14 December 2011
14.12.2011
During its 9th Plenary Meeting which was held on the 8 and 9 December in Bucharest, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) elected its new chair and vice-chairs. The President of ANCOM, Mr. Cătălin Marinescu, was elected vice-chair of BEREC for 2012.
Dr. Georg Serentschy, the Chairman of the Austrian regulatory authority – RTR, will be the Chair of BEREC in 2012, whereas the vice-chair positions will be held by: Leonidas Kanellos, President of EETT Greece, Edward Richards, head of the UK regulatory body – Ofcom, Göran Marby, General Director of the Swedish regulator – PTS, and Cătălin Marinescu, President of ANCOM.
During the plenary meeting, BEREC decided to consult stakeholders on an appropriate medium term strategy and approved a draft strategy for the purpose of the consultation. Another outcome of the meeting was the decision to conduct consultations on matters such as the promotion of broadband, NGA co-investment and the impact of fixed-mobile substitution in market definition.
BEREC also decided to issue Guidelines on transparency in the context of net neutrality. Specific types and means of information are recommended to enhance consumer empowerment and regulators are to ensure that effective transparency is achieved nationally.
ANCOM is a member of BEREC, which was established in January 2010 by a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, replacing the European Regulators Group (ERG), within which ANCOM had activated ever since 2004.
BEREC advises the European Commission and the NRAs, and assists the European Parliament and Council on issues related to the application of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications. BEREC helps to ensure fair competition and consistency of regulation in the internal market for electronic communications to benefit consumers. In particular, BEREC delivers expert advice on market definitions, analysis and remedies, definition of transnational markets, cross-border disputes and numbering issues. Furthermore, BEREC provides expert opinions on emerging challenges such as the promotion of broadband, net neutrality and converging markets, and is ready to play an active role in the discussions in the public domain on these issues.
BEREC is composed of the Heads of the 27 national regulatory authorities (NRAs) from the EU Member States, assembled in the Board of Regulators, and is assisted by the BEREC Office, a Community Body with own legal personality which provides administrative and professional support to BEREC. The European Commission is invited to all plenary meetings of the Board of Regulators as observer, while the NRAs from the European Economic Area (EEA) states and from those states that are candidates for accession to the EU have observer status as well.