EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR MEMBER STATES. Schedule of Specific Commitments. Supplement 3. (This is authentic in English, French and Spanish)

Transcription

1 WORLD TRDE GTSSC31Sul.3 11 ril 1997 ORGNIZTION ( ) Trade in Services EUROPEN COMMUNITIES ND THEIR MEMBER STTES Schedule of Secific Commitments Sulement 3 (This is authentic in English, French and Sanish) This text sulements the entries relating to the Telecommunications services section contained in documents GTSSC31, GTSSC7, GTSSC33 and GTSSC82.

2 THE EUROPEN COMMUNITIES ND THEIR MEMBER STTES - SCHEDULE OF SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS Modes of suly: 1) Cross-border suly 2) Consumtion abroad 3) Commercial resence 4) Presence of natural ersons Sector or subsector Limitations on market access Limitations on national treatment dditional commitments Telecommunications services Telecommunications services are the transort of electromagnetic signals - sound, data image and any combinations thereof, excluding broadcasting 1. Therefore, commitments in this schedule do not cover the economic activity consisting of content rovision which require telecommunications services for its transort. The rovision of that content, transorted via a telecommunications service, is subject to the secific commitments undertaken by the Euroean Communities and their Member States in other relevant sectors. G TS S C 31 S u l. 3 Pa ge ll sub-sectors The Euroean Communities and their Member States undertake additional commitments as contained in the attachment, all arts of which are equally binding. shall not aly to the telecommunications sector FIN : The general horizontal requirements for legal entities in GTSSC33 shall not aly to the B: Licensing conditions may address the need to guarantee 1 Broadcasting is defined as the uninterruted chain of transmission required for the distribution of tv and radio rogramme signals to the general ublic, but does not cover contribution links between oerators.

3 half of the founders, half of the members of the ng director must have ermanent residence in the ounder is a legal erson, it must have residence in the 1) excet for: telecommunications sector. Requirements concerning the Åland islands shall continue to aly. universal service, including through financing, in a transarent, non-discriminatory and cometitively neutral manner and will not be more burdensome than necessary. he suly of telecommunication services. 2) 2) u

4 Modes of suly: 1) Cross-border suly 2) Consumtion abroad 3) Commercial resence 4) Presence of natural ersons Sector or subsector Limitations on market access Limitations on national treatment dditional commitments 3) excet for( * ) : he suly of telecommunication services. nals of EC Member States or non-ec comanies or ulying basic telecommunications services cannot more than 20% of the shares or voting rights of and oerate radio-based infrastructure for the ervices to the general ublic. For the alication of legally established according to the laws of a Member juridical ersons. Unbound excet as indicated in the horizontal 3) P: The Government of Portugal has the intention of resenting to the Parliament draft legislation aiming at removing artially the resent limitations on foreign equity articiation in the caital of comanies sulying basic telecommunication services no later than in In case of aroval, the new legislation will be bound no later than in G TS S C 31 S u l. 3 Pa ge Unbound excet as indicated in the horizontal * *)Footnote for clarification uroses: Some EC Member States maintain ublic articiation in certain telecommunication oerators. EC Member States reserve their rights to maintain such ublic articiation in the future. This is not a market access limitation. In Belgium, government articiation and voting rights in Belgacom are freely determined under legislative owers as is resently the case under the law of 21 March 1991 on the reform of government-owned economic enterrises.

5 Modes of suly: 1) Cross-border suly 2) Consumtion abroad 3) Commercial resence 4) Presence of natural ersons Sector or sub-sector Limitations on market access Limitations on national treatment dditional commitments Domestic and international Domestic and international services rovided using any network technology, on a facilities based or resale basis, for ublic and non-ublic use, in the following market segments (these corresond to the following CPC numbers: 7521, 7522, 7523, 7524**, 7525, 7526 and 7529**, broadcasting is excluded): Voice telehone services excet for: 2 1) Packet switched data ansmission services Circuit-switched data ansmissions services Telex services Telegrah services Facsimile services E: none, excet that the liberalisation calendar will be as follows: one additional nation-wide licence in January 1998; full liberalisation as from IRL: excet for ublic voice telehony and facilities-based services where none as of 1 January P:, excet for ublic voice telehony, telex and telegrah where none as from 1 January 2000, and facilities-based services where none as from 1 July u GR: excet for ublic voice telehony and facilities-based services where none as of 1 January Luxembourg has requested a delayed date for the liberalisation of telecommunications until The EC decision on this request is still ending. 3 lications for further licences to be received as from 1 ugust 98.

6 Modes of suly: 1) Cross-border suly 2) Consumtion abroad 3) Commercial resence 4) Presence of natural ersons Sector or sub-sector Limitations on market access Limitations on national treatment dditional commitments Leased circuit services excet for: 4 tion wide licence in January 1998; full liberalisation one as of 1 January m 1 January 2000 and facilities-based services where ne as of 1 January Unbound excet as indicated in the horizontal Unbound excet as indicated in the horizontal G TS S C 31 S u l. 3 Pa ge 4 Luxembourg has requested a delayed date for the liberalisation of telecommunications until The EC decision on this request is still ending. 5 lications for further licences to be received as from 1 ugust 98.

7 o. Other services: d ersonal communications ervices ms 1) excet for: d networks where none as of ) 3) excet for: d networks where none as of Unbound excet as indicated in the horizontal Unbound excet as indicated in the horizontal u

8 GTSSC31Sul.3 Page 8 DDITIONL COMMITMENT BY THE EUROPEN COMMUNITIES ND THEIR MEMBER STTES SCOPE: The following are definitions and rinciles on the regulatory framework for the basic telecommunications services underinning the market access commitments by the Euroean Communities and their Member States. DEFINITIONS: User mean service consumer and service suliers. Essential facilities mean facilities of a ublic telecommunications transort network and service that a) are exclusively or redominantly rovided by a single or limited number of suliers; and b) cannot feasibly be economically or technically substituted in order to rovide a service. major sulier is a sulier which has the ability to materially affect the terms of articiation (having regard to rice and suly) in the relevant market for basic telecommunications services as a result of: a) control over essential facilities; or b) use of its osition in the market. 1. COMPETITIVE SFEGURDS: 1.1. Prevention of anti-cometitive ractices in telecommunications: roriate measures shall be maintained for the urose of reventing suliers who, alone or together, are a major sulier from engaging in or continuing anti-cometitive ractices Safeguards: The anti-cometitive ractices referred to above shall include in articular: a) engaging in anti-cometitive cross-subsidization; b) using information obtained from cometitors with anti-cometitive results; and c) not making available to other services suliers on a timely basis technical information about essential facilities and commercially relevant information which are necessary for them to rovide services. 2. INTERCONNECTION:

9 GTSSC31Sul.3 Page This section alies to linking with suliers roviding ublic telecommunications transort networks or services in order to allow the users of one sulier to communicate with users of another sulier and to access services rovided by another sulier Interconnection to be ensured: Within the limits of ermitted market access, interconnection with a major sulier will be ensured at any technically feasible oint in the network. Such interconnection is rovided 6 : a) under non-discriminatory terms, conditions (including technical standards and secifications) and rates and of a quality no less favourable than that rovided for its own like services or for like services of non-affiliated service suliers or for its subsidiaries or other affiliates 7 ; b) in a timely fashion, on terms, conditions (including technical standards and secifications) and cost-oriented rates that are transarent, reasonable, having regard to economic feasibility, and sufficiently unbundled so that the sulier need not ay for network comonents or facilities that it does not require for the service to be rovided; and c) uon request, at oints in addition to the network termination oints offered to the majority of users, subject to charges that reflect the cost of construction of necessary additional facilities Public availability of the rocedures for interconnection negotiations : The rocedures alicable for interconnection to a major sulier will be made ublicly available Transarency of interconnection arrangements: It is ensured that a major sulier will make ublicly available either its interconnection agreements or a reference interconnection offer Interconnection : disute settlement: service sulier requesting interconnection with a major sulier will have recourse, either : a) at any time or b) after a reasonable eriod of time which has been made ublicly known to an indeendent domestic body, which may be a regulatory body as referred to in aragrah 5 below, to resolve disutes regarding aroriate terms, conditions and rates for interconnection within a reasonable eriod of time, to the extent that these have not been established reviously. 6 Suliers of services or networks not generally available to the ublic, such as closed user grous, have guaranteed rights to connect with the ublic telecommunications transort network or services on terms, conditions and rates which are non-discriminatory, transarent and cost-oriented. Such terms, conditions and rates may, however, vary from the terms, conditions and rates alicable to interconnection between ublic telecommunications networks or services. 7 Different terms, conditions and rates may be set in the Community for oerators in different market segments, on the basis of non-discriminatory and transarent national licensing rovisions, where such differences can be objectively justified because these services are not considered "like services".

10 GTSSC31Sul.3 Page UNIVERSL SERVICE: ny Member has the right to define the kind of universal service obligation it wishes to maintain. Such obligations will not be regarded as anti-cometitive er se, rovided they are administered in a transarent, non-discriminatory and cometitively neutral manner and are not more burdensome than necessary for the kind of universal service defined by the Member. 4. PUBLIC VILBILITY OF LICENSING CRITERI: Where a licence is required, the following will be made ublicly available: a) all the licensing criteria and the eriod of time normally required to reach a decision concerning an alication for a licence and b) the terms and conditions of individual licences. The reasons for the denial of a licence will be made known to the alicant uon request. 5. INDEPENDENT REGULTORS: The regulatory body is searate from, and not accountable to, any sulier of basic telecommunications services. The decisions of and the rocedures used by regulators shall be imartial with resect to all market articiants. 6. LLOCTION ND USE OF SCRCE RESOURCES: ny rocedures for the allocation and use of scarce resources, including frequencies, numbers and rights of way, will be carried out in an objective, timely, transarent and non-discriminatory manner. The current state of allocated frequency bands will be made ublicly available, but detailed identification of frequencies allocated for secific government uses is not required.