BEREC Chairmanship

BEREC Chair 2024

Tonko Obuljen is the BEREC Chair 2024. He was appointed as President of the Council of Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) in 2018 and is currently serving his second five-year mandate. Prior to the presidency, he served as Director of HAKOM from 2006 to 2009 and as a Member of HAKOM’s Council from 2009 to 2013. During the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union (2005-2013) he was a member of the Information Society working group and also served as a member of the drafting teams for the harmonization of Electronic Communications Act and bylaws with EU legislation. From 1993 to 2006, he worked in the Croatian electronic communications industry, mainly in microwave and satellite communications. He participated in developing the Croatian state aid programs for backhaul and access networks and in setting up current end-user protection ecosystem in Croatia. In 2020, Tonko Obuljen also served as a Vice-Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications - BEREC.

BEREC Vice-Chairs 2024

The BEREC Vice-Chairs for 2024 are the following:

The BEREC Chair and Vice-Chairs, together with the representative of Participants without voting rights, Mr Hrafnkell V. Gíslason (ECOI, Iceland), compose the Mini-Board. The main duty of the Mini-Board is to assist the Chair in the performance of their duties. 

Appointment process

Every year, the BEREC Board of Regulators (BoR) elects among its members the Chair for the year subsequent to the following year. To be nominated and elected as Chair, the nominee needs to be supported by at least four members, excluding the candidate itself, and serve at least one year as Vice-Chair. Moreover, at least two-thirds of the members need to vote in favour of one of the Chair’s candidates to reach a majority. Usually, the election takes place during the penultimate BEREC ordinary meeting, when the regular four ordinary meetings are scheduled. Otherwise, the election takes place in the latter half of the year. Overall, the duration of the Chairmanship is one year, renewable once.

Similarly, every year, the BoR elects at least two Vice-Chairs from among its members for the following year. Moreover, the incoming Chair for the year subsequent to the following year and the BEREC Chair of the current year serve as Vice-Chairs. 

Duties and responsibilities

As laid down in Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the Agency for Support for BEREC (BEREC Office) – the BEREC Regulation – and upon mandate of the BoR, the BEREC Chair is responsible for all external relations on behalf of BEREC, representing its interests. In this regard, the BEREC Chair has the responsibility to inform all members of the external activities and to report on their results and provide all relevant materials. Moreover, and when invited, the BEREC Chair is responsible to report on the performance of BEREC’s tasks to the European Parliament and the European Commission. The BEREC Chair also serves as the Chair of the Mini-Board, and in this regard convenes the meetings and informs the BoR of the activities of the Mini-Board. 

The BEREC Vice-Chairs have two distinct duties. On the one hand, the incoming Chair or, if the former is not available, the Vice-Chairs, take over the role as Chair if the latter is not in the position to perform their duties. On the other hand, each of the Vice-Chairs provides support and follows the work of a specific cluster of BEREC Working Groups (WGs). The constellation of each cluster of WGs to be assigned to a Vice-Chair is decided by the BEREC Chair. Moreover, in the year preceding the chairmanship, the incoming BEREC Chair has the duty to prepare the Annual Work Programme.

External meeting of the BEREC Chair

Previous BEREC Chairs