Activites

• 1998/10/03 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 1998/61
  • OJ L 268 03.10.1998, p. 0001
• 1998/09/24 Final act signed
• 1998/09/24 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2115
• 1998/07/20 Council Meeting
• 1998/05/14 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0278/1998 summary

    In adopting the recommendation for second reading by Mr W. G. van VELZEN (EPP, NL) Parliament approved the Council common position. However Parliament called for the national regulatory authorities to ensure that pricing for interconnection related to the provision of this facility was cost-oriented and that direct charges to consumers, if any, did not act as a disincentive for the use of this facility. �

• 1998/05/13 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    Commissioner Bangemann accepted the amendment to the common position tabled by the rapporteur.

• 1998/04/15 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0127/1998
• 1998/02/19 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2067
• 1998/02/12 Council Meeting
  • 13518/1/1997 summary

    The common position adopts the one amendment proposed by the European Parliament and adopted by the Commission in its modified proposal. This amendment concerns the deferment laws (Article 20(2) of Directive 97/33/EC on interconnection), introducing greater flexibility concerning the introduction of number portability where the Member States concerned prove that compliance with the deadline would impose an excessive burden on the operators concerned. The amendment seeks to extend the possibility for deferment to include carrier preselection. The common position has introduced a number of modifications to the Commission proposal: - the date for the introduction of number portability and carrier preselection is set at 01/01/2000 for ten Member States, 01/07/2000 for Luxembourg, 01/12/2000 for Spain, 01/01/2002 for Portugal and Ireland and 01/01/2003 for Greece. The Member States agree to introduce these services as soon as they can and, if possible, before the target date; - the common position allows national legislations to extend the obligation to provide carrier preselection to operators other than those with significant market power; - a definition of geographic number has been added to specify that number portability applies to geographic and well as non-geographic numbers; - finally, references to integrated services digital network (ISDN) have been introduced to specify that the subscriber may have access to number portability and carrier preselection independently of the network used. �

• #2054
• 1997/12/01 Council Meeting
• 1997/11/28 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1997)0674 summary

    The Commission modified its proposal, taking over the single amendment proposed by the European Parliament intended to extend the scope of the deferment clause referred to in Article 20(2) of Directive 97/33/EC. This clause allows flexibility for the date of implementation of number portability in cases where Member States can prove that this would impose an excessive burden on the operators concerned. The amendment extends the deferment clause to carrier pre-selection. Under this clause, temporary deferment may be granted by the Commission on the basis of objective arguments and taking account of the particular situation in the Member State and the need to ensure a coherent regulatory environment at Community level. �

• 1997/11/20 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0568/1997 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr W.G. VAN VELZEN (PPE, NL), the European Parliament has approved almost all the articles of the proposed Directive. However, it feels it should be possible to request a postponement of the obligations referred to in Article 12 (5) and (7) of Directive 97/33/EEC if the Member State concerned can show that these obligations would constitute an excessive constraint upon certain organizations. �

• 1997/11/19 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    Commissioner Monti said that he could accept Amendment No 1, which allowed for a certain flexibility in each individual case and when there were objective difficulties with regard to the date of introducing carrier pre-selection.

• 1997/11/04 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0346/1997
• 1997/10/20 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1997/10/01 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1997)0480 summary

    OBJECTIVE: the present proposal for a directive seeks to strengthen those measures in respect of Community legislation on telecommunications which currently relate to equal quantitative and qualitative access to numbering resources for all market players. CONTENT: the Commission proposes a limited and specific amendment of the 'interconnection' directive (Directive 97/33/EC). The proposed changes comprise: - requesting national regulatory authorities to encourage the early introduction of operator number portability and to ensure that this service is available throughout the entire territory of the Member State by 1 January 2000 at the latest; - compelling national regulatory authorities to require organisations operating public telecommunications networks and having significant market power to provide a carrier preselection service, and to ensure that this is available by 1 January 2000 at the latest. The proposed mechanism will enable the subscriber to choose the service provider by default, for example for international or long-distance calls, while at the same time giving him the opportunity to cancel this choice by dialling a short prefix when making the call. It should be noted that the present proposal has been requested by the European Parliament and the Council. It reflects the results of a wide public consultation on numbering, which was organised following publication of the Green Paper on telephone numbering. �

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1997)0480
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0346/1997
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0568/1997
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1997)0674
• Council position published: 13518/1/1997
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0127/1998
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0278/1998
• : Directive 1998/61
• : OJ L 268 03.10.1998, p. 0001

History

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