Spain

[ES] Telecommunications - New Supervision and Arbitration Body

IRIS 1997-5:1/14

Valentina Becker

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

The Spanish Telecommunications Supervisory and Arbitration Authority, the Comisíon del Mercado de las Telecommunicaciones (CMT) was established by Royal Decree No. 6/96 in June 1996. It is comparable to America's FCC and Britain's OFTEL, and is a public law corporation. Its tasks range from safeguarding free competition in the telecommunications field, through regulating prices and network access, to the arbitration of disputes. But final decisions in the field it covers lie with the Spanish Government, which retains control in such important areas as the fixing of tariffs and conditions for combining and accessing networks until 1 December 1998. The CMT began operating on 3 February 1997. As the telecommunications authority, it also has power to decide on questions of interconnection. In this area, it advises the Spanish government, to which it is also, however, ultimately answerable. Its members are governed by the regulations applying to the public service. One special feature is the fact that CMT officials may not, for two years after leaving, accept employment elsewhere in the same sector, the aim being to ensure from the outset that no improper influence is exerted. The corresponding time limit in other areas of the public service is only six months.

The CMT will have a seven-member Council, whose duties are laid down in Implementing Decree No. 1994/1996.