[cooperation-wg] New Open Consultations by BEREC (access sharing, 5G and co-investment)

Dear colleagues,

We'd like to draw your attention to a number of ongoing consultations with the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

BEREC's task is to further refine the implementation of European legislative instruments by issuing guidelines that support a consistent and harmonised approach across all member states. As with other institutions, BEREC's work has moved fully online, which makes consultations like this even more important as a way to liaise with stakeholders and receive feedback. 

The following consultations might be of interest:

- Guidelines on the criteria for a consistent application of article 61 (3) EECC (deadline 31 July)

Article 61 (3) of the European Electronic Communications Code has a number of provisions on sharing access infrastructure. In particular, this consultation addresses two key points. The first is about imposing obligations to share access infrastructure on entities which are not designated to have significant market power. The second involves sharing infrastructure beyond the first concentration or distribution point, to an interconnection point where the number of customers becomes more efficient and economically feasible.

https://berec.europa.eu/eng/news_consultations/ongoing_public_consultations/7341-public-consultation-on-draft-berec-guidelines-on-the-criteria-for-a-consistent-application-of-article-61-3-eecc

- Guidelines to foster the consistent application of the criteria for assessing co-investments in new very high capacity network elements (Article 76 EECC) (deadline 4 September)

We've already flagged the work on very high capacity networks in earlier emails. These particular guidelines lay out some specifications under which parties with significant market power (SMPs) may offer co-investment on new infrastructure and under which circumstances this would affect the obligations of the SMP under article 68 of the EECC. Our understanding is that, under certain conditions, such a co-owned infrastructure would not be subject to the regular obligations, such as infrastructure sharing and/or regulated tariffs, that would normally apply to SMPs.

In our assessment, this could impact smaller operators that rely on such sharing arrangements and obligations.

https://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_register/subject_matter/berec/public_consultations/9284-draft-berec-guidelines-to-foster-the-consistent-application-of-the-criteria-for-assessing-co-investments-in-new-very-high-capacity-network-elements-article-76-eecc

- Guide to the draft BEREC Guide to the BEREC 5G Radar and 5G Radar (deadline 4 September)

This consultation is part of the ongoing work to get a better understanding of the regulatory issues that might emerge from the deployment of 5G. An important part of this is the timing and priority of these issues as they emerge and the timelines for BEREC and the national agencies to address them.

https://berec.europa.eu/eng/news_consultations/ongoing_public_consultations/7342-public-consultation-on-draft-berec-guide-to-the-berec-5g-radar-and-5g-radar 

At this stage, we do not envision the RIPE NCC submitting a response to any of these consultations, but we know that some of you are active in these areas and may find it is useful to share your views with BEREC directly. These open consultations are an important part of BEREC's efforts to take stakeholders' opinions into account and we would encourage you to make use of this opportunity.

Regards,

Marco Hogewoning
(Interim) Manager Public Policy and Internet Governance
RIPE NCC