ECTA JOINED A "6 GHZ GLOBAL INDUSTRY STATEMENT"

ecta has co-signed a joint industry statement on the 6GHz band. The industry statement  recommends the policy makers and stakeholders to assess the opportunity of licensing the use of the 6 425 - 7 125 MHz band at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023. The 6GHz frequency band is a strong candidate to offer seamless high capacity citywide and its licensing will achieve the best outcomes for Europe's digital society.

 

WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATION CONFERENCE 2023

On 3 December the European Commission published the event report from the European Commission and the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunucations (CEPT)  public workshop with stakeholders regarding EU policy and the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) that was held on on 25 November 2021.

The agenda, all presentations made during the event, as well as the report retrieved from the workshop can be found here.

 

ROAMING REGULATION

On 30 November the Rapporteur from the ITRE Committee MEP Angelika Winzing and the Rapporteur from the IMCO Committee MEP Andreas Schwab briefed their respective committees on the ongoing trialogue on the Roaming Regulation.

The MEPs shared that the second trialogue was held on 23 November but the Slovenian Presidency did not reach a political agreement.

On the next trialogue, and "hopefully the last one" as stated by the MEPs, the following topics will be on the agenda:

• The fair use policy.
• The revision of wholesale caps by means of a Delegated act (as proposed by the Commission) or a new legislative proposal (as proposed by the European Parliament).
• The surcharges of Intra-EU calls.
• Wholesale roaming caps.

The Council of the EU signals interest on closing the file by the end of this year as stated on the meeting of the Transport, Telecommunication and Energy Council on 3 December 2021.

Next steps: 8 December 2021  - the third 3rd discussion on Roaming Regulation.

 

DATA GOVERNANCE ACT

On 30 November the Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a new law - the Data Governance Act (DGA). The DGA will :

• create the basis for a new European way of data governance in accordance with the EU rules, such as personal data protection (GDPR), consumer protection and competition rules.
• allow more data to be available and exchanged in the EU, across sectors and the Member States.

The DGA will boost data sharing and the development of common European data spaces, such as manufacturing, cultural heritage and health.

The press release can be found here.

Next steps: The new rules will apply 15 months after the entry into force of the regulation.

The European Commission's next steps:

(*) The Commission will soon propose a second major legislative initiative, the Data Act

(*) An open public consultation ran from 3 June to 3 September 2021 and the results will be published soon.

 

NIS2 - THE COUNCIL OF THE EU AGREES ITS POSITION

On 3 December the Council of the EU agreed on its general approach on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the EU.

The new NIS2 directive would introduce wider scope of rules determining which entities would meet the criteria to qualify as operators of essential services.

The Council also introduces changes regarding reporting obligations in order to avoid causing over-reporting and creating an excessive burden on the entities covered. The Council agreed that the Member States would have two year from the entry into force of the directive in which to incorporate the provisions into their national law.

The press release can be found here.

Next steps: Negotiations with the European Parliament.

 

NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY STRATEGIES

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) issued a report on cybersecurity awareness. The report collects information and evaluation of the intensity, the regularity and the diversity of different cybersecurity awareness practices and processes in the EU Member States.

The Member States' data on awareness campaign is available for the following countries: Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain ans Sweden.

More information can be found here.

EPRIVACY

On 3 December 2021 the Transport, Telecommunication and Energy Council held a meeting and discussed several important files, one of which was the ePrivacy Regulation.

The participants recalled that the negotiations with the Parliament started after the Portuguese Presidency and secured a mandate of the Council on the 10 February 2021. The second trialogue was held 18 November 2021.

The Commissioner of the Internal Market Thierry Breton stressed that a compromise needs to be reached during the French Presidency which will take over from 1 January 2022 until June 2022.

 

GLOBAL GATEWAY

On 1 December the European Commission published a new European Strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport and strengthen health, education and research systems across the world. Global Gateway aims to mobilise up to €300 billion in investments between 2021 and 2027 to underpin a lasting global recovery, taking into account our partners needs and EU's own interests.

The digital agenda includes that the EU:

• will work with partner countries to deploy digital networks and infrastructures such as  submarine  and  terrestrial  fibre-optic  cables,  space-based  secure  communication systems as well as cloud and data infrastructures.
• will promote access to the Open Internet, given its role as a key driver of innovation, socio-political, economic and cultural development.

The press release can be found here.

Next steps: The Global Gateway projects will be developed and delivered through Team Europe Initiatives.