Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU
The Czech Republic took over EU Presidency from France on 1 January 2009 and handed it over to Sweden on 1 July 2009.
In the Czech Republic, the Presidency preparation efforts were co-ordinated by the section of the Czech Government Office led by Vice Premier for European Affairs.
This section prepared the www.eu2009.cz web site, which was partially launched on 1 December 2008.
Czech Presidency’s official priorities and agenda were presented on 6 January 2009 by Czech Premier EU Mirek Topolánek and Vice Premier for European Affairs, Alexandr Vondra.
The Czech Telecommunication Office took part in preparing solutions to telecommunications-related tasks, resulting from Czech Presidency’s priorities.
On 28 May, the CTO organised the General Assembly of the IRG (Independent Regulators Group) in Prague to discuss IRG issues including, but not limited to, the status of the IRG as a legal entity. The CTO, together with the Netherlands regulator OPTA, became a new IRG member. A plenary session of the ERG (European Regulators Group) was held immediately afterwards, on 28 and 29 May 2009, attended by the top representatives of national regulators of EU Member States and representatives of the European Commission (DG INFSO and DG Competition).
A meeting of the representatives (those with responsibility for the area of electronic communications and the information society) from EU Member States’ Permanent Representations was held in Prague on 22 to 23 June 2009.
The Czech EU Presidency ended 30 June 2009. The Czech EU Presidency’s results in the electronic communications area were evaluated as very positive. Agreements on the final versions of a number of legal documents were concluded under the Czech Presidency, although many of them were formally adopted later, during the Swedish Presidency period. Two legal acts were successfully arranged to be adopted already in the first reading. A new Regulation on international roaming was one of them: international roaming regulation is thus extended until 2012. The other document that did not have to be passed to the second reading was the GSM Directive, amending Directive No. 87/372/EEC (Directive on the frequency bands to be reserved for coordinated introduction of public pan-European cellular digital land-based mobile communications in the Community). Thanks to this amendment, it is possible to use for other technologies the band that was initially reserved only for GSM. This removes an unnecessary legal barrier and encourages the development of high-speed data transmission services.
The Czech Presidency also succeeded to pre-negotiate the majority of legislative proposals in respect of the reviewed regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services, which was later (under the Swedish Presidency) adopted as a whole on 25 November 2009. The regulatory framework includes the Better Regulation Directive, i.e., amendment of Directives 2002/21/EC (Framework Directive), 2002/19/EC (Access Directive) and 2002/20/EC (Authorisation Directive), the Citizens’ Rights Directive, amending Directive 2002/22/EC (Universal Service Directive) and Directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and protection of privacy; in addition, there is the new Regulation (EC) No. 1211/2009 establishing the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the Office. The main reason for this change was the need to encourage European regulators to cooperate and, thereby, to support the electronic communications single market. According to the Commission’s opinion, the development of the single market is hindered by the individual regulators’ inconsistent regulatory approaches, different ranges of powers and responsibilities, different degrees of responsibility, and lack of financial and human resources.
Spain took over the rotating EU Presidency from Sweden on 1 January 2010. In the electronic communications area, the Spanish Presidency’s priorities include focus on the transposition and implementation of the provisions of the new regulatory framework, which was adopted in December 2009, particularly on the harmonisation of approaches to regulation and on removing the differences in electronic communication business conditions in the different Member States of the European Union. http://www.eu2010.es/en/unioneuropea/politicas/transporte/
For relevant additional information about EU Presidencies and other EU topics, please, see also the euroskop web pages at www.euroskop.cz.