22nd BEREC Plenary Meeting in Berne

On 26 and 27 February 2015 in Berne (Switzerland) the BEREC Board of Regulators and the BEREC Office Management Committee held their 22nd ordinary plenary meetings, hosted by the Swiss Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM - BAKOM) and Federal Communications Commission (ComCom). These were the first plenary meetings  chaired by the BEREC Chair 2015 – Prof. Fátima Barros – President of the Board of ANACOM (Portugal).

The meetings were preceded by a public BEREC Workshop on Oligopoly Analysis and Regulation. The workshop was video-recorded and the recording will be made publicly available.

Conclusions of the Meeting of the Board of Regulators (BoR)

During its meeting the BoR discussed and approved the following document:

• 14^th International Roaming BEREC Benchmark Data Report April-September 2014;
• Decision of the Board of Regulators on the Co-Chairs of the BEREC Expert Working Groups;
• Outline of the BEREC annual reports for 2014;
• Project Requirements Document (PRD) on reflections on net neutrality (NN) in the Telecom Single Market  proposal for the work to be executed by the NN EWG;
• Roadmap for the implementation of the Information Sharing Portal.

Digital Single Market (DSM)

During the plenary meeting the BoR discussed the main challenges that the sector will face in the next five years, in an attempt to identify potential bottlenecks to be addressed by the next review of the EU Regulatory Framework for eCommunications. This was the first of a series of sessions for exchanging views aiming at supporting the Commission in the preparation of the review of the EU telecom rules in the context of the DSM Initiative. The BoR discussed also the review of the BEREC Office organisational and financial structure and decided to include this topic in one of the next meetings dedicated on the forthcoming review in order to explore the possibility for expanding the support provided by the BEREC Office to BEREC.

Report on post-merger market developments

The BoR decided to prepare a Report on post-merger market developments. Consequently the BoR requested the Market and Economic Analysis EWG to prepare a draft PRD for the work to be carried out by BEREC in this area and to submit it for approval to the next BoR plenary meeting (4-5 June 2015, Bergen).

The BoR was briefed on the following topics:

• the outcome of the BEREC Workshop on Oligopoly Analysis and Regulation (25 February 2015, Berne);
• the forthcoming BEREC Workshop on equivalent access and choice for disabled end-users (4 March 2015, Brussels);
• the state of work on the project for the development of BEREC collaboration platform BERECnet;
• the state of preparation of the BEREC Study for the future development of the telecom sector;
• the BEREC International activities.

Conclusions of the Meeting of the BEREC Office Management Committee (MC)

During the meeting the MC approved for signature the Mission Charter of the Internal Audit Service of the European Commission in relation to bodies set up under the TFEU and the EUROATOM Treaty having legal personality and receiving contributions charged to the budget. The Charter was signed by the BEREC Chair on behalf of the MC on the day of its approval, namely 27 February 2015.

The MC took note of the information provided in the following documents:

• Explanatory Note on transfers by Administrative Manager in BEREC Office Budget 2014 in October-December 2014;
• 2014 BEREC Office Report on operation and budget execution;
• 2014 BEREC Office Report on budgetary and financial management;
• Notes on audit conclusions from the Commission Internal Audit Service on the follow-up on the outstanding recommendations form the limited review on the Implementation of Internal Control Standards (ICSs) at the BEREC Office;
• Report on the Activities of the BEREC Office Advisory Group (BAG) in 2014.

The MC discussed the current policy of the BEREC Office for reimbursement of NRAs’ representatives participating in BEREC activities. The MC asked the BEREC Vice-Chair (BNetzA) to further study the possibility for reimbursing the EWG Chairs who are requested to present BEREC documents at the Contact Network and plenary meetings and to come-up with a proposal at the next MC plenary meeting (4-5 June 2015, Bergen).

The MC discussed also the possibility of acquisition and usage of BEREC Office assets (in particular video-conference equipment) at the premises of the BEREC Brussels presence (IRG Secretariat). The MC asked the BEREC Office AM in cooperation with the BEREC Vice-Chair from BNetzA and the Commission Services to prepare a draft MC Decision and to submit it to the MC for approval.

Presenting the result of the meetings to the public

The outcome of the meetings was presented at a public debriefing on 4 March 2015,  from 15.00 to 17.00. The debriefing was made available to the public through live video streaming, starting at 15.00 h, on 4 March 2015, to be accessible here.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the BoR will take place on 4 and 5 June 2015 in Bergen (Norway) and will behosted by the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom). The meeting will be preceded by a Heads Workshop on the forthcoming review of the regulatory framework for electronic communications of the EU (future of regulation).