Big tech accountability? Read the backstory to today's policy debates here on Iptegrity.

Telecoms Package 3rd Reading

The Telecoms Package went to a Third Reading in the European Parliament in the autumn of 2009.

The core issue related to the controversial Amendment 138, which was carried by the European Parliament, in the Second Reading vote on 6 May 2009.

Amendment 138 sought to protect the rights of Internet users in situations where governments or private operators might introduce measures which restrict their access to applications and services. Other parts of the Package, notably the Universal Services and Users Rights directive, contain provisions that were added as part of the "compromise" process, which will permit broadband operators to restrict users access to services and applications on the Internet. It also contains a provision which permits governments to order such restrictions.

This section of iptegrity.com monitored developments in the Third Reading of the Telecoms Package.

The text of the Parliament' Second Reading is available in all EU languages at the following URLs:

Framework, authorisation and access directives (Trautmann report )

Universal services and users rights directive (Harbour report)

If you like the articles in this section and you are interested in the Telecoms Package and EU telecoms regulation, plus copyright enforcement policy, you may like my books A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms and The Copyright Enforcement Enigma - Internet Politics and the 'Telecoms Package'

And you may like my book The Closing of the Net which discusses the outcome of the 2009 Telecoms Package 3rd Reading in the wider policy context.

The Telecoms Package Conciliation Agreement should stop the worst of the Hadopi and 3-strikes measures, and it ring-fences what can be done by governments who wish to restrict the Internet. That is what the European Parliament intended. But there are some differences in the interpretation, as a trawl of experts, lobbyists and websites reveals.

European governments will find it harder to legislate for 3-strikes measures under the new Telecoms Package, although it may well go to the European Court before we can be 100% clear what is possible and what is not.

The European Parliament's rapporteur, Catherine Trautmann, speaking at the press conference on 5 November, was clear that the text was intended to block 3-strikes. "Now we have legal

Read more: Telecoms Package: the verdict

Catherine Trautmann, rapporteur for the Telecoms Package framework directive, has asked the European Commission to take a full review of net neutrality, and stated that it should be enshrined as a principle under EU law.

As the spotlight focussed on the replacement of Amendment 138, another element of the Telecoms Package agreement last week fell into the shadows. Regular iptegrity readers will know that a Declaration on Net Neutrality from the European Commission was also on the cards, and that I was somewhat critical of the way it had been written.

A re-worked version of the Declaration on Net Neutrality was also

Read more: Catherine Trautmann rewrites net neutrality policy

What is a 'prior, fair and impartial procedure' and how far will it prevent British or French -style 3-strikes?

The Telecoms Package was sealed tonight, following what appears to have been a lengthy negotiation between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. A text was agreed last night at around 11pm Brussels time (see below). The European Parliament appears to have gained a

Read more: Telecoms Package sealed, but not with a kiss

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About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten.

I am a tech policy specialist, published author, post-doctoral scholar. I hold a PhD from the University of Westminster, and a DipM from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Currently working on UK Online Safety Bill.

Recent media quotes: BBC, iNews, Times, Guardian, Politico.  Panelist: IAPP,  CybersecuritySummit. Parliament and Internet. June 2022-July 2023 w/ Open Rights Group.

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