European Electronic Communications Code

Incyte Consulting has been advising clients on the new European Electronic Communications Code. The EECC came into effect in December 2018 after a long period of discussion across the European Union. It is designed to reduce the burden on National Regulatory Authorities by reducing the requirement for full-blown market analysis and it does this by increasing the use of symmetric regulation – common remedies applied to all market players. The purpose of the EECC is to respond to the increasing convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology so that “all electronic communications networks and services should be covered to the extent possible by a single European electronic communications code established by means of a single Directive”.

Incyte has advised on the implementation of the EECC in Belgium, Bulgaria and Netherlands, much of the work being in partnership with e-Conomics. A particular aim of the EECC is to give priority to investment in Very High Capacity Networks (VHCNs), meaning any network using any technology that can deliver the gigabit networks. VHCNs are prioritised as an essential catalyst for exploiting the potential of the digital economy. The EECC establishes a preference for the market-driven deployment of VHCNs so as to provide competitive outcomes for end users. Only in the event of high and non-transitory economic or physical barriers to replication should regulatory outcomes be imposed. And those outcomes should be imposed only on reusable passive infrastructure unless or until such obligations have been demonstrated to be insufficient.