For twinning projects between public administrations for the purpose of institution building, the procedure for call for proposals through the network of contact points in the Member States shall continue to apply, as established in the Framework Agreements with the present Member States for the purpose of pre accession assistance.

For plant genetic resources, a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based network of national inventories of the ex situ collections (gene banks), in situ facilities (resources) and databases on the basis of national inventories is currently available or being developed in the framework of the EPGRIS initiative.

For plant genetic resources, a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based network of national inventories of the ex situ collections (gene banks), in situ facilities (resources) and databases on the basis of national inventories is currently available or being developed in the framework of the EPGRIS initiative.

A European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of forest genetic resources, including in situ resources (genetic reserves or gene conservation units) and ex situ collections should be established on the basis of national inventories and taking into consideration the activities of the Euforgen-networking programme.

A European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of forest genetic resources, including in situ resources (genetic reserves or gene conservation units) and ex situ collections should be established on the basis of national inventories and taking into consideration the activities of the Euforgen networking programme.

"technical and organisational security measures" means those measures aimed at protecting personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction or accidental loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access, in particular where the processing involves the transmission of data over a network, and against all other unlawful forms of processing.

As from the date of accession, no restrictions may be imposed on the use, by vehicles complying with the requirements of Directive 96/53/EC, of the main transit routes set out in Annex I to Decision 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network fn.

That regulatory framework consists of this Directive and four specific Directives: Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive)(5), Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to, and interconnection of, electronic communications networks and associated facilities (Access Directive)(6), Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive)(7), Directive 97/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector(8), (hereinafter referred to as "the Specific Directives").

National regulatory authorities may, in accordance with the provisions of Article 8, impose obligations for transparency in relation to interconnection and/or access, requiring operators to make public specified information, such as accounting information, technical specifications, network characteristics, terms and conditions for supply and use, and prices.

A national regulatory authority may, in accordance with the provisions of Article 8, impose obligations on operators to meet reasonable requests for access to, and use of, specific network elements and associated facilities, inter alia in situations where the national regulatory authority considers that denial of access or unreasonable terms and conditions having a similar effect would hinder the emergence of a sustainable competitive market at the retail level, or would not be in the end-user's interest.

collect appropriate information to analyse current and emerging risks and, in particular at the European level, those which could produce an impact on the resilience and the availability of electronic communications networks and on the authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of the information accessed and transmitted through them, and provide the results of the analysis to the Member States and the Commission;

In order to ensure continuity of existing agreements and to avoid a legal vacuum, it is necessary to ensure that obligations for access and interconnection imposed under Articles 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 14 of Directive 97/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1997 on interconnection in telecommunications with regard to ensuring universal service and interoperability through application of the principles of open network provision (ONP)(8), obligations on special access imposed under Article 16 of Directive 98/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 1998 on the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment(9), and obligations concerning the provision of leased line transmission capacity under Council Directive 92/44/EEC of 5 June 1992 on the application of open network provision to leased lines(10), are initially carried over into the new regulatory framework, but are subject to immediate review in the light of prevailing market conditions.

Where the Member State concerned can prove that the abolition of an authorisation condition regarding access to electronic communications networks, which was in force before the date of entry into force of this Directive, creates excessive difficulties for undertakings that have benefited from mandated access to another network, and where it is not possible for these undertakings to negotiate new agreements on reasonable commercial terms before the date of application referred to in Article 18(1), second subparagraph, Member States may request a temporary prolongation of the relevant condition(s).

Specific obligations which may be imposed on providers of electronic communications networks and services under Articles 5(1), 5(2), 6 and 8 of Directive 2002/19/EC (Access Directive) and Articles 16, 17, 18 and 19 of Directive 2002/22/EC (Universal Service Directive) or on those designated to provide universal service under the said Directive shall be legally separate from the rights and obligations under the general authorisation.

Member States shall maintain all obligations on undertakings providing public communications networks and/or services concerning access and interconnection that were in force prior to the date of entry into force of this Directive under Articles 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 14 of Directive 97/33/EC, Article 16 of Directive 98/10/EC, and Articles 7 and 8 of Directive 92/44/EC, until such time as these obligations have been reviewed and a determination made in accordance with paragraph 3.

Since the objectives of the proposed action, namely establishing a harmonised framework for the regulation of access to and interconnection of electronic communications networks and associated facilities, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the scale and effects of the action, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.

Without prejudice to Article 31 of Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive)(16), Member States shall not maintain legal or administrative measures which oblige operators, when granting access or interconnection, to offer different terms and conditions to different undertakings for equivalent services and/or imposing obligations that are not related to the actual access and interconnection services provided without prejudice to the conditions fixed in the Annex of Directive 2002/20/EC (Authorisation Directive).

The outcome of the public consultation on the 1999 review of the regulatory framework for electronic communications, as reflected in the Commission communication of 26 April 2000, and the findings reported by the Commission in its communications on the fifth and sixth reports on the implementation of the telecommunications regulatory package, has confirmed the need for a more harmonised and less onerous market access regulation for electronic communications networks and services throughout the Community.

In particular where undertakings are deprived of access to viable alternatives because of the need to protect the environment, public health, public security or to meet town and country planning objectives, Member States may impose the sharing of facilities or property (including physical co-location) on an undertaking operating an electronic communications network or take measures to facilitate the coordination of public works only after an appropriate period of public consultation during which all interested parties must be given an opportunity to express their views.

Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data(12), requires Member States to provide that the controller must implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction or accidental loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access, in particular where the processing involves the transmission of data over a network and against all other unlawful forms of processing.

At the request of an undertaking, national regulatory authorities shall, within one week, issue standardised declarations, confirming, where applicable, that the undertaking has submitted a notification under Article 3(2) and detailing under what circumstances any undertaking providing electronic communications networks or services under the general authorisation has the right to apply for rights to install facilities, negotiate interconnection, and/or obtain access or interconnection in order to facilitate the exercise of those rights for instance at other levels of government or in relation to other undertakings.

Whereas the full implementation in practice of Council Directives 75/117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women (1), 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (2) and 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (3) will be speeded up considerably as a result of the assistance of national bodies with a network of specialized information at their disposal;

all relevant detail regarding local network architecture, information concerning the locations of physical access sites, availability of copper pairs in specific parts of the access network;

Network Service Access Point

Charges for access to networks

access to telecommunication network;

For as long as the level of competition in the local access network is insufficient to prevent excessive pricing of unbundled access to local loops, it is recommended that prices for unbundled access to local loops follow the principle of cost orientation.

Network elements to which access is offered:

This applies in particular to the roll-out of new service in the local access network, access to unbundled local loops, availability of collocation space, provision of leased transmission capacity for access to collocation sites, ordering, provisioning, quality and maintenance procedures.

The "local loop" refers to the physical copper line circuit in the local access network connecting the customer's premises to the operator's local switch, concentrator or equivalent facility.

(vii) Non - discriminatory access to the postal network

"Network access controller" (4) means a physical interface to a distributed switching network.

access to regional scientific and technological cooperation networks.

As noted in the Commission fifth report on the implementation of the telecommunications regulatory package fn, the local access network remains one of the least competitive segments of the liberalised telecommunications market, because new entrants do not have wide-spread alternative network infrastructures and are unable with traditional technologies to match the economies of scale and scope of operators notified as having significant market power in the fixed network (hereinafter referred to as "notified operators").

2. Producers and consumers (`load') may be charged for access to networks.

In the event of DCE disconnection due to a network failure and a second access to the network is available, call re-establishment should be made via this second access.

facilitating exchanges of information and reciprocal access to information networks.

When setting the charges for network access the following shall be taken into account:

"network termination point" (NTP) means the physical point at which a subscriber is provided with access to a public communications network;

providing passengers and exporters in all OCTs with access to global air transport networks.

a network termination point, which is a physical connection point at which a user is provided with access to public telecommunications network, and/or

'network termination point' shall mean all physical connections and their technical access specification which form part of the public telecommunications network and are necessary for access to, and efficient communication through, that public network;

- the routing and handling of those items from the postal network access point to the distribution centre,