The European Regulators Group (ERG) held last 7 November a public hearing on its draft working programme for 2007, to be based on three pillars: revision of the regulatory framework for electronic communications (2006 Review), development of harmonisation to consolidate the internal market and the impact of innovation on regulation.
Regarding 2006 Review, the ERG plans to adopt a number of documents, including:
- A reply to the European Commission (EC) proposals;
- A report on those proposals' impact on the work of the national regulatory authorities (NRAs);
- An opinion on revision of the article 7 procedures;
- An opinion on revision of the relevant markets recommendation; and
- An opinion on the proposed revision of universal service.
Regarding the ongoing harmonisation of regulatory practices in the European Union, the group identified priority action areas:
- Wholesale offer of broadband access;
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP);
- Implementation of local loop unbundling (LLU);
- Fixed and mobile communications termination (with special emphasis on symmetry questions);
- Accounting systems for the NRAs; and
- Transparency and consumer defence.
Lastly, regarding the impact of innovation on regulation, the ERG will focus its efforts on middle and long term regulatory challenges, studying the impact of developing next generation networks and the question of fixed-mobile convergence.
