The Councils of Administration of the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO) and the European Telecommunications Office (ETO) met jointly last 12-13 December in Copenhagen, where the following decisions were made:
- The ERO and ETO 2007 budgets were approved, along with the financial plan for the 2007-2009 period, which continues to be based on the principle of not increasing the contribution level. The initial 2007 budget proposal ended up being complemented by the inclusion of expenses associated to the audit process meant to be implemented in the current year, as well as the expenses the ERO is expected to incur due to the ongoing process of compensations related to the pension question (in this case, as some information was still missing, and the short meeting time to estimate the value expected to be necessary to pay in 2007, an effective markup for that value was included);
- Also with respect to the 2007 budget, despite the proposal from the countries included under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Satellite Monitoring, which as in 2006 proposed that the amount of 60,000 euros be reserved for measurements the Leeheim station may need to carry out to benefit all the CEPT members, and precisely because that proposal was only made available on the eve of the Council, the document was held to be merely informative and had no repercussions whatsoever on the budget. The same contained a number of significant inaccuracies: specifically, it indicated that the costs of the work conducted in Leeheim to be paid by the ''ECC family'' in 2006 would be on the order of 109,000 euros (note that the Council-established ceiling was 60,000 euros and the envisaged costs of the studies the ECC endorsed for inclusion in this item were even lower than that ceiling). In the discussion on this matter it was also stressed that the procedure followed in 2006 should be taken as an exception, as the effective aim is for the Council to be able beforehand (at the end of the year immediately preceding the one for which the measurements are planned), and based on an ECC proposal on the necessary measurements complemented by the cost estimate, to decide whether to include in its budget the studies/measurements that may necessarily require a satellite monitoring station;
- Regarding net capital, which as in previous years remains high compared to the value recommended in 2003 by the financial auditor, a decision was made to keep the contribution unit value constant for the next three years, which implies that that capital will continue to gradually be reduced; at the end of this three-year period it should still be about 93 percent above the advised amount. On this point, note the preference of some Council members for an immediate reduction of the net capital, given that this excessive value has subsisted for around three years. Noteworthy was the speech by the Director, who suggested that the appropriate level for this reserve fund should again be evaluated. Also important was the warning about how important it is to never drop below the advised reserve level, and to adjust when necessary the level of contributions to the annual expenses incurred by the Office, preparing that transition so as to prevent major jumps in the contribution level (on this point it was suggested that it should not go beyond 10 percent);
- Likewise approved were the ERO and ETO working programmes for 2007, which aim to respond to the solicitations and needs presented by the ECC. The amount of time given to each subject should not be interpreted as being an assignment of more or less priority, but rather associated to the amount of required intervention by the respective office;
- A decision was also made to launch the tender to replace an expert; a panel was elected which will conduct the interviews and consequently choose the candidate. Besides this, on an extraordinary basis and because the requirements proposal arrived late, as well as the shortage of meeting time, this panel will also have to review that proposal; the Council simply decided that it should explicitly state that an engineer is wanted. By Council decision the panel will be comprised of the chairman of the Spectrum Engineering working group (WG SE), from Germany, the future ERO Director, the president of the ERO Council, and by Ireland, as Council member;
- The issue remained open as to whether to replace the vice-director after September 2007, i.e., it will be up to the new director to present a proposal, which may be done in May or December. In the latter case the office will not have a vice-director for a period of several weeks;
- The qualitative (consideration by the participants) and financial results of the CEPT Conference, organised in co-operation with the European Commission and held in Berlin last 11-12 October, were presented. The Conference had focused on the theme topic of ''Regulations Under Challenge'';
- Following the extraordinary meeting of the Councils held last October, specifically called to decide on the pension fund question, a large part of this plenary meeting again focused on that problem, namely analysing reactions to the agreement proposed by the Council at that extraordinary meeting in an attempt to assess, without jeopardising the standards for justice and fair treatment among the various collaborators, the possibility of responding to the solicitations received. Given the importance of this question, especially the major amounts involved, (about 350,000 euros) and the possibility of eventual court cases, the text produced at this meeting for the letters replying to the received reactions to the proposed agreement decided last October will also be subject to endorsement and written opinion by the legal counsellor;
- Related to the same subject, this meeting also had to deal with two proposals to revise the Personnel Rules and Internal Instructions, which will be considered at the next Council as they were received late and also due to the lack of meeting time;
- Clarifications were also requested vis-à-vis application of the ECC Rules of Procedure regarding the ERO's representation on the Steering Committee. In the director's opinion, due to the group's basically operational nature, that representation should be assured by the director himself, whereas at present both the director and the Council president take part, and it is not clear which of them is meant to represent the Office. About this matter, the meeting agreed with the clarification of the ECC president, in charge of calling Steering Committee meetings, who stressed that the director should be responsible for representing the ERO. Regarding the Council president's participation, it was indicated that he has only been invited because, as he was available, it was deemed positive for him to be acquainted with that group?s debates.
The Councils will hold their next joint meeting, in ordinary session, this coming 2-4 May.
