This issue will again be on the agenda of the open network provision committee at its meeting on 20 February 2002.

Mr President, our thanks to the rapporteur, Mr Brunetta, for his thorough report on access to electronic communications networks as part of the open network provisions package.

That harmonization can be contributed to by the national regulatory authorities, exercising their responsibilities in the context of the rules governing open network provision, in other words the special legislation for the telecommunications sector.

Nonetheless, he says, it is the way the the world will be forced to go: the European Commission's Open Network Provision directive requires that public telecommunications operators unbundle their charges for individual services.

In 1990 the Open Network Provision (ONP) Framework Directive was adopted by the EU that established regulations for open access to the existing infrastructure and networks, interconnection and 'fair pricing' for resellers.

The Commission's support and encouragement take the following forms: first in the open network provision committee, the forum chaired by the European Union, in which the regulatory authorities and the ministries of the Member States are represented in their advisory and regulatory capacity.