Council approves new telecommunications measures
The Council of Ministers formally adopted the telecoms package on 14 February and gave Member States 15 months to implement it. Comprising a Framework Directive, an access and interconnection Directive, an authorisation Directive, a Directive on universal service and users' rights and a Decision on a regulatory framework for radio spectrum policy, the package makes a number of provisions for the continued use of the Internet in the EU. It is due to be supplemented by a Directive on protection of personal data, which should be ready in May. The package is designed to alleviate a lot of the red tape in the telecommunications sector and is technologically neutral, so that it applies to all transmissions networks. Meanwhile, at a conference in London, EU Enterprise and Information society Commissioner, Erkki Liikanen, emphasised that e-commerce is starting to mould the way that business is done. Speaking at the 'E-commerce and car distribution' event, he said that 'industry is in the process of evolving from one to one relationships to e-market places, with many to many relationships.' But he also highlighted that e-commerce should not be seen as a panacea. 'pure e-business is not sufficient to reduce the average lead times. An e-business strategy is necessary that has been collaboratively developed and makes possible the transparency of information,' he said.