EU takes France, Poland to court over telecoms; begins 2 new cases vs Poland

he European Commission said it has referred France and Poland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over their failure to comply with the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications, and is opening two new, additional infringement cases against Poland.

France is being taken to the ECJ for failure to transpose EU rules on universal service into national law.

Under the EU's framework, no operator should be excluded from the possibility of being able to offer 'basic' services such as landlines, public payphones and directory enquiries.

However, in the commission's view, French law inherently restricts their supply to certain operators, meaning that the case will be taken to the ECJ, the EU's highest court.

Poland is being taken to court because national legislation is not in line with the EU directive relating to the interconnection of different telecoms providers.

Poland has also been sent two letters of formal notice. The letter marks the first stage in infringement proceedings and member states have two months to rectify the situation before facing legal action.

One letter refers to the failure to make the national regulatory authority independent, and the other to not making caller information available when people use 112 to call the emergency services.

The commission has also stepped up proceedings against Slovakia and Latvia by sending them a 'reasoned opinion' -- the second stage in infringement cases.

In July, the commission opened five new infringement proceedings against EU member states for not adequately transposing EU telecom rules into domestic legislation.

Source:forbes.com