WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3051/97 by Amedeo AMADEO to the Commission. Numbering policy for telecommunications services
C 117/140 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 16. 4. 98 (98/C 117/187) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3051/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (2 October 1997) Subject: Numbering policy for telecommunications services With regard to the Green Paper on a numbering policy for telecommunications services in Europe (COM(96) 590 final), consideration should be given to the harmonization and synchronization of the process of introducing selection and pre-selection. Support should be given for the introduction of number portability as soon as possible with effect from 1 January 1998, as regards the portability of the installation (local area), the service and the service provider (including number portability for special services), if technically feasible. The European numbering area also needs to be established as soon as possible, while constantly reviewing the economic and social benefits to be derived from its implementation. With this in view, what role is to be played by the new European authority that is to be set up and how will it operate? Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (23 October 1997) In the numbering green paper of November 1996, the Commission submitted to public consultation various policy options concerning numbering issues. Among these options was the creation of a new structure for regulation and administration of numbers in Europe. This structure would have an important role in one of the more ambitious scenarios proposed, namely the harmonisation of national numbering schemes. However, on the basis of the results of the consultation, the Commission concluded in its communication of May 1997 (1) that, at present, there was insufficient support for a more far reaching harmonisation of national numbering schemes. This assessment may change in the light of new market demands after full liberalisation and a further cost-benefit analysis should therefore be conducted in a few years from now. In the short term, the only new task for numbering management at the European level would follow from the creation of a European telephony numbering space (ETNS) on the basis of the 388 country code, as proposed in the Commission communication of May. However, the scale of this ETNS would not justify the creation of a European numbering authority and the Commission has proposed to charge the existing European telecommu- nications office (ETO) with the management of the ETNS, in any case in the early stages. By the end of 1999, the Commission will conduct a review of the Communityís telecommunications regulatory framework in the light of the requirements of the liberalised telecommunications markets. The need for a European regulatory authority for telecommunications will be reconsidered as part of that review. (1) COM(97) 203 final. (98/C 117/188) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3054/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (2 October 1997) Subject: Reform of the COM in olive oil The Commission has submitted a note to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament on the olive and olive oil sector (including economic, cultural, regional, social and environmental aspects), the current common market organization, the need for a reform and the alternatives envisaged (COM(97) 57 final). From the political point of view, the Commission proposal fails to promote the development of the Communityís traditional olive-growing regions