Press release - BEREC defines its vision for the regulatory environment by 2030
BEREC defines its vision for the regulatory environment by 2030
BEREC is aiming to actively facilitate and foster open, secure, high‑quality, competitive and sustainable digital ecosystems that will empower people and businesses in future societies by 2030. The Action Plan adopted at the recent ordinary meetings explains BEREC’s vision for its continuous and future contribution towards the regulatory environment of Europe 2030. A number of other documents presented today at the public debriefing by the BEREC Chair, Kostas Masselos (EETT, Greece) and the Working Group Co-chairs pave the way towards achieving these set objectives.
BEREC Action Plan 2030
With the support of the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and stakeholders’ input, BEREC stresses its readiness to be actively involved in shaping the regulatory environment of Europe 2030, to be fit for the digital age in the global context. Multiple BEREC long-term strategic actions within the BEREC 2030 project are based on five identified strategic orientations. These objectives include: (a) fostering national and international connectivity, (b) facilitating an open and sustainable internet ecosystem and supervising the evolution of the digital landscape, (c) providing for the security and resilience of networks and services, (d) contributing to the achievement of sustainability goals and (e) strengthening BEREC’s agility, independence, inclusiveness and efficiency as a centre of expertise.
Call for inputs – Work Programme 2024
The incoming BEREC Chair, Tonko Obuljen (HAKOM, Croatia), launched an early call for stakeholders’ input towards the work plans for 2024. The written input from the stakeholders is expected by 14 April 2023. The incoming Chair also invited the stakeholders to use the opportunity to meet BEREC in person at its annual event, the BEREC Stakeholder Forum, which will take place on 30 March 2023, in Brussels. The BEREC Stakeholder Forum will keep the recently established tradition of organising the event in two parts. In the morning, the Meet & Greet sessions will take place – short, informal meetings with the BEREC Working Group Co-chairs. While, in the afternoon, BEREC will hold the conference with discussion panels on the relevance of the accessibility of electronic communications services for end-users with disabilities; the role of regulation in the digital era and the Data Act.
Intra-EU regulation review
To support the European Commission’s assessment of the effects of the existing measures set out in the BEREC regulation on intra-EU communications, BEREC has prepared an opinion analysing the measures imposed, drawing on data collected for the Intra-EU communications reports. In the document, BEREC concludes that the price cap set by the regulation did not significantly impact the volumes consumed or the number of consumers using these services. As regards substitutes to intra-EU communications services, BEREC concludes that end-users show steadily increasing preference for free of charge NI-ICS services. Among other conclusions, BEREC notes, that end-users still have difficulties to understand the difference between roaming and intra-EU communication services. Therefore, BEREC suggests to launch communication campaigns to increase the transparency in this regard.
Public consultations
The BEREC Chair launched public consultations for two draft documents that were presented during the public debriefing:
- the updated Very High Capacity Networks Guidelines provides an update for criterion 4 (i.e. performance thresholds for wireless networks to qualify as very high capacity networks) based on data collected from mobile network operators on 5G. The other criteria remain unchanged. The public consultation on the updated Guidelines will be open until 28 April 2023;
- the draft BEREC Report on sustainability indicators for measuring the environmental impact of electronic communication networks and services, which is the first step in BEREC’s future work regarding the assessment of Electronic Communications Networks’/ Electronic Communications Services’ environmental footprint, relevant indicators and transparency of this information towards public decision makers, end-users and economic players. Deadline for inputs: 12 April 2023.
Comparison tools and accreditation
BEREC published a report on comparison tools and accreditation offering insights into the independent comparison tools that enable consumers to compare and evaluate different services. The report also sets out details of the certification process within each EU Member State available to providers of an independent comparison tool that meets the requirements of the European Electronic Communications Code. It requires NRAs to ensure that end-users have free‑of‑charge access to at least one independent comparison tool. The tool must enable end‑users to compare and evaluate different Internet Access Services and publicly available Number‑Based Interpersonal Communications Services concerning the quality of services and their prices and tariffs.
Public documents available online
A full list of BEREC’s public documents adopted at the 54th ordinary meetings are available on the BEREC website; the presentation and the video recording of the BEREC public debriefing will be available shortly. The 55th BEREC ordinary meetings will take place on 8‑9 June 2023, in Montenegro. The next BEREC public debriefing will be held on 14 June 2023, in Brussels.