The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC; , EEKRE; german: Gremium Europäischer Regulierungsstellen für elektronische Kommunikation, GEREK), based in Riga (Latvia), is the regulating agency of the telecommunication market in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. It was created by the
Telecoms Package
The Telecoms Package was the review of the European Union Telecommunications Framework from 2007 – 2009. The objective of the review was to update the EU Telecoms Framework of 2002 and to create a common set of regulations for the telecoms indus ...
which was passed in September 2009.
BEREC includes national regulatory authorities (NRAs) on its board and an administrative staff including Community officials. The budget will be €5.5 million. BEREC will issue opinions on market definitions and remedies proposed by NRAs.
The Members of BEREC met for the first time in January 2010 in Brussels to elect a chairman and vice chairmen, who will serve a 12-month term and will likely focus initially on topics such as
Next Generation Access
Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...
,
Net Neutrality
Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...
,
Universal Service
Universal service is an economic, legal and business term used mostly in regulated industries, referring to the practice of providing a baseline level of services to every resident of a country. An example of this concept is found in the US Telec ...
Obligations and the
functional separation of
local network access and
backhaul network access.
History
The European Telecom Market Authority (more properly known as the European Electronic Communications Market(s) Authority or EECMA) was proposed by
Viviane Reding
Viviane Adélaïde Reding (born 27 April 1951) is a Luxembourgish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Luxembourg. She is a member of the Christian Social People's Party, part of the European People's Party. She p ...
as agency for the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
in 2007. Although initially presented as having power to override national telecommunications regulators, it would in fact essentially act merely as a consultative body for the European Commission.
It is proposed that the Authority be able to issue opinions and recommendations, to the Commission, concerning spectrum issues, market analyses that have not been completed on time by national regulators, and on the possible imposition of remedies such as price control, accounting separation, or indeed functional separation. The Commission would have to take the utmost account of these opinions and recommendations, but would not be bound by them.
It is also proposed that the Authority be able to issue decisions, which would be binding, in the area of the ETNS (which concerns the pan-EU fixed telephone prefix +3883). The Commission would have no say in this.
The Authority would consist of 27 members representing each of the 27 national regulators and voting by simple majority.
It has been reported that a similar system of cooperation exists between the Commission and the
European Medicines Agency
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...
although in the context of authorisations to market products, rather than regulation of market conditions.
Eventually in 2009 it was decided to transform the established in 2002
European Regulators Group (with office based in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
) into the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications and for its office seat was chosen
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
in May 2010.
See also
*
European Commission roaming regulations
The Roaming Regulation 2022(EU) 2022/612 bans roaming charges (Eurotariff) within the European Economic Area (EEA), which consists of the member states of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. This regulates both the charges ...
*
Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators
The European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is an Agency of the European Union by the Third Energy Package in 2009. It was established in 2010 and has its seat in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
On 6 May, the administrative b ...
(ACER)
References
External links
*
Regulation (EC) No 1211/2009Commission decision: 2002/627/EC of 29 July 2002Procedure filereflects the current state of the procedure towards the adoption of the BEREC.
{{Authority control
Agencies of the European Union
2009 in the European Union
Telecommunications regulatory authorities
Telecommunications in Europe
Organisations based in Riga
Government agencies established in 2009
2010 establishments in Latvia
Regulation in the European Union