Electronic communications: authorisation of networks and services

The Council endorses the approach and aims proposed by the Commission. A small number of changes have been made however. They are as follows: - On administrative charges, the Council has decided to maintain the financial independence of national regulatory authorise (NRAs) by extending the scope of administrative costs which may be recovered through charges. The Council is in agreement with the European Parliament that the explicit requirement to link charges proportionately to an undertaking's turnover should be deleted. Also deleted is the specific requirement for undertakings with low turnover. - On the matter of setting deadlines on rights of user frequencies and numbers, the Council considers it necessary to extend the basic deadlines for numbers (now 3 weeks instead of 2) and the maximum deadlines for frequencies allocated by competitive or comparative selection (now 8 months, instead of 6). - On the matter of review procedures under comitology, the Council considers it inappropriate to include the possibility of further harmonisation of national provisions on the basis of comitology. Any such future harmonisation should, be based on a co-decision procedure in order to ensure the full participation of Parliament. - On the matter of existing authorisations (Article 17), the Council has decide to bring existing licenses into line with this Directive. The additional period granted for cases where alignment would reduce rights or extend obligations has been extended from six to twelve months.�