The European Parliament has passed the EU Telecoms Package, the sometimes controversial bundle of measures designed to update the 2002 regulations to take account of new technological advancements such as internet-enabled mobile phones.
The EU assembly voted by 597 in favour, with 55 against and 29 abstentions on a proposal to force telecoms companies to run their network and retail services as separate businesses to give competitors easier access to their networks. To see the Package through, the major political groups in Parliament agreed a compromise before the plenary vote, notably as regards protection of privacy and fundamental rights.
Turning to the legislation on personal data privacy in the telecoms sector, the existing directive already harmonises some national rules on the protection of fundamental rights in this area. MEPs want it to clearly cover the right to privacy and confidentiality as well as to security of information technology systems. Data protection rules must cover private and not just public networks, so data stored on social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace will be covered by the rules.
As for copyright protection, one of the contentious areas of the package, Parliament said that it wnated to see information used as protection: "All subscribers must be given information by operators on unlawful activities such as the distribution of content that infringes copyright. Consumers must also be given information on ways of protecting their personal data.
Parliament says that national authorities should be able to produce and have disseminated, with the aid of providers, public interest information related to the use of communications services (public interest warnings regarding copyright infringement, other unlawful uses and dissemination of harmful content, advice and means of protection against risks to personal security, etc.). Regulators should also encourage cooperation between operators and anyone with an interest in promoting legal content.
Community law does not define what content is lawful or harmful, nor any penalties, since this is up to each Member State. However, all consumers must be informed of national rules on this.
According to the Package's supporters, the adoption of the Package means consumers will benefit from easier to understand pricing and contracts as well as other consumer benefits such as capping contract length.
Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour, who is the parliament's 'rapporteur' on the consumer protection aspects of the telecoms package said:
"Internet and mobile phone technology has evolved beyond all recognition since the last time we passed legislation in 2002. These new rules protect consumers from blindly entering into long contracts whilst ensuring they are given all the information they need to make fully-informed decisions.
"Too often, consumers are not told if they will be required to pay significant sums for their handset if they break a contract early or if services such as Skype are blocked on their handsets. All this will now change.
"We have significantly enhanced the initial proposal from the commission, and we hope that national governments will now back our line.
"This package will empower consumers to shop around as providers are encouraged to offer better deals. Ultimately this will improve the service they receive on the internet and on their telephones."