BEREC is ready to fulfil its obligations to assist with the implementation of the new rules on the TSM

The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) notes with interest the political agreement on the Telecom Single Market (TSM) reached by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission, which addresses net neutrality and international roaming. BEREC looks forward to examining the final text and to fulfilling its obligations to assist with the implementation of the new rules, once adopted, where tasks have been assigned to it.

Fátima Barros, BEREC Chair 2015, has emphasized that “BEREC will continue its work regarding the Implementation of the new regulation and fulfil its obligation to provide input to the European Commission on the Implementing Acts, including detailed rules on the application of a fair use policy, and on the methodology for assessing the sustainability of the abolition of retail roaming surcharges.” In 2014 BEREC developed an analysis of the impacts of “Roam Like At Home”, which was approved by the Board of Regulators on 17 December 2014, noting a possible solution involving the removal of retail roaming surcharges up to a restrictive “fair use” limit, after which a surcharge or daily/weekly flat fee could be levied.

Likewise, over the past years BEREC has closely examined the issue of net neutrality and published several reports on this issue. BEREC will draw on its expertise when developing guidelines as envisaged in the agreement reached by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission.

As highlighted in recent statements BEREC also welcomes the Digital Single Market strategy, and acknowledges that electronic communications are the backbone of digital products and services.