed that the wording of the directive should provide for a set of regulations aimed at prohibiting discrimination between organisations operating public telecommunications networks in respect of the granting of public ‘rights of way’ for the ‘supply’ of these network services. The CoR wished to see the Commission’s proposals definitively approved as soon as possible and hoped that Member States would accept them officially without delaying their implementation and without evading any of the Community instructions. To this effect the Commission was called on to monitor the situation and to obtain from the Member States all the information that it needed to verify compliance with the directive. While agreeing with the objective of establishing a fully deregulated telecommunications system, the CoR was fully aware of the huge social impact created by the introduction of the information society and recommended that the Commission, when putting in place the required regulatory measures, should at the same time implement a series of initiatives linked to various basic themes outlined in the Green Paper, namely: - the development of employment opportunities in this sector; - the social implications of a fully deregulated telecommunications market; - the interaction between telecommunications policy and EU policy in related sectors, especially as regards data protection and consumer protection requirements; - the implications in respect of the impact of the new technologies on public health. As already highlighted in the Opinion on the Green Paper issued by the Committee of the Regions on 28 September 1994, the Commission was called on to intensify its research efforts, hitherto considered as insufficient, particularly as regards exposure to electromagnetic radiation and the role of regional and local authorities in issuing permits for the installation of aerials and for transmission equipment.

‘The COUNCIL - NOTES that the Commission requested, on 3 August 1995, any comments from the Council on the draft Commission Directive amending Directive 90/388/EEC as regards mobile and personal communications; sent the President-­in-­Office of the Council, on 29 September 1995, the draft Commission Directive amending Directive 90/388/EEC as regards the implementation of full competition in telecommunications markets; - NOTES also the public consultation launched by the Commission following the publication of the two draft Directives in the Official Journal of the European Communities; - REAFFIRMS that it is important that the conditions governing the definition of the Community’s future policy on the liberalisation of telecommunications services and infrastructures should result from a political agreement based on the compromise of December 1989 and takes note of the Commission’s support for this approach; - RECALLS in this connection the political agreement reached at the Telecommunications Council meeting on 17 November 1994, which was given concrete form in the Council Resolution of 22 December 1994 and in the statements made on that occasion; RECALLS that this Resolution recognises in particular the principle of liberalisation of telecommunication infrastructures on 1 January 1998, on the understanding that an additional transitional period is granted to certain Member States; - POINTS OUT that the Commission must also take account in its approach: of the responsibilities of the European Parliament and the Council for the legislative provisions designed, on the basis of Commission proposals, to establish the European regulatory framework for telecommunications, particularly as regards interconnection rules, universal service provision, access to frequencies for terminal equipment and licensing; of the need for consistency and balance between the processes of harmonisation and liberalisation; of the time that may be required by the Member States for adopting national measures to implement the Directives proposed by the Commission; - EMPHASISES that these conclusions are without prejudice to the Member States’ respective positions on the form and content of the draft Directives submitted by the Commission; - NOTES in this connection that, when this text was examined by the Council’s subordinate bodies, many questions were put to the Commission by the Member States and that since then most of the Member States have also forwarded written comments on one of the Commission drafts; - CALLS ON the Commission to reply to the questions put to it and to take the utmost account of the positions expressed by the Council and the Member States before taking any further action that it deems appropriate in respect of these initiatives.’

The ESC welcomed the Commission proposal as the liberalisation of mobile and personal communication services was one of the major outstanding activities of the Commission’s overall strategy to achieve full liberalisation of telecommunications services by 1 January 1998. The ESC expressed to the Commission its concern that competition in the market in telecommunications services be developed in an orderly manner and with regard to the social consequences. It was of the view that the benchmark date of 1 January 1996 should be kept and that those Member States that did have difficulty in meeting that date should be eligible for derogations. With regard to the licensing conditions, the ESC considered that to ensure effective competition in the provision of infrastructures and services, these conditions should be expanded to include: - accounting separation of the business of any operator; - access for mobile operators to the network of any operator on terms at least as favourable as those applicable to any mobile operator owned by it; - likewise with regard to the sale of airtime to any service provider; - prohibition of any unfair cross-subsidies or ‘linked’ sales or any other matter likely to have an anti-competitive effect. Finally, the ESC was pleased to see that subsequent to the publication of this draft Directive the Commission had launched a special investigation into the effects of radio frequency radiation on the health of mobile phone users.