The second and last meeting of ECC PT6 was held in Copenhagen on 10 February. The mission of this group is to study strategy issues at the level of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) and to develop a policy inherent to the vital tool for applying those strategies - ECC Decisions.
In the meeting, the group finalised its report, which contains a set of recommendations and the corresponding proposal to revise the ECC?s Work Methods and Rules of Procedure. A number of its major recommendations stand out:
- Development of a new ECC Decision will necessarily and explicitly have to be approved by the ECC, with the support of at least five administrations required, though this does not prevent the ECC?s project teams and the working groups from continuing to put forth their proposals, acting in a more proactive manner;
- To maintain the credibility of ECC Decisions, they should only be formulated when there is a need for harmonisation in a given area, rather than formulating a decision whenever an opportunity for same arises;
- The approval for public consultation of an ECC Decision should be subject to a decision-making process identical to the one for final approval;
- Considering that the decision-making process inherent to final adoption of an ECC Decision is too complex, specifically as it must undergo three phases and is also dependent on the agreement of a given number of European Union member States (a number likely to change with the coming enlargement), the decision-making process should simply envisage two phases at most, followed by a vote in which the decision is adopted if it garners more than 75 percent of the weighted votes;
- The proposals for ECC Recommendations and Reports are to be subject to public consultation, contrary to the current simple consultation of administrations;
- The distinction between an administration being committed to a decision and having same implemented should be maintained, i.e., committed merely indicates the intention to implement, as measures must still be taken internally in order to implement the decision in question;
- The following procedure, envisaged in the Rules of Procedure, should be reactivated. It sets out that after the Plenary Session in which a decision is adopted the ECC chairperson, through the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO), should ask (via electronic mail) the administrations to indicate whether they intend to implement the decision in question (indication of commitment). But this intention should not be limited to a mere answer of yes or no, but rather indicate the time periods involved in eventual implementation and the steps being taken; should the answer be no, then the reasons preventing implementation of the decision should be indicated;
- The two possible options ? affirmative or negative ? for implementing an ECC Decision should be maintained, with the possibility of partial implementation not admitted. However, in both situations the information to provide should be complemented by relevant associated information, i.e., data on implementation, how it was effected (relevant legislation) or indication of the reasons that prevent that implementation, aspects already implemented or when full implementation is expected;
- ECC Decisions should contain an indicative date by which same should be implemented (in cases where the inclusion of an exact date is essential, provisions should be included that allow postponement of that obligation in certain circumstances);
- In the case of Decisions where reference to a given standard is needed due to questions of spectrum usage efficiency, but taking into account that agreement with the principle of technological neutrality must be observed, the text ?that the equipment referred to in this ECC Decision complies with the relevant European Telecommunication Standard xxx or equivalent compatible technical specifications? should then include those decisions (text with slight modifications vis-à-vis those that have been used by the groups on Frequency Management ? WG FM ? and Radio Regulation ? WG RR). The same text should henceforth be used by all the ECC working groups;
- A new kind of deliverable should be instituted, to be called the ?ECC Test and Development Recommendation?, to co-ordinate tests carried out in various administrations when large-scale testing is effectively needed. This proposal resulted from a suggestion from the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) at the group?s first meeting and the new insistence at the meeting on the establishment in CEPT of a new kind of deliverable, designated by interim decision, whose aim would be the market placement of new technologies, during what will still be a testing phase for that system, thus giving industry a clear sign of interest from the administrations that justifies the necessary investment1https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=55129.
Upon undertaking this work, PT6 identified other strategic issues that the ECC may be interested in investigating, and which will thus be brought to this committee?s attention, such as revision of the document outlining the ECC?s long-term strategy, whether or not to continue the DSI (Detailed Spectrum Investigation) process, and study of the new community regulatory framework?s influence on the ECC?s work and mission.
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1 Despite the Commission?s sympathy for this proposal, the group stuck to its position that the ECC decision-making model would not be the best for this situation, as it would place in doubt the credibility of this instrument, which is meant to be as stable as possible. The proposal considered at the previous meeting was thus maintained, in so far as this new instrument is at the level of a recommendation, as in this meeting the text was modified, given Portugal?s suggestion, to clarify that the scope of this measure?s application is limited to situations in which the European market for the system under development is potentially enormous, and when the test requires the involvement of various CEPT administrations.
