Project launched to assess impacts of European Electronic Communications Code

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has launched a monitoring project to assess the impacts of the legislative amendments that were needed to implement the Directive establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC). The Code regulates electronic communications (telecoms) networks and services. The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom will carry out the impact assessment under the Ministry's guidance. The project will run from 19 November 2024 to 30 May 2025.

The project will gather monitoring data on the impacts of the amendments made to Finnish legislation in line with the EECC, and on the realisation of the objectives underlying the regulation.

The monitoring will largely focus on the key amendments to the Finnish Act on Electronic Communication Services, which entered into force in 2021 following the implementation of the EECC. The key amendments concern the use of frequencies and network licences; telecom operators' obligations to grant or interconnect their access rights; discontinuing the special pricing of national subscriber numbers; user and subscriber rights; location of base stations; emergency warnings; and emergency communications.

The monitoring project will also assess the functioning of the current regulation on universal service, which is based on the Act and the Government Decree on Electronic Communication Services.

In line with the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), amendments to the regulation on audiovisual content were also implemented by the same government proposal. The monitoring project, however, will not cover these amendments.

What’s next?

The project will end on 30 May 2025. A monitoring report, to be published in May or June, will describe the current state of the legislative amendments and their impacts.

The monitoring data will be used to proactively exert influence on EU regulation, and to monitor the effectiveness of the amendments made to national legislation in line with the EECC.

Inquiries:

Hanna Laurila, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 342 025, [email protected]