Greece may postpone until 31 December 2000 the abolition of the exclusive rights currently granted to the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization AE as regards the provision of voice telephony and the establishment and provision of public telecommunications networks, provided that the following conditions are implemented according to the following timetable:
- no later than 1 October 1997, instead of 1 July 1996: notification to the Commission of all measures necessary to lift restrictions on the provision of already liberalized telecommunications services on:
(a) networks established by the provider of the telecommunications service;
(b) infrastructures provided by third parties;
(c) the sharing of networks, other facilities and sites,
- no later than nine months after the adoption of this Decision, instead of 11 January 1997: notification to the Commission of legislative changes necessary to implement full competition by 31 December 2000, including proposals for the funding of universal services,
- no later than 31 December 1999, instead of 1 January 1997: notification to the Commission of draft licences for voice telephony and/or underlying network-providers,
- no later than 30 June 2000, instead of 1 July 1997: publication of licensing conditions for public voice telephony and of interconnection charges as appropriate in accordance in both cases with relevant Community directives,
- no later than 31 December 2000, instead of 1 January 1998: award of licences and amendment of existing licenses to enable competitive provision of voice telephony.
Greece may postpone until 1 October 1997 the lifting of restrictions on the provision of already liberalized telecommunications services on:
(a) networks established by the provider of the telecommunications service;
(b) infrastructures provided by third parties;
(c) shared networks, other facilities and sites.
Greece shall notify to the Commission, no later than 1 October 1997 instead of 1 July 1996, all measures adopted to lift such restrictions.
This Decision is addressed to the Hellenic Republic.
Done at Brussels, 18 June 1997.
For the Commission
Karel VAN MIERT
Member of the Commission
(1) OJ L 192, 24. 7. 1990, p. 10.
(2) OJ L 74, 22. 3. 1996, p. 13.
(3) OJ C 257, 4. 9. 1996, p. 3.
(4) OJ C 213, 6. 8. 1993, p. 1.
(5) OJ C 379, 31. 12. 1994, p. 4.
(6) OJ L 268, 19. 10. 1994, p. 15.
(7) OJ L 165, 19. 6. 1992, p. 27.
(8) Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Case 1/86 Commission v. Belgium [1987] ECR 2797.
(9) For an entity to benefit from the derogation, there must be de facto a sufficient degree of competition (Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-392/93 British Telecommunications [1996] ECR I-1631).
(10) Public network services in Europe 1995, CIT research, p. 88.
(11) Op. cit. p. 303.
(12) Tarifica study implemented for the European Commission DG XIII.
(13) A direct comparison of the telephony tariffs of OTE with the Community average (which is not a weighted average) would not be appropriate, given that the tariff structures of the 15 Community TOs are still widely divergent and in addition, given that they are currently in the process of rebalancing tariffs.
(14) OJ L 133, 24. 5. 1997, p. 19.
(15) OJ L 321, 30. 12. 1995, p. 6.
(16) OJ C 275, 20. 10. 1995, p. 2.
(17) Case C-259/94 Commission v. Hellenic Republic [1995] ECR, I-1947.
