Tasks

In accordance with 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) – the ‘BEREC Regulation’ – the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) carries out its tasks independently, impartially, transparently and in a timely manner.

BEREC has the following regulatory tasks, set out in Article 4 of the BEREC Regulation:

  • assist and advise the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), the European Parliament (EP), the European Council (Council) and the European Commission (EC), and to cooperate with the NRAs and the EC, upon request or on its own initiative, on any technical matter regarding electronic communications within its competence;
  • assist and advise the EC, upon request, in relation to the preparation of legislative proposals in the field of electronic communications, including on any proposed amendment of the BEREC Regulation or of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code – the ‘EECC’;
  • issue opinions, as referred to in Regulation (EU) 2022/612 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union – the ‘Roaming Regulation’ – and in the EECC;
  • issue guidelines on the implementation of the European Union (EU) regulatory framework for electronic communications, in particular, as referred to in the Roaming Regulation, in Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 on laying down measures concerning open internet access and retail charges for regulated intra-EU communications – the ‘Telecoms Single Market Regulation’ – and in the EECC;
  • issue other guidelines ensuring the consistent implementation of the regulatory framework for electronic communications and consistent regulatory decisions by the NRAs, either on its own initiative or upon the request of an NRA, the EP, the Council or the EC, in particular for regulatory issues affecting a significant number of Member States or with a cross-border element;
  • where relevant, to participate in the Peer Review Forum for draft measures on selection procedures, in accordance with Article 35 EECC;
  • participate on issues concerning its competence relating to market regulation and competition relating to radio spectrum, in accordance with Article 4 EECC;
  • conduct analyses of potential transnational markets, in accordance with Article 65 EECC, and to conduct analyses of transnational end-user demand, in accordance with Article 66 EECC;
  • monitor and collect information and, where relevant, make up-to-date information publicly available on the application of the Roaming Regulation;
  • report on technical matters within its competence;
  • issue recommendations and common positions, and disseminate regulatory best practices addressed to the NRAs in order to encourage the consistent and better implementation of the regulatory framework for electronic communications;
  • in accordance with the EECC, to establish and maintain a database of: 
    • the notifications transmitted to the competent authorities by undertakings subject to general authorisation;
    • the numbering resources with a right of extraterritorial use within the EU;
    • where relevant, E.164 numbers of Member State emergency services;
  • evaluate the needs for regulatory innovation and coordinate actions between NRAs to enable the development of new innovative electronic communications;
  • promote the modernisation, coordination and standardisation of the collection of data by NRAs, such data being made available to the public in an open, reusable and machine-readable format on the BEREC website and the European data portal, without prejudice to intellectual property rights, personal data protection rules and the required level of confidentiality;
  • carry out other tasks assigned to it by legal acts of the EU, in particular by the Roaming Regulation, Telecoms Single Market Regulation and the EECC.

In addition to the BEREC Regulation, BEREC fulfils its tasks in compliance with:

Other important documents that form the legal framework for the work of both the NRAs and BEREC include: Recommendation (EU) 2020/2245 on relevant product and service markets within the electronic communications sector susceptible to ex ante regulation – the ‘Recommendation on relevant markets’; Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/654 on setting a single maximum Union wide mobile voice termination rate and a single maximum Union-wide fixed voice termination rate, supplementing the EECC; Recommendation 2010/572/EU on regulated access to Next Generation Access Networks (NGA) – the ‘NGA Recommendation’; Recommendation 2013/466/EU on consistent non-discrimination obligations and costing methodologies to promote competition and enhance the broadband investment environment, among others.