Clause 29 - Advance notification to OFCOM
Communications Bill
11:00 am
Mr Andrew Robathan (Blaby, Conservative)
Amendment No. 65 relates to clause 34 but it is consequent upon amendment No. 64, which relates to clause 29 (1). Clause 29 (1) requires a person who provides a ''designated associated facility'' to notify Ofcom of
''his intention to provide . . . that facility''.
Apart from the fact that the definition of ''associated facility'' is so wide that Ofcom will have wide discretion in designating such facilities, there is no authority under the EU authorisations directive for making associated facilities the subject of notifications to Ofcom. On the contrary, article 3.3 of the directive states:
''notification . . . shall not entail more than a declaration . . . to the national regulatory authority of the intention to commence the provision of electronic communication networks or services''.
The directive does not therefore provide for notification of associated facilities, which should be taken out of the notification procedure. This appears to be a classic case of more gold-plating of EU directives. That will put the UK out of line with other European markets and affect our competitiveness; it will also put us out of line with Government intentions as stated by the Better Regulation Task Force—namely the reduction of red tape.