The European Commission has decided to refer Estonia to the Court of Justice of the EU over its law which according to the Commission does not guarantee the impartiality of the national telecoms regulator.
Commission takes Estonia to court over telecoms regulation
30th May 2013, 18:20
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According to EU telecoms rules, national authorities exercising regulatory tasks cannot at the same time be involved in the ownership or control of telecoms companies, the Commission said in a press release on Thursday.
It said that in Estonia the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications carries out some regulatory tasks, in particular over the allocation of radio frequencies and procedures for granting frequency authorizations. At the same time it exercises control of the state-owned company Levira, the largest television and radio broadcast network operator in Estonia, which provides telecoms services such as broadcasting and wireless broadband access.
The Commission sent Estonia a formal request to comply with EU rules in June 2012, but Estonia has not adapted its national law to guarantee the impartiality of the telecoms regulator and this can have negative consequences for competition in the sector, the press release said.
«The Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is informed about the position of the European Commission and is in the process of eliminating the circumstances that serve as basis for the infringement,» the head of the ministry's PR department Kalev Vapper told BNS.
He said the Estonian government at its Cabinet sitting on Feb. 14 agreed in principle to the selloff of the government's 51 percent ownership stake in Levira.
«Right now preparation of the sell-off is under way, about which we have notified also the European Commission,» Vapper said.
The Commission said in its press release the infringement proceeding concerning Estonia was part of the Commission's efforts to ensure that national telecoms regulators are independent.
Article 3(2) of the Telecoms Framework Directive provides that member states that retain ownership or control companies providing telecommunications services must ensure effective structural separation of the regulatory function from activities associated with ownership or control.