BEREC launches public consultation on updated Open Internet Guidelines

Public consultations will be opened until April 14, and at the same time comments can be submitted to the Draft Report on the Environmental Footprint of Digital sector.

ZAGREB, 17 March 2022 - Following the judgment of the European Court of Justice regarding zero-rated services, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) updated the Guidelines on Open Internet. In addition, the public consultation was launched. According to BEREC, the market stakeholders were invited to submit their comments by April 14th, and aside from the public consultation, the other decisions were represented, made at the 50th plenary session last week.

Discussing the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the electronic communications market, BEREC clarified that the Open Internet Regulation is not an obstacle to the implementation of the EU sanctions to block RT and Sputnik in order to comply with the EU legal acts indicating which domains and sub-domains fall within the scope of sanctions. The Draft Report on the Environmental Footprint of Digital sector was presented, assessing the impact of telecommunications on the environment, documenting the existing examples of good practice developed to reduce negative environmental impacts. Public consultations were also opened until April 14th. According to the report, the regulatory authorities can also act to minimise the adverse effects of electronic communications on the environment, using some of their traditional regulatory tools.

BEREC's report is fully accessible on the following link.