Reding, Roaming, and Relief (or: Never Mind the Facts, Part 2)

Posted on July 2, 2007 | Filed Under communication technologies 

These days, “Europeans can breathe a sigh of relief as the EU Roaming Regulation finally becomes binding law”, Commissioner Reding tells us on the Commission’s Website on Roaming. - To quote Shakespeare again: “For this relief much thanks” (from the very first scene of Hamlet).

The Regulation, we also learn from the Commission’s website, “in a nutshell … gives Europeans the freedom to roam!”  [I am sure the Ramblers’ Association will be delighted to hear that ;-) ]

Commissioner Reding takes particular pride in stressing the fast decision making pocess on this issue:

“The result is that we have reached the fastest ever political agreement only 11 months after the Commission’s proposal.”  

Which is, of course, completely wrong. Just think of the only other regulation in the context of electronic communications that was of major importance - the “Unbundling Regulation” 2887/2000: The Commission proposal was adopted on 12 July 2000, it was signed by the European Parliament and Council on 18 December 2000, and published in the Official Journal on 30 December 2000 (for details: here).

As for the Roaming Regulation, the Commission’s proposal was adopted on 12 July 2006 (exactly six years after the proposal for the Unbundling Regulation). Signature by European Parliament and Council was on 27 June 2007, and publication in the Official Journal was on 29 June 2007 (details here). The whole process therefore took more than twice as long as the adoption of the Unbundling Regulation.

But in promoting the Roaming Regulation, facts have never been the strong point in the Commissioner’s rhetoric (see, for example, here: never mind the facts, part 1).

And a more balanced approach, by the way, might also have taken into account the ill-fated sector inquiry into mobile roaming,  started by the Commission’s Competition DG almost eight years ago, on 27 July 1999 - which never showed any concrete results. Considering that the Commission had identified and started to address the problem in the Summer of 1999, a proposal presented in 2006 may not necessarily count as “fastest ever”-action.

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2 Responses to “Reding, Roaming, and Relief (or: Never Mind the Facts, Part 2)”

  1. The full force of competition law … : contentandcarrier on August 2nd, 2007 5:14 pm

    […] we can rest relieved, although “in a few cases – the exception rather than the rule – we [Reding’s […]

  2. “She has the mends in her own hands”* - Commissioner Reding saving the day for SMEs? : contentandcarrier on December 21st, 2007 11:28 am

    […] seems to stick to this (alleged) maxim of tabloid journalism (see for an earlier instance e.g. here). A few days ago, she accepted an award given to her by a German publisher, honoring her […]

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