Press release - BEREC 2023 chairmanship handed over to Greek regulator

BEREC 2023 chairmanship handed over to Greek regulator

At today’s BEREC public debriefing, BEREC Chair Annemarie Sipkes (ACM, Netherlands) thanked stakeholders and BEREC members for their fruitful and successful cooperation in 2022 and handed over the chairmanship to the incoming BEREC Chair for 2023, Professor Kostas Masselos (EETT, Greece).

BEREC will continue to promote full connectivity

The incoming BEREC Chair presented the BEREC Work Programme for the next year. In 2023, BEREC will continue to monitor digital markets, emerging electronic communication services and developments in both of these areas in order to anticipate potential regulatory needs in a fast-changing environment. Promoting full connectivity for consumers and businesses will remain a key priority for BEREC in the future.

With the aim to enhance stakeholder contributions to the development of the BEREC Work Programme 2024, Kostas Masselos announced that the 11^th BEREC Stakeholder Forum will take place on 30 March 2023 in Brussels.

BEREC welcomes NCEC (Ukraine) as participant without voting rights

At the 53rd BEREC ordinary meetings, BEREC Chair Annemarie Sipkes, the BEREC Office Director László Ignéczi, and Oleksandr Zhyvotovskyi, the Chairman of the Ukrainian National Commission for State Regulation of Electronic Communications (NCEC) signed Working Arrangements. The NCEC is now formally allowed to participate in the day-to-day work of BEREC’s Board of Regulators and to join BEREC’s working groups. The document is based on the Working Arrangements that BEREC and BEREC Office have signed with other participating NRA’s without voting rights. 

Since Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, the European Union and Ukraine have been working together to secure affordable cross-border communications. Earlier this year, BEREC and its member NRAs strengthened their relationship with the Ukrainian regulator NCEC. They cooperated on roaming tariff agreements and joint actions by Ukrainian and EU operators to ensure affordable connectivity for Ukrainian refugees.

Implementation of Open Internet Regulation is fit for purpose

BEREC sees no merit in changing the substance of the Open Internet Regulation (OIR) as it ensures an open internet to stakeholders, safeguarding end users' rights and guaranteeing the internet ecosystem's continued functioning as an innovation. The European regulators expressed their views in the Opinion for the evaluation of the application of the Open Internet Regulation. They also considered the additional clarity provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the 2020 and 2021 rulings. The published opinion is also associated with the BEREC Open Internet Guidelines. Its objective is to provide input to the European Commission for its second report to the European Parliament and the Council on the review of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120, due by 30 April 2023.

BEREC report on internet ecosystem sets work ahead

BEREC working group co-chairs presented a report on the internet ecosystem, a broad analysis aimed at understanding how users’ internet experience is affected by the different elements of the ecosystem. In the report, experts also analysed how interactions between these elements impact regulatory interventions. One of BEREC’s strategic priorities is to support competitive and sustainable open digital markets. With a significant role in the high-level group enforcing the Digital Markets Act (DMA), BEREC will keep monitoring and analysing developments in the internet ecosystem, and in particular those practices that the current legislative initiatives may not address.

Public consultations

Stakeholder engagement and contributions to BEREC’s work are essential. The BEREC Chair launched public consultations for four draft reports that were presented during the public debriefing,

BEREC has published a draft report on the regulatory treatment of business services, to which stakeholders are invited to provide input by 3 February 2023. The draft report focuses on wholesale regulation on the upstream markets for business services by NRAs. The document also complements the Communication Services for Businesses in Europe: Status Quo and Future Trends external study commissioned by BEREC, which analyses business services by focusing on demand and supply.

BEREC published the draft BEREC report on competition amongst multiple operators of Next Generation Access (NGA) networks in the same geographical region. In this report, BEREC examines the impact of the presence of multiple NGA networks in the same geographical region on the market for wholesale local access. Input from stakeholders is expected by 27 January 2023.

The BEREC Chair launched a public consultation on the draft BEREC report on interoperability of number-independent interpersonal communication services (NI-ICS). The draft report explores the implementation of interoperability provisions under the DMA and the European Electronic Communications Code. Input from stakeholders for this draft is expected by 3 February 2023.

The BEREC Chair also launched a public consultation on the draft BEREC report on challenges and benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in the telecommunications sector (including use cases).This draft document explores the potential of the implementation of AI developments in the telecommunication sector. Input from stakeholders is expected by 3 February 2023.

Revision of BEREC Roaming Guidelines complete

After a round of public consultations, BEREC published its updated Retail Roaming Guidelines. The document explains the Roaming Regulation, including the EC Implementing Regulation, laying down detailed rules on applying a fair use policy. These updated retail roaming guidelines complement the BEREC guidelines on wholesale roaming access. NRAs should consider these BEREC guidelines when supervising Roaming Regulation compliance in their Member States.

Public documents available online

A full list of BEREC’s public documents adopted at the 53^rd ordinary plenary meetings will be available on the BEREC’s website. The 54^th BEREC ordinary meetings will be virtual and take place on 9-10 March 2023. The next public debriefing on the outcomes of the BEREC ordinary meetings will take place on 15 March 2023 – also virtually.

Note for editors

The presentation and the video recording of the BEREC public debriefing will be available on BEREC’s website soon.