Procedure completed
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
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Lead | ECON | VAN VELZEN W.G. (PPE) | |
Opinion | JURI | COT Jean-Pierre (PSE) |
Legal Basis RoP 132
Activites
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1997/10/06
Final act published in Official Journal
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1997/09/18
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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T4-0451/1997
summary
In adopting the report by Mr Wim van VELZEN (PPE, NL), Parliament expressed its disapproval of the fact that the important subject of universal service was regulated in a variety of directives and communications. It called for a consolidated directive on telecommunications and a directive on costing and financing the universal service to be drawn up at an early date. It asked the Commission to publish an overview of legislation on the financing of universal telecommunications service in the Member States. Parliament subscribed to the principle that the rules for universal telecommunications service should only relate to the costs to be charged to the provision of the universal service. It considered that net costs should be calculated on the basis of procedures and criteria which were objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and which satisfied the principle of proportionality. It called on the Commission to: - ensure that market operators were not asked to make a contribution to universal service for as long as there were no cost-based interconnection tariffs in a Member State; - ensure that Member States seeking to finance the net costs of universal service in the telecommunications sector from the public budget only took such action if it fully conformed with the rules on state aid, in order to prevent an unfair advantage for existing enterprises. Finally, Parliament emphasized that, even after tariff restructuring, each citizen should have the right to a connection which was affordable and that a universal service mechanism could be set up for this purpose. �
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T4-0451/1997
summary
- 1997/09/17 Debate in Parliament
- 1997/09/03 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
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1996/12/10
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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1996/11/27
Non-legislative basic document published
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COM(1996)0608
summary
OBJECTIVE: the communication seeks to inform the Member States on the criteria which the Commission will use in assessing under Community law provisions relating to the costing and financing of universal service within national schemes for universal service. SUBSTANCE: universal service is the guarantee that every citizen, independent of their place of residence or standard of living, has access to essential services at an affordable price. For telecommunications the Commission indicated that that defined service comprises 'the provision of voice telephony service via a fixed connection which will also allow a fax and a modem to operate, as well as the provision of operator assistance, emergency and directory enquiry services (including the provision of subscriber directories) and the provision of public payphones. In addition 'users should have access to published information about the cost, prices and quality of services'. With regard to the financing of the universal service, the document points out that the national regulatory authorities can choose between the following three options: - universal financing is not required, because universal service obligations do not result in a net cost or the net cost established does not represent an unfair burden for the operator concerned; - universal service obligations do represent a burden, but the State chooses to finance it directly or indirectly; - universal service obligations are considered a burden and a specific universal service financing scheme is required, In such a case the national schemes must be in accordance with Community law and the Commission must assess them. To this end the Commission indicates that it will examine the following aspects: 1) national schemes may cover only the net cost of universal service obligations as defined in Community law (i.e. the costs associated with the provision of the public fixed telephone networks and publicly available fixed telephone service). The calculation should take account of both costs and revenues; 2) national schemes must ensure that the net cost of universal service is calculated according to objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportional criteria and procedures; 3) national schemes must ensure that an operator claiming universal service financing clearly identify (for example by way of a formal declaration), which customers or groups of customers it formally refuses to service or it intends to disconnect, unless the burden associated with offering service to them is shared via a national scheme; 4) national schemes may not be used to recover net costs which are not attributable to universal service obligations (e.g. maintenance of public security, supplies to schools, hospitals or similar establishments, refunds to users because of failure to meet quality levels, normal network modernization); 5) the Commission will also examine: - whether the specific mechanisms created to fund universal service are objective, non-discriminatory, transparent and proportionate; - which bodies (clearly identified by the national schemes) are required to contribute to the costs associated with universal service obligations; - the method chosen to identify and apportion the contributions to the net cost of universal service amongst market players; - the mechanisms for payments out of national schemes. �
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COM(1996)0608
summary
Documents
- Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1996)0608
- Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0270/1997
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0451/1997
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