BRUSSELS—The next few months will be a critical time for net neutrality in the EU, according to the chief of Europe's digital rights' lobby group.

Joe McNamee, executive director of EDRi, told Ars that it was crucial to engage people about the issue over the course of the next few months. Draft net neutrality guidelines are due to be presented by the European Commission on June 6, followed by a consultation for 20 working days on those proposed rules.

"The next four months are equivalent to the moment when the big successes were achieved in the US and India," he said.

"We have the advantage that there is an EU regulation that provides the legal basis for good guidelines, and the disadvantage that those rules are vague enough to give regulators the ability (although not the right) to avoid their responsibilities," McNamee added.

At the beginning of this month, EDRi—together with 72 other NGOs—sent a letter to the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communication (BEREC) calling on it to safeguard the open Internet in forthcoming negotiations.

BEREC and the 28 European Union national telecom regulators will have to clarify the final guidelines, which must be published no later than August 30.

The NGOs want "careful consideration" of "specialised services," and for so-called zero rating to be outlawed. Alongside its campaign for strong net neutrality guidelines, EDRi has also set up a website (RespectMyNet.eu), where Internet users can report supposed net neutrality violations.

McNamee has little faith in European digital commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, however. He told Ars that Oettinger had spoken about a move away from the best effort Internet—“the Internet, in other words!”

“We are living in dangerous times for the open, neutral, innovative, and democratic Internet. It is absolutely crucial for everyone to do whatever they can through savetheinternet.eu to, quite literally, save the Internet,” said McNamee.

Last week, the first EU-wide net neutrality rules came into force.