Procuring telecommunications services
The European Commission has recently published a notice inviting contracting entities in the telecommunications sector to notify the Commission of telecommunications services that they regard exempt from the provisions of Directive 93/38/EEC which coordinates procurement procedures in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors. The legislation provides that entities may be exempt on the grounds that other entities are free to offer the same services in the same geographical area and substantially under the same conditions. Contracting entities are invited to submit all relevant specific data, relating in particular to the characteristics of the services in question, the existence of alternative services, market conditions and the data on which their declaration is based. This may include information on the main categories of telecommunications services covered by the declaration and on the number of competitors offering or capable of offering the services concerned. The Commission will analyse the submissions, taking into account factors such as the implementation of legislation on telecommunications liberalisation in the relevant Member State and the competitive provision of telecommunications services. A list of services that are considered to be exempt from the legislation will be published in the Official Journal.