Application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony

The Council's common position incorporated a number of amendments to the Commission proposal to take account of the fact that several Member States had already liberalised the provision of voice telephony services and to anticipate the complete liberalisation of telecommunications services and infrastructures on 1 January 1998 (with transitional periods for some Member States). The amendments related to the following points: - A new recital indicated that certain Member States had already abolished exclusive rights for the provision of voice telephony services but called on the Member States to ensure that all users could subscribe to harmonised voice telephony services in accordance with the directive; - The article on the publication of and access to information was amended to enable national authorities to establish an appropriate deadline for the publication of changes in existing service offerings and information on new offerings. The actual deadline would be set in accordance with the situation of the market and the nature of the changes; - From now on, all compensation and/or refund arrangements to be provided for the user (if the contracted service quality levels were not met) should be included in the user's contract; - With regard to the principles governing financial accounts, the directive stipulated the audit requirements to be met by the EP and Council during the conciliation procedure; - When required, the Commission would submit to the EP and Council a proposal to enable them to decide, by 1 January 1998, on the revision of this directive to adapt it to market requirements; - Finally, the Council opted for a type IIIa regulatory committee procedure rather than the advisory committee procedure. �