Digital Agenda Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes (© European Union 2013)

Today (12 September), the European Commission unveiled a proposal to introduce pan-European net neutrality rules as part of a comprehensive package of new laws for the European telecoms market.

EBU Head of European Affairs Nicola Frank welcomed the proposal: “The fact that the European Commission has for the first time proposed laws to guarantee net neutrality is an important milestone. Keeping the Internet as open as possible is important because it will ensure that citizens are free to choose from a diverse and pluralistic range of online content. The open Internet is crucial for media freedom and pluralism.”

“However the way the draft rules are formulated for the time being leaves some room for interpretation. I hope that the EU Institutions will manage to agree on a final set of rules clearly guaranteeing that net neutrality is the norm and not the exception. It must be crystal clear that specialised services do not impair the quality of internet access services.”

“With a sensitive, complex and time-constrained decision making process on the cards, I hope that Members of the European Parliament and Member State representatives will not bow down to pressure to dilute these proposals,” added Nicola Frank. “EU decision makers can now in fact seek to further strengthen the net neutrality principles. This will give a concrete example of how EU rules can bring concrete benefits to EU citizens.”

The legislative proposal was introduced by Digital Agenda Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes, who has insisted over the past months on the need to strengthen the European telecoms sector which is under increasing international competitive pressure. She has announced on several occasions that innovation was linked to clear guarantees for net neutrality.

She explains her approach in her blog: “I am putting forward new safeguards to ensure access to the open internet. Today, millions of Europeans find services like Skype blocked, or their internet access degraded: my proposal will end those discriminatory practices. Extra new 'specialised services' (like for IPTV, e-Health, or cloud computing) would be allowed only if they don't cause general impairment of regular Internet access.”

Alongside the crucial net neutrality proposals, the Commission wants to better coordinate the approach for the assignment of harmonized spectrum for wireless broadband communications services between EU Member States. The package would also further liberalize the EU telecoms market and cut costly data roaming fees.

The European Parliament and the EU Member States must now reach an agreement on a final set of rules based on the Commission’s initial input. With EU elections less than a year away, they face a race against time do so, but the Commission Vice-president for the EU Digital Agenda firmly believes that it is possible because of the expected impact of these new rules for European citizens.