European Communities (Telecommunications Licences) Regulations, 1998

JurisdictionIreland
CitationIR SI 96/1998

S.I. No. 96 of 1998.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (TELECOMMUNICATIONS LICENCES) REGULATIONS, 1998

I, Mary O Rourke, T.D, Minister for Public Enterprise, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Directive No. 90/388/EEC1 of the Commission of 28 June 1990, Directive No. 96/2/EC2 of the Commission of 16 January 1996, Directive No. 96/19/EC3 of the Commission of 13 March 1996 and Directive No. 97/13/EC4 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 April 1997, hereby make the following regulations:

1O.J. No. L. 192, 24.7.90.

2O.J. No. L. 20, 26.6.96.

3O.J. No. L. 74, 22.3.96.

4O.J. No. L. 117, 7.5.97.

1 Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Telecommunications Licences) Regulations, 1998.

2 Interpretation.

2. (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Act of 1926" means the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926 (No. 45 of 1926);

"Act of 1983" means the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 (No. 24 of 1983);

"Act of 1996" means the Telecommunications (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1996 (No. 34 of 1996);

"Commission" means the Commission of the European Communities;

"Directive" means Directive No. 97/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 April 1997;

"Director" means the Director of Telecommunications Regulation;

"national numbering scheme" means the scheme administered by the Director which sets out the sequence of numbers or other characters which shall be used to route telephony traffic to specific locations;

"network termination point" means all physical connections and their technical access specifications which form part of the public telecommunications network and are necessary for access to and efficient communication through that public network and which are individually identified by numbers allocated from the national numbering scheme;

"public telecommunications network" means a telecommunications network used, inter alia, for the purpose of the provision of public telecommunications services between network termination points;

"Regulations of 1997" means the European Communities (Telecommunications Infrastructure) Regulations, 1997 ( S.I. No. 338 of 1997 );

"telecommunications network" means the transmission equipment and, where applicable, switching equipment and other resources which permit the conveyance of signals between defined termination points by wire, by radio, by optical or other electromagnetic means;

"telecommunications services" means services whose provision consists wholly or partly in the transmission or routing of signals on a telecommunications network or both transmission and routing;

"voice telephony" means the commercial provision for the public of the direct transport and switching of speech in real-time between public switched network termination points, enabling any user to use equipment connected to such a network termination point in order to communicate with another termination point.

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Directive.

(3) In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears—

(a) a reference to a regulation or Schedule is a reference to a regulation of or Schedule to these Regulations,

(b) a reference to a paragraph or a subparagraph is a reference to a paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, and

(c) a reference to an Annex is to an Annex of the Directive.

(4) In these Regulations, a reference to an enactment or Regulations shall be construed as a reference to the enactment or Regulations as amended by any subsequent enactment or Regulations, including these Regulations.

(5) Every licence granted under a provision revoked or amended by these Regulations shall, if and in so far as it was operative immediately before the coming into operation of these Regulations, have effect on and after the coming into operation of these Regulations as if it had been granted by the Director under section 111 (amended by these Regulations) of the Act of 1983 or under section 5 of the Act of 1926 and regulations 8 and 9.

3 Limits of applicability.

3. (1) Nothing in these Regulations shall oblige the Director to grant a licence to any person for the purpose of providing a public telecommunications network or a voice telephony service before the first day of January, 2000.

(2) Nothing in these Regulations shall entitle an organisation other than Bord Telecom Éireann to offer to provide voice telephony services within or to and from the State or to establish a public telecommunications network before the first day of January, 2000.

4 Clarification of existing legal provisions.

4. (1) The reference in section 6 (amended by the Act of 1983) of the Telegraph Act, 1869, to subsection (2) (amended by these Regulations) of section 111 of the Act of 1983 shall be construed as including a reference to subsection (3) (amended by these Regulations) of that section.

(2) The reference in section 4(10) of the Act of 1996 to section 111(2B)(inserted by the European Communities (Mobile and Personal Communications) Regulations, 1996 ( S.I. No. 123 of 1996 )) of the Act of 1983 shall be construed as a reference to section 111(2) (amended by these Regulations) of the Act of 1983.

5 Amendment of Act of 1983.

5. The Act of 1983 is hereby amended:

(a) in section 111—

(i) by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:

"(2) (a) In this subsection, save where the context otherwise requires, 'licence' means a licence to provide —

(i) a public telecommunications network,

(ii) a voice telephony service,

(iii) a mobile and personal communications system,

(iv) a mobile and personal communications service, or

(v) any other network, service or system which requires the allocation to users of numbers from the national telecommunications numbering resource.

(b) The Director may grant a licence in accordance with this subsection.

(c) It shall be an offence for a person to provide a network, service or system referred to in paragraph (a) otherwise than under and in accordance with a licence granted by the Director under paragraph (b) or otherwise authorised by law.

(d) A licence shall remain in force for such period as may be specified therein and may, while it is in force, be continued in force by the Director from time to time for such periods as may be specified in amendments of the licence.

(e) (i) In granting a licence the Director shall not attach conditions other than—

(I) those listed in points 2, 3 and 4 of the Annex to the Directive, and

(II) those corresponding to offers made by the applicant for a licence in the course of a comparative bidding procedure.

(ii) The conditions referred to in subparagraph (i)(I) shall be objectively justified in relation to the service or network concerned, non-discriminatory, proportionate and transparent.

(iii) The conditions referred to in subparagraph (i)(II) shall be objectively justified in relation to the service or network concerned, transparent and shall not affect the rights of other undertakings under European Community law including the Directive.

(iv) Subject to subsection (10), the Director may amend the conditions of a licence in objectively justified cases and in a proportionate manner and an amendment of a licence shall be effected by furnishing to the holder of the licence, by or on behalf of the Director, a document containing the amendment.

(v) Subject to subparagraph (vi), the Director shall inform an applicant for a licence of his or her decision not more than six weeks after receipt of the application, including all of the information required by the Director.

(vi) The Director may extend the time limit referred to in subparagraph (v) by up to four months in the case of comparative bidding procedures for the award of licences.

(vii) The time limits referred to in subparagraphs (v) and (vi) shall be without prejudice to any applicable international agreements relating to international frequency and satellite coordination.

(f) The rights given under and the conditions attached to a licence under subsection (3) shall not be restricted or complemented by the grant or amendment of a licence under this subsection, except in objectively justified cases and in a proportionate manner, in particular, to reflect obligations relating to the provision of universal service or the control of significant market power or both, or obligations corresponding to offers made by an applicant in the course of comparative bidding procedures for the award of a licence.

(g) A person who applies for a licence shall, if so requested by the Director, furnish the Director with such information as the Director may reasonably require for the purposes of the functions of the Director under this subsection in relation to the grant of a licence, and the Director may refuse to grant a licence to a person who fails or refuses to comply with a request under this paragraph.

(h) This section shall be without prejudice to section 3 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926 .

(i) It shall be an offence for the holder of a licence to fail to comply with a condition of the licence.",

(ii) by the substitution for subsection (3) of the following subsection:

"(3) (a) In this subsection, save where the context otherwise requires, 'licence' means a licence to provide a telecommunications network (including the use of an existing telecommunications network for the purpose of providing a service to any other person) or a telecommunications service not being—

(i) a network or service to which subsection (2)(a) relates, or

(ii) a service, network, operation or...

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