Liberalization of telecommunications - Progress towards the January 1998 deadline
Three months from the deadline fixed for the completion of telecoms liberalization in the EU, foreseen for 1 January 1998, the European Commission has presented an encouraging picture of progress towards this objective. The Commission's report, presented by Commissioners Van Miert and Bangemann, sets out the situation as it stood on 15 September 1997. A good number of Member States have either already completed the transposition of the regulatory framework, or will have done so by the end of the year. The national legislation of certain Member States is, however, still incomplete. The Commission considers this situation unacceptable and will be initiating legal proceedings against those Member States concerned. Overall, the Commission considers the progress made to be encouraging. Several reports have, however, been forwarded to the Commission concerning national measures which, although transposing Community legislation to the letter, are not correctly applied in practice. These include long delays for obtaining authorizations, prohibitive licence fees and interconnection charges. Several complaints have been registered and, in certain cases, have led to legal procedures being initiated.