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On 29 May 2012, The Body of European Regulators for Electronic

Communications (BEREC) published its findings in its joint investigation

with the European Commission regarding traffic management and other

practices that lead to restrictions to an open Internet in Europe.

This investigation was based on over 400 responses to a questionnaire

addressed to European operators in fixed and mobile markets and includes

three publications in the context of Net Neutrality (the quality of

service guidelines, a report on differentiation practices and related

competition issues and a report on IP Interconnection).

While stating that traffic management and differentiation practices are

not harmful in themselves, BEREC draws the attention over the fact that

they are “capable of being used for questionable purposes or in an

inappropriate manner.”

BEREC’s conclusions are that in order to provide net neutrality,

competition between operators should rely on effective transparency and

the possibility for end-users to easily switch between service

providers. National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) as well as end-users

should also be able to monitor the performance of the Internet access

service and of the applications used via that Internet access service.

As the situation is different in the Member States, BEREC is proposing

general criteria to allow NRAs to assess practices on a case-by-case

basis in their respective markets.

However, the data from the investigation is actually revealing an

increased trend of the operators to restrict access to their users. “At

least 20% of mobile Internet users in Europe have some form of

restriction on their ability to access VoIP services, although there are

differences by country (depending for example on the number of operators

providing unrestricted access)” says the report. The same is valid for

20% of the fixed telecommunications operators especially for

peer-to-peer volumes at peak times. According to Neelies Kroes, who

initiated the investigation, this can affect up to 95% of users in a

country. Kroes emphases the fact that the findings show the need for

more regulatory certainty and the existence of “enough problems to

warrant strong and targeted action to safeguard consumers.”

The Commissioner believes consumers should know exactly what they get

for their money and that regulators should have control over how ISPs

market their services.

Yet, digital civil society groups consider this is not enough and that

the Commission should legislate on the matter and provide strong legal

protections for the free Internet, taking the good example of Netherlands.

“Commissioner Nellie Kroes’ proposals refer soundly to the long standing

principle of Net Neutrality, but they will have no effect if they fall

short of decisive action. Net neutrality must be made into EU law, and

provide a stricter framework paving the way for fine-tuned but effective

regulation. As Mrs. Kroes timidly suggests, it is indeed of the utmost

importance to ban operators from using the word “Internet” if they

block, throttle or charge differently for specific Internet services and

applications. Privacy invasive traffic monitoring practices must also be

prohibited. All the data is on the table, now we need action,” stated

Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson of La Quadrature du Net.

The public consultation on the three BEREC documents is open until 31

July 2012.

A view of traffic management and other practices resulting in

restrictions to the open Internet in Europe – Findings from BEREC’s and

the European Commission’s joint investigation (29.05.2012)

http://erg.eu.int/doc/consult/bor12_30.pdf

PRESS RELEASE – BEREC publishes net neutrality findings and new guidance

for consultation (29.05.2012)

http://erg.eu.int/doc/whatsnew/pr29052012.pdf

BEREC documents on Net Neutrality consultation

http://erg.eu.int/whatsnew/index_en.htm

Next steps on Net Neutrality – making sure you get champagne service if

that’s what you’re paying for (29.05.2012)

http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/neelie-kroes/netneutrality/

EU Telecom Regulators’ Wake Up Call on Net Neutrality (30.05.2012)

http://www.laquadrature.net/en/eu-telecom-regulators-wake-up-call-on-net-neutrality