HAKOM at this year's third meeting of the BEREC contact group

ZAGREB, 16 September 2016 – This year’s third meeting of the contact group of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications is taking place on 15 and 16 September in Limassol, Cyprus. The meeting has been organized by the Cypriot regulatory authority OCECPR (Office of electronic communications & postal regulations). The main objective of the meeting is to prepare for the 28th BEREC’s plenary meeting that will take place from 6 to 7 October 2016 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
 
The meeting of the contact group included discussions on the proposal of BEREC’s annual work programme for 2017 which includes the organization of public consultation on documents representing BEREC’s reports on individual aspects of electronic communications prepared as a result of periodic gathering of data, for example about regulatory accounting in 2016 and international roaming “benchmark” data. Furthermore, documents concerning Next Generation Networks were also discussed.  
 
A special discussion, although general, was organized on European Commission documents of 14 September 2016 concerning the proposal for the review of the regulatory framework. These documents are part of the Commission proposal for the establishment of a new regulatory framework for electronic communications including the proposal for a Directive on electronic communications, proposal for a Regulation on BEREC and a proposal for a Regulation on the promotion of Internet connectivity in local communities. In addition to the above-mentioned documents, the Commission also presented its two Action Plans, the Gigabit Society and the 5G Action Plan. The Commission is planning to finish the regular legislative procedure concerning the adoption of the new regulatory framework by the end of 2017 to ensure its implementation in mid-2019. BEREC is planning to prepare a detailed analysis of the above-mentioned documents for the following period.
 
Although the topic of the next plenary meeting originally included the adoption of BEREC’s opinion on the proposal of Commission’s documents on roaming, since the Commission withdraw the documents on 9 September 2016, BEREC’s obligation was postponed until the receipt of new proposals which are expected within the shortest possible time.         
 
The Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) is represented at the meeting of the contact group by Assistant Director, Mr. Marko Čavlović and the Council Secretary, Mrs. Natalia Boltužić.

ABOUT HAKOM: HAKOM (www.hakom.hr) - Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries – ensures preconditions for a fair market competition, stable growth and environment for innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market. HAKOM protects users’ interests and the possibility of choice among various communications and postal services at affordable prices, defines sustainable competitive conditions for operators and service providers under fair conditions for return on investment, and provides support to economic growth, public services and the quality of life in the Republic of Croatia by using modern technologies. HAKOM’ strategic goals are: to promote regulation of the electronic communications and postal services market, to support growth of investments and innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market, to provide efficient use of limited resources, to accelerate the growth of broadband products and services, to provide affordable offers of communications and postal services, to provide protection and informing of users, to build an efficient and comprehensive information system, to define and implement efficient processes, and to acquire multi-disciplinary competencies in market regulation.