Telecommunications: operator number portability and carrier pre-selection

The common position adopts the one amendment proposed by the European Parliament and adopted by the Commission in its modified proposal. This amendment concerns the deferment laws (Article 20(2) of Directive 97/33/EC on interconnection), introducing greater flexibility concerning the introduction of number portability where the Member States concerned prove that compliance with the deadline would impose an excessive burden on the operators concerned. The amendment seeks to extend the possibility for deferment to include carrier preselection. The common position has introduced a number of modifications to the Commission proposal: - the date for the introduction of number portability and carrier preselection is set at 01/01/2000 for ten Member States, 01/07/2000 for Luxembourg, 01/12/2000 for Spain, 01/01/2002 for Portugal and Ireland and 01/01/2003 for Greece. The Member States agree to introduce these services as soon as they can and, if possible, before the target date; - the common position allows national legislations to extend the obligation to provide carrier preselection to operators other than those with significant market power; - a definition of geographic number has been added to specify that number portability applies to geographic and well as non-geographic numbers; - finally, references to integrated services digital network (ISDN) have been introduced to specify that the subscriber may have access to number portability and carrier preselection independently of the network used. �