Commission launches public consultation on electronic communications
The European Commission launched a public consultation on product and service markets in the electronic communications sector on June 18. The consultation centres on a Recommendation being made as part of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications in Europe that will be applied by Member States from July 2003. The Commission says the new framework will help customers get the best deal as well as ensuring greater legal certainty for market players and rolling back regulation where it is no longer required. The draft Recommendation, issued on 18 June, identifies and defines the relevant products and service markets that national regulators would be obliged to examine under the new regulatory framework, in order to assess their competitiveness. The public consultation will last for a month. The Commission will also hold a public hearing on the issue on 3 July. The final Recommendation will be adopted by the Commission following additional consultation of national regulatory and competition authorities.