The Community executive explains, in a statement released on 4 February, that Member States had until 21 December 2020 to transpose the new European Electronic Communications Code into national legislation, but until that date “only Greece, Hungary and Finland have notified the Commission that have adopted all necessary measures for the transposition of the Directive, thus declaring its complete transposition”.

For this reason, the Commission sent notification letters to Portugal and 23 other EU countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Sweden), asking them “to adopt and notify the adoption of relevant measures”.

Member States have two months to respond, and if not, the Community executive advances to the EU Court of Justice.

The European Electronic Communications Code, which updates the regulatory framework governing the European sector in the field of telecommunications, came into force in December 2018. After that date, Member States had two years to implement the new rules.

In the press release, Brussels stresses that this legislation “modernises the European regulatory framework for electronic communications, to improve consumer choices and rights, for example, by ensuring clearer contracts, quality of services and competitive markets”.

“The Code also ensures higher standards of communication services, including more efficient and accessible emergency communications. In addition, it allows operators to benefit from rules that encourage investments in very high capacity networks, as well as greater regulatory predictability, leading to more innovative digital services and infrastructures”, the institution says.