BEREC elects 2016 Chair and adopts its 2015 work programme

09 December 2014

PRESS RELEASE

BEREC elects 2016 Chair and adopts its 2015 work programme

BEREC held its last plenary meeting of the year in Brussels.

BEREC elected three Vice Chairs for 2015 – Lidia KOZŁOWSKA of Polish regulator UKE, Kevin O'BRIEN of Irish regulator COMREG, and Wilhelm ESCHWEILER of German regulator BNetzA, who was also elected to serve as BEREC Chair in 2016.

BEREC continued its discussion of proposals to abolish international roaming retail surcharges (known as “Roam like at Home”, or RLAH), one of the pillars of the draft Connected Continent Regulation currently being considered by the European Parliament and Council. BEREC will provide preliminary advice to the European Commission on the operation of “fair use policies”, intended to mitigate some of the competitive distortions arising from the introduction of RLAH, and will finalise the work on an opinion on the operation and anticipated impacts of RLAH more broadly before the end of the year.

Following a public consultation, BEREC adopted its work programme for 2015as well as its Medium-Term Strategy for the next three years.

BEREC also published several annual benchmark reports, including on roaming tariffs, termination rates and cross-border SMS termination, as well as the first phase report on the implementation of BEREC’s Broadband Common Positionsand a stakeholder questionnaire ahead of BEREC’s work next year on the regulation of oligopolies.

Finally, BEREC signed a memorandum of understanding with the Group of Eastern Partnership Regulators for Electronic Communications Networks and Services (the EaPeReg Network).

This was the last BEREC Plenary meeting under the chairmanship of Göran Marby, Director-General of the Swedish regulator, PTS. Fatima Barros of Portuguese regulator ANACOM will take over as BEREC Chair in 2015.

 

Brussels, 5 December 2014

 

NOTE TO THE EDITOR

 

About BEREC

BEREC is composed of a Board of Regulators consisting of the Heads of the 28 national regulatory authorities (NRAs). BEREC advises the European Commission and its member NRAs, and assists the European Parliament and Council, on issues related to the application of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications. BEREC seeks to ensure fair competition and consistency of regulation in the internal market for electronic communications, for the benefit of European consumers. In particular, it provides expert advice on market definitions, analysis and remedies, on the definition of transnational markets, and on cross-border disputes and numbering issues. BEREC also provides expert opinions on emerging challenges including the promotion of broadband, net neutrality and converging markets, and plays an active role in public discussions on these issues.

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