BEREC response to EC Consultation Questions on the Procedural Recommendation for Internal Market Procedures under the European Electronic Communications Code

On 7th Jan. 2020 the Commissioned launched a consultation on the Procedural Recommendation for Internal Market Notifications. In the light of the provisions regarding notifications (Art. 32/33 EECC) the 2008 Procedural Recommendation on Art. 7/7a FD needs to be updated. In particular the two cases of the newly introduced double lock veto require attention.
BEREC responds to certain selected questions of the Consultation which are particularly relevant for BEREC’s role in the Art. 32/33 EECC notification procedure. The BEREC response does not replace the responses of individual NRAs, but complements it where appropriate. BEREC’s overall objective with regard to the notification procedure is to make it as efficient as possible and to ensure the tight time schedule and deadlines can be handled by NRAs and in phase-II cases also by BEREC’s expert teams.
BEREC suggests to develop the short notification procedure further so that it has a value added compared to the standard notification procedure. BEREC also suggests to consider exempting a number of cases from the obligation to notify and to have clear cut criteria for the exemption. BEREC considers that this would increase the efficiency of the process timewise and reduce the administrative burden for all involved participants – the NRAs, the Commission and BEREC.
Given the increased responsibility of BEREC in phase-II double lock cases (Art. 61.3 and 76.2 EECC) BEREC agrees with the need of NRAs providing more information in a structured way. Therefore BEREC suggests to develop a separate notification form for these two cases containing the relevant information for a first understanding of the decision making by other NRAs and the Commission