Telecommunications : competitive environment (amend. Directives 90/387/EEC, 92/44/EEC)

The Committee recognizes that Directives 90/387/EEC and 92/44/EEC need to be amended, and agrees in the main with the Commission proposals. However, it would be pleased if the Commission could take account of the proposals and comments made in the present Opinion. Above all, it should take account of: - the necessity to reconsider and clarify its definitions of "public" and "universal service" in Article 2 of Directive 90/387/EEC; - the importance of applying the "cost orientation" principle flexibly. The Committee also thinks that if competition is to be safeguarded and the rules governing competition applied in full, the ONP provisions must be binding on all providers in order to ensure equal opportunity and the existence of proper competition.�