BEREC's Approach to Net Neutrality

The net neutrality debate has continued to develop at European level, particularly regarding the significance and use of the provisions in the "telecom package". This paper concentrates on the important activity of BEREC in this area. Four pieces of related work were included in its 2011 Work Programme, following its response to the Commission's 2010 Open Internet consultation, and in addition to an upcoming investigation designed to provide market evidence by early 2012. BEREC experts have been looking at Quality of Service (relating to the new discretionary power under the Framework to set minimum requirements); the IP interconnection market situation; Competition and discrimination issues (assessing the impact of differentiated traffic management on competition, innovation and consumer welfare). Furthermore, the first public consultation was recently launched on draft Guidelines on Net neutrality and Transparency, which aim at ensuring that users benefit from effective transparency.