Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Regulations 2003
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2003/33 |
| Year | 2003 |
2003 No. 33
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
The Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Regulations 2003
Made 9th January 2003
Laid before Parliament 10th January 2003
Coming into force 1st February 2003
The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in respect of matters relating to electronic communications, in exercise of the powers conferred on her by that section, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 1st February 2003.
Interpretation
2. —In these Regulations—
“the Director” means the Director General of Telecommunications appointed under section 1 of the Telecommunications Act 19843;
“the Framework Directive” means Directive 2002/21/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services4;
“the universal service” means the provision in the United Kingdom of the services and facilities set out in Articles 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9(2) of the Universal Service Directive;
“the Universal Service Directive” means Directive 2002/22/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services5; and
“universal service provider” means person who is designated as a person who provides the whole or part of the universal service.
Policy objectives and regulatory principles
3.—(1) It shall be the duty of the Director in carrying out any of the functions set out in these Regulations to act in accordance with the policy objectives and regulatory principles in Article 8 of the Framework Directive.
(2) Where it appears to the Director that any of those policy objectives or regulatory principles conflict with each other, he must secure that the conflict is resolved in the manner he thinks best in the circumstances.
(3) Where it appears to the Director that any of his duties in section 3 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 conflict with one or more of those policy objectives or regulatory principles, priority must be given to those objectives and principles.
Designation of Universal Service Provider
4.—(1) The Director shall be under a duty to make proposals to secure, as far as practicable, the universal service.
(2) In order to fulfil the duty in paragraph (1), the Director may propose the designation of such persons as he considers appropriate as universal service providers.
(3) Proposals for designating any person as a universal service provider shall be by means of a notification published by the Director—
(a)
(a) stating that he is proposing to designate that person as a universal service provider;
(b)
(b) giving the reasons for making the proposal;
(c)
(c) inviting expressions of interest from any other person to be designated as a universal service provider instead of the person stated in the notification; and
(d)
(d) specifying the period within which representations about the proposal or expressions of interest may be made.
(4) The notification may also set out the following—
(a)
(a) the conditions that the Director is proposing to set on a person designated as a universal service provider in accordance with Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Service Directive;
(b)
(b) the effect of those conditions; and
(c)
(c) the reasons for setting those conditions.
(5) The period specified for the purposes of paragraph (3)(d) must be one of not less than one month, beginning with the day after the day on which the notification was published.
(6) The Director shall send a copy of each notification published under paragraph (3) to the Secretary of State.
(7) The publication of a notification under this regulation must be in such manner as appears to the Director to be appropriate for bringing it to the attention of the persons who, in the Director’s opinion, are likely to have an interest in, or be affected by, it.
(8) Where following publication of a...
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