helping to stimulate the use of and access for all to the Internet by increasing the availability of European digital content on the global networks to support the professional, social and cultural development of the citizens of the European Union and facilitating the economic and social integration of nationals of the applicant countries into the information society,

helping to stimulate the use of and access for all to the Internet by increasing the availability of European digital content on the global networks to support the professional, social and cultural development of the citizens of the European Union and facilitating the economic and social integration of nationals of the applicant countries into the information society;

This Regulation mandates unbundled access to the metallic local loops only of notified operators that have been designated by their national regulatory authorities as having significant market power in the fixed public telephone network supply market under the relevant Community provisions (hereinafter referred to as "notified operators").

"ancillary services" means all services necessary for access to and the operation of transmission and/or distribution networks and/or LNG facilities and/or storage facilities including load balancing and blending, but excluding facilities reserved exclusively for transmission system operators carrying out their functions;

The exemptions from liability established in this Directive cover only cases where the activity of the information society service provider is limited to the technical process of operating and giving access to a communication network over which information made available by third parties is transmitted or temporarily stored, for the sole purpose of making the transmission more efficient;

Each Member shall ensure that service suppliers of any other Member have access to and use of any public telecommunications transport network or service offered within or across the border of that Member, including private leased circuits, and to this end shall ensure, subject to paragraphs (e) and (f), that such suppliers are permitted:

High-speed bit-stream access refers to the situation where the incumbent installs a high speed access link to the customers premises (e.g. by installing its preferred ADSL equipment and configuration in its local access network) and then makes this access link available to third parties, to enable them to provide high-speed services to customers.

Performance levels demanded on the other lines and feeder lines that do not form part of the interoperable network as such, but allow access to terminal installations (stations, train stabling tracks,), shall be defined in bi-or multilateral agreements between operators and infrastructure managers depending on the service levels planned.

This Decision establishes a common technical regulation covering the technical characteristics, electrical and mechanical interface requirements, and access control protocol to be provided by terminal equipment which is capable of and intended by the manufacturer or his representative for connection to a T, or coincident S and T, reference point for a basic access at an interface to a public telecommunications network presented as a pan-European ISDN (Euro-ISDN) basic access point and intended for participation in calls that use on demand packet-mode basic services.

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that natural gas undertakings and customers required to be eligible under Article 18, wherever they are located, are able to obtain access to upstream pipeline networks, including facilities supplying technical services incidental to such access, in accordance with this Article, except for the parts of such networks and facilities which are used for local production operations at the site of a field where the gas is produced.

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that natural gas undertakings and eligible customers, wherever they are located, are able to obtain access to upstream pipeline networks, including facilities supplying technical services incidental to such access, in accordance with this Article, except for the parts of such networks and facilities which are used for local production operations at the site of a field where the gas is produced.

Interconnection is defined in the Full Competition Directive as '... the physical and logical linking of the telecommunications facilities of organisations providing telecommunications networks and/or telecommunications services, in order to allow the users of one organisation to communicate with the users of the same or another organisation or to access services provided by third organisations.`

If the operator referred to in point 4.2 fails to provide satisfactorily all of the elements of the universal service required by the Postal Directive (such as the possibility of every citizen in the Member State concerned, and in particular those living in remote areas, to have access to newspapers, magazines and books), even with the benefit of a universal postal network and of special or exclusive rights, the Member State concerned must take action (31).

Communication and network technologies: The objective is to develop the new generations of mobile and wireless systems and networks that allow optimal service connection anywhere as well as all-optical networks to increase network transparency and capacity, solutions to improve network interoperation and adaptability, and technologies for personalised access to networked audio-visual systems.

The bottleneck situation experienced so far for the provision of access and local calls services and now for the provision of high-speed services does not prevent new entrants from developing local networks, at a more limited level, such as in densely populated urban areas, but with these networks they are normally unable to compete nationwide on an equal footing with incumbents, providing the same whole range of services (see below).

In accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty, the objectives of this Directive, namely to develop the Community's railways, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States in view of the need to ensure fair and non-discriminatory terms for access to the infrastructure as well as to take account of the manifestly international dimensions involved in the operation of significant elements of the railway networks, and can therefore, by reason of the need for coordinated trans-national action, be better achieved by the Community.

It is appropriate to extend the cooperation of the Contracting Parties to the Agreement to include a series of guidelines, including the identification of projects of common interest, for trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA), (Decision No 1719/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(3)) and a series of actions and measures in order to ensure interoperability of and access to trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA) (Decision No 1720/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(4)).

However, significant shortcomings and possibilities for improving the functioning of the market remain, notably concrete provisions are needed to ensure a level playing field and to reduce the risks of market dominance and predatory behaviour, ensuring non-discriminatory transmission and distribution tariffs, through access to the network on the basis of tariffs published prior to their entry into force, and ensuring that the rights of small and vulnerable customers are protected.

'Member States shall ensure that any regulatory prohibition or restrictions on the offer of space-segment capacity to any authorized satellite earth station network operator are abolished, and shall autorize within their territory any space-segment supplier to verify that the satellite earth station network for use in connection with the space segment of the supplier in question is in conformity with the published conditions for access to his space segment capacity.'

This Decision establishes a common technical regulation covering the technical characteristics, electrical and mechanical interface requirements, and access control protocol to be provided by terminal equipment which is capable of and intended by the manufacturer or his representative for connection to a T, or coincident S and T, reference point for a basic access at an interface to a public telecommunications network presented as a pan-European ISDN (Euro-ISDN) basic access point.

This Decision establishes a common technical regulation covering the technical characteristics, electrical and mechanical interface requirements, and access control protocol to be provided by terminal equipment which is capable of and intended by the manufacturer or his representative for connection to a T, or coincident S and T, reference point for a primary rate access at an interface to a public telecommunications network presented as a pan-European ISDN (Euro-ISDN) primary rate access point.

Member States shall ensure that any regulatory prohibition or restriction on the offer of space segment capacity to any authorised satellite earth station network operator are abolished, and shall authorise within their territory any space-segment supplier to verify that the satellite earth station network for use in connection with the space segment of the supplier in question is in conformity with the published conditions for access to such person's space segment capacity.

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").

Without prejudice to the rights of the Member States to define particular requirements of services of general interest, that task consists primarily in the provision and the maintenance of a universal public postal service, guaranteeing at affordable, cost-effective and transparent tariffs nationwide access to the public postal network within a reasonable distance and during adequate opening hours, including the clearance of postal items from accessible postal boxes or collection points throughout the territory and the timely delivery of such items to the address indicated, as well as associated services entrusted by measures of a regulatory nature to those operators for universal delivery at a specified quality.

However, important shortcomings and possibilities for improving the functioning of the market remain, notably concrete provisions are needed to ensure a level playing field in generation and to reduce the risks of market dominance and predatory behaviour, ensuring non-discriminatory transmission and distribution tariffs, through access to the network on the basis of tariffs published prior to their entry into force, and ensuring that the rights of small and vulnerable customers are protected and that information on energy sources for electricity generation is disclosed, as well as reference to sources, where available, giving information on their environmental impact.

Considering for also as specific legal basis of this Code of conduct the Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 on the establishment of the European Environment Agency and the European information and observation network, Regulation that has been amended by the Council Regulation (EC) No 933/1999 of 29 April 1999, in particular Article 17: "The staff of the Agency shall be subject to the Regulations and Rules applicable to officials and other servants of the European Communities", the "Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Communities" and the Decision of the Management Board of the European Environment Agency on public access to the EEA documents of 21 March 1997(4);

The CECIS should be set up on the basis of a global implementation plan (GIP) as part of the PROCIV-NET project conducted and financed in the context of a programme for the interchange of data between administrations, the IDA programme as provided for in Decision No 1719/1999/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 12 July 1999 on a series of guidelines, including the identification of projects of common interest, for trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA)(4), as last amended by Decision No 2046/2002/EC(5), and Decision No 1720/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 1999 adopting a series of actions and measures in order to ensure interoperability of and access to trans-European networks for the electronic interchange of data between administrations (IDA)(6), as last amended by Decision No 2045/2002/EC(7).