Telecoms Package Plenary Amendments

In the following amendments, amended text with regard to Commission's initial proposal is highlighted in bold italics. In the case of amending acts, passages in an existing provision that the Commission has left unchanged, but that Parliament wishes to amend, are highlighted in bold. Any deletions that Parliament wishes to make in passages of this kind are stroke out.

COD/2007/0248

Electronic communications: universal service, users' rights relating to networks and services, processing of personal data, protection of privacy, consumer protection cooperation ("Telecoms Package" [amend. Directives 2002/22/EC, 2002/58/EC and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004])

IMCO Committee, rapporteur Malcolm HARBOUR

Amendment 9

• Recital 12 c (new)

(12c) In order to address public interest issues with respect to the
use of communications services, and to encourage protection of the
rights and freedoms of others, the relevant national authorities
should be able to produce and have disseminated, with the aid of
providers, information related to the use of communications services.
This information should include warnings regarding copyright
infringement, other unlawful uses and dissemination of harmful
content, and advice and means of protection against risks to personal
security, which may for example arise from disclosure of personal
information in certain circumstances, privacy and personal data.  The
information could be coordinated by way of the cooperation procedure
established in Article 33(2a) of Directive 2002/22/EC. Such public
interest information should be produced either as a preventative
measure or in response to particular problems, should be updated
whenever necessary and should be presented in easily comprehensible
printed and electronic formats, as determined by each Member State,
and on national public authority websites. National regulatory
authorities should be able to oblige providers to disseminate this
information to their customers in a manner deemed appropriate by the
national regulatory authorities. Significant additional costs
incurred by service providers for dissemination of such information,
for example if the provider is obliged to send the information by
post and thereby incurs additional postage costs, should be agreed
between the providers and the relevant authorities and met by those
authorities. The information should also be included in contracts.

Amendment 11

• Recital 14

(14) End-users should decide what lawful content they want to be able
to send and receive, and which services, applications, hardware and
software they want to use for such purposes, without prejudice to the
need to preserve the integrity and security of networks and services.
A competitive market with transparent offerings as provided for in
Directive 2002/22/EC should ensure that end-users are able to access
and distribute any lawful content and to use any lawful applications
and/or services of their choice, as stated in Article 8 of Directive
2002/21/EC. Given the increasing importance of electronic
communications for consumers and businesses, users should in any case
be fully informed of any restrictions and/or limitations imposed on
the use of electronic communications services by the service and/or
network provider. Such information should, at the option of the
provider, specify either the type of content, application or service
concerned, or individual applications or services, or both.  Depending
on the technology used and the type of restriction and/or limitation,
such restrictions and/or limitations may require user consent under
Directive 2002/58/EC (Privacy Directive).

Amendment 34

• (Amendment 9 of the LIBE opinion) Recital 30 a (new)

(30a) Article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58/EC should be construed as
meaning that disclosure of personal data in the context of Article 8
of Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights
[OJ L 157, 30.4.2004, p. 45.] is without prejudice to Directive
2002/58/EC or Directive 95/46/EC where it takes place following a
justified, i.e. sufficiently well-founded, and proportionate request
in accordance with procedures laid down by the Member States to
guarantee that these safeguards are respected.

Amendment 62

• Article 1 – point 12 amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 20 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point (b)

(b) services provided, including in particular:
- where access to emergency services and caller location information
  is to be provided under Article 26, the level of reliability of
  such access, where relevant, and whether access is provided in the
  whole of the national territory,
- information on any restrictions imposed by the provider regarding a
  subscriber's ability to access, use or distribute lawful content or
  run lawful applications and services,
- the service quality levels, with reference to any parameters
  specified under Article 22(2) as appropriate,
- types of maintenance and customer support services offered, as well
  as how to contact customer support,
- the time for the initial connection, and
- any restrictions on the use of terminal equipment imposed by the
  provider;

Amendment 67

• Article 1 – point 12 amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 20 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2

The contract shall also include any information provided by the
relevant public authorities on the use of electronic communications
networks and services to engage in unlawful activities or to
disseminate harmful content, and on the means of protection against
risks to personal security, privacy and personal data referred to in
Article 21(4a) and relevant to the service provided.

Amendment 70

• Article 1 – point 12 amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 20 – paragraph 5

6. Member States shall ensure that where contracts are concluded
between subscribers and undertakings providing electronic
communications services and/or networks, subscribers are clearly
informed in advance of the conclusion of a contract and regularly
thereafter of any limitations imposed by the provider on their
ability to access or distribute lawful content or run any lawful
applications and services of their choice.

Amendment 71

• Article 1 – point 12 amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 20 – paragraph 6

6. Member States shall ensure that where contracts are concluded
between subscribers and undertakings providing electronic
communications services and/or networks, subscribers are clearly
informed in advance of the conclusion of the contract and regularly
thereafter of their obligations to respect copyright and related
rights. Without prejudice to Directive 2000/31/EC on electronic
commerce, this includes the obligation to inform subscribers of the
most common acts of infringements and their legal consequences.

Amendment 75

• Article 1 – point 12 amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 21 – paragraph 4

4. Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities
are able to oblige undertakings providing connection to a public
electronic communications network and/or electronic communications
services to inter alia:

(a) provide applicable tariff information to subscribers regarding
any number or service subject to particular pricing conditions; with
respect to individual categories of services national regulatory
authorities may require such information to be provided prior to
connecting the call;

(b) regularly remind subscribers of any lack of reliable access to
emergency services or caller location information in the service they
have subscribed to;

(c) inform subscribers of any change to any restrictions imposed by
the undertaking on their ability to access, use or distribute lawful
content or run lawful applications and services of their choice;

(d) inform subscribers of their right to include their personal data
in a directory, and of the types of data concerned; and

(e) regularly inform disabled subscribers of details of current
products and services aimed at them.

If deemed appropriate, national regulatory authorities may promote
self-or co-regulatory measures prior to imposing any obligation.

Amendment 76

• Article 1 – point 12 amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 21 – paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities
oblige the undertakings referred to in paragraph 4 to distribute
public interest information to existing and new subscribers where
appropriate. Such information shall be produced by the relevant
public authorities in a standardised format and shall inter alia
cover the following topics:

(a) the most common uses of electronic communications services to
engage in unlawful activities or to disseminate harmful content,
particularly where it may prejudice respect for the rights and
freedoms of others, including  infringements of copyright and related
right, and their consequences; and

(b) means of protection against risks to personal security, privacy
and personal data in using electronic communications services.
Significant additional costs incurred by an undertaking in complying
with these obligations shall be reimbursed by the relevant public
authorities.

Amendment 81

• Article 1 – point 13 – point b amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 22 – paragraph 3

3. A national regulatory authority may issue guidelines setting
minimum quality of service requirements, and, if appropriate, take
other measures, in order to prevent degradation of service and
slowing of traffic over networks, and to ensure that the ability of
users to access or distribute lawful content or to run lawful
applications and services of their choice is not unreasonably
restricted. Those guidelines or measures shall take due account of
any standards issued under Article 17 of Directive 2002/21/EC
(Framework Directive).

The Commission may, having examined such guidelines or measures and
consulted [xxx], adopt technical implementing measures in that regard
if it considers that the guidelines or measures may create a barrier
to the internal market. Those measures, designed to amend
non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall
be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny
referred to in Article 37(2).

Amendment 112

• Article 1 – point 20 – point a a (new) amending Directive 2002/22/EC Article 33 – paragraph 2 a (new)

(aa) the following paragraph shall be added:

2a. Without prejudice to national rules in conformity with Community
law promoting cultural and media policy objectives, such as cultural
and linguistic diversity and media pluralism, national regulatory
authorities and other relevant authorities shall as far as
appropriate promote cooperation between undertakings providing
electronic communications networks and/or services and the sectors
interested in the promotion of lawful content in electronic
communication networks and services. That co-operation may also
include coordination of the public interest information to be made
available under Article 21(4a) and Article 20(2).

Amendment 122

• (Amendment 19 of the LIBE opinion) Article 2 – point 3 – point a a (new) amending Directive 2002/58/EC Article 4 – paragraphs 1 a and 1 b (new)

(aa) the following paragraphs shall be inserted:

1a. Without prejudice to the provisions of Directive 95/46/EC and
Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in
connection with the provision of publicly available electronic
communications services or of public communications networks [OJ L
105, 13.4.2006, p. 54.], these measures shall include:

- appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure that
  personal data can be accessed only by authorised personnel for
  legally authorised purposes and to protect personal data stored or
  transmitted against accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental
  loss or alteration and unauthorised or unlawful storage,
  processing, access or disclosure;

- appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect the
  network and services against accidental, unlawful or unauthorised
  usage or interference with or hindering of their functioning or
  availability;

- a security policy with respect to the processing of personal data;

- a process for identifying and assessing reasonably foreseeable
  vulnerabilities in the systems maintained by the provider of
  electronic communications services, which shall include regular
  monitoring for security breaches; and

- a process for taking preventive, corrective and mitigating action
  against any vulnerabilities discovered in the process described
  under the fourth indent  and a process for taking preventive,
  corrective and mitigating action against security incidents that
  can lead to a security breach.

1b. National regulatory authorities shall be able to audit the
measures taken by providers of publicly available electronic
communication services and information society services and to issue
recommendations about best practices and performance indicators
concerning the level of security which these measures should achieve.

Amendment 130

• (Amendment 28 of the LIBE opinion) Article 2 – point 4 b (new) amending Directive 2002/58/EC Article 6 – paragraph 6a (new)

(4b) in Article 6, the following paragraph shall be added:

6a. Traffic data may be processed by any natural or legal person for
the purpose of implementing technical measures to ensure the security
of a public electronic communication service, a public or private
electronic communications network, an information society service or
related terminal and electronic communication equipment.  Such
processing must be restricted to that which is strictly necessary for
the purposes of such security activity.

Amendment 134

• (Amendment 32 of the LIBE opinion) Article 2 – point 5 a (new) amending Directive 2002/58/EC Article 14 – paragraph 1

(5a) Article 14(1) shall be replaced by the following:

1. In implementing the provisions of this Directive, Member States
shall ensure, subject to paragraphs 2 and 3, that no mandatory
requirements for specific technical features, including, without
limitation, for the purpose of detecting, intercepting or preventing
infringements of intellectual property rights by users, are imposed
on terminal or other electronic communication equipment which could
impede the placing of equipment on the market and the free
circulation of such equipment in and between Member States.

Amendment 148

• Annex I – Part B – point b b (new) amending Directive 2002/22/EC Annex I – Part B – point b b (new)

(bb) Protection software

Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities are
able to require operators to make available free of charge to their
subscribers reliable and easy-to-use protection and/or filtering
software to control access by children or vulnerable people to
unlawful or dangerous content.