Commission Recommendation

of 22 February 2002

amending Recommendation 98/195/EC, as last amended by Recommendation 2000/263/EC, on Interconnection in a liberalised telecommunications market

(Part 1 - Interconnection pricing)

(notified under document number C(2002) 561)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2002/175/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Directive 97/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 on interconnection in telecommunications with regard to ensuring universal service and interoperability through application of the principles of Open Network Provision (ONP)(1), as amended by Directive 98/61/EC(2), and in particular Article 7(5) thereof,

After consulting the advisory committee set up by Article 9(1) of Council Directive 90/387/EEC of 28 June 1990 on the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision(3), as amended by Directive 97/51/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(4),

Whereas:

(1) Point 9 of Commission Recommendation 98/195/EC of 8 January 1998 on Interconnection in a liberalised telecommunications market (Part 1 - Interconnection Pricing)(5), as last amended by Recommendation 2000/263/EC(6), states that the Recommendation will be reviewed by the Commission by 31 December 2000. In particular it was also indicated in the Recommendation that an assessment should be made on the need to continue with publication of "best current practice" charges.

(2) The sixth and seventh Commission reports on the implementation of the telecommunications regulatory package(7) note the progressive reduction of interconnection charges in the Community to the levels published by the Commission's best practice price recommendations(8), and the increasing availability of cost accounting systems for operators with obligations to interconnect, and therefore, from 1 January 2002 onwards it is considered no longer necessary to refer to the "best current practice" approach and update of price recommendation as originally included in Recommendation 98/195/EC.

(3) Other elements of the Recommendation continue to provide guidance to national regulatory authorities and should be retained,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

Article 1

Recommendation 98/195/EC, as last amended by Recommendation 2000/263/EC, is amended as follows:

Points 4, 4a, 5 and 9 of the Recommendation together with Annex II are deleted.

Article 2

This Recommendation is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 22 February 2002.

For the Commission

Erkki Liikanen

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 199, 26.7.1997, p. 32.

(2) OJ L 268, 3.10.1998, p. 37.

(3) OJ L 192, 24.7.1990, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 295, 29.10.1997, p. 23.

(5) OJ L 73, 12.3.1998, p. 42.

(6) OJ L 83, 4.4.2000, p. 30.

(7) COM(2000) 814 of 7.12.2000 and COM(2001) 706 of 26.11.2001.

(8) >TABLE>