Call for initial stakeholder input for the preparation of the BEREC Guidelines on the coordination of civil works according to Article 5(6) of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act
The new Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) entered into force on 11 May 2024 and replaces the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (BCRD) adopted in 2014. Most provisions of the GIA shall apply from 12 November 2025 onward. In Article 5(6) of the GIA, the co-legislators task BEREC with the provision of the Guidelines as follows:
“By 12 November 2025, after consulting stakeholders, the national dispute settlement bodies and other competent Union bodies or agencies in the relevant sectors, as appropriate, and after taking into account well-established principles and the specific situations of each Member State, BEREC shall, in close cooperation with the Commission, provide guidelines on the application of this Article, in particular concerning:
(a) apportioning the costs associated with the coordination of civil works as referred to in paragraph 1;
(b) the criteria that the dispute settlement bodies should follow when settling disputes falling within the scope of this Article; and
(c) the criteria for ensuring sufficient capacity to accommodate foreseeable future reasonable needs if coordination of civil works is refused pursuant to paragraph 4.”
During the 59th BEREC ordinary meeting (06 June 2024), the Board of Regulators approved for internal use the Scoping and Proposal document for the BEREC Guidelines on the coordination of civil works according to Article 5(6) of the GIA which envisaged that BEREC Guidelines will also consider the stakeholders’ views which will be collected by means of an initial call for input, by answering a set of questions.
This call for input gives stakeholders the opportunity for an early involvement in the development of the BEREC guidelines on the coordination of civil works according to Article 5(6) of the GIA.
All stakeholders are invited to submit
their input by 20 September 2024 COB
to the following hyperlink:
https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/Call_for_stakeholder_input_art5_GIA_GL
Stakeholders’ submissions will be published unless declared as confidential and will be used as input to BEREC’s thinking on draft guidelines, but BEREC will not be publishing a direct response to their input at this stage. Stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide further submissions to BEREC when Draft Guidelines are consulted and BEREC will respond to that input in a separate document. The Board of Regulators will adopt and publish the Guidelines by 12 November 2025.