S.I. No. 180/1998 - European Communities (Full Competition in Telecommunications) Regulations, 1998

S.I. No. 180 of 1998.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (FULL COMPETITION IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS) REGULATIONS, 1998

I, Mary O'Rourke, T.D., Minister for Public Enterprise, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 of the European Communities act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving effect to Directive No. 96/19/EC¹ of the Commission of 13 March 1996 amending Directive No. 90/388/EEC² with regard to the implementation of full competition in telecommunications markets, hereby make the following regulations.

¹ O.J. No. L. 74.22.3.1966

² O.J. No. L. 192.24.7.1990

1 Citation and Commencement

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Full Competition in Telecommunications) Regulations, 1998.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the first day of December, 1998.

2 Definitions

2. In these Regulations "Act of 1983" means the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 (No. 24 of 1983).

3 Revocation

3. The statutory instruments mentioned in column (2) of the Schedule to these Regulations are hereby revoked to the extent mentioned in column (3) of that Schedule.

4 Construction of Section 44(1) of Act of 1983

4. Section 44 (1) of the Act of 1983 shall be construed and have effect as if these Regulations had not been made.

5 Repeal of Section 87 of Act of 1983

5. Section 87 of the Act of 1983 is hereby repealed.

6 Amendment of section 111 of Act of 1983

6. Section 111 of the Act of 1983 is hereby amended in paragraph (a) of subsection

(1) -

(a) by the deletion of "or a telecommunications service",

(b) by the substitution for "to either company" of "to the postal company",

and

(d) in subparagraph (ii)-

(i) by the deletion of "or section 87(2), as appropriate,",

and

(ii) by the insertion before "company" of "postal",

and the paragraph as so amended is set out in the Table to this regulation.

TABLE

(1) (a) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, by order provide for the grant of a licence by the Minister, subject to such terms and conditions as the Minister may think fit to impose, to any person to provide a postal service of a class or description specified in the order to which an exclusive privilege granted to the postal company under this Act relates-

(i) after consultation with the postal company, and

(ii) if in his or her opinion the grant of the licence is in the public interest and is consistent with the reasons given in section 63(2) for the grant of the exclusive privilege to the postal company, and may, with the like consent, revoke any such order.

SCHEDULE

regulation 3

REGULATIONS REVOKED

Number and Year	Title	Extent of Revocation
(1)	(2)	(3)
S.I. No. 45 of 1992	European Communities	Regulation 3
	(Telecommunications Services)
	Regulations, 1992
S.I. No. 123 of 1996	European Communities	Entire of Regulations
	(Mobile and Personal Communications)
	Regulation, 1996
S.I. No. 338 of 1997	European Communities	Regulation 3
	(Telecommunications Infrastructure)
	Regulations, 1997
S.I. No. 372 of 1997	European Communities	Regulations 4 and 5
	(Satellite Telecommunications Services)
	Regulations, 1997

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 5th day of June, 1998

Mary O'Rourke, T.D.,

Minister for Public Enterprise

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The purpose of the Regulations is to give legal effect to Council Directive 96/19/EC, of 13 March 1996, amending Directive No. 90/388/EEC with regard to the implementation of full competition in telecommunications markets, with effect from 1 December, 1998.