Access to radio spectrum is essential for a huge range of activities from telephony and broadcasting through to transport and space applications, and it is crucial to ensure that EU citizens in both urban and rural areas can enjoy the benefits of digital technology. But the demand for high quality and cost effective spectrum often exceeds availability, and this demand changes and constantly develops as new technologies emerge to allow innovative services to be implemented.
As not all the demand for spectrum can be satisfied, priorities need to be defined which ensure that spectrum is allocated and used in an efficient and effective way taking into account Community policies while ensuring the avoidance of harmful interference.
With the creation of the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme it will be possible to reflect on political priorities of the European Union and how these priorities translate into strategic policy objectives for radio spectrum use.
The recently adopted legislation on the regulatory framework for electronic communications foresees that the Commission may submit a multi-annual Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP) to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The general objective to be achieved by the RSPP is stated in Article 8a(3) of the Framework Directive: "The Commission, taking utmost account of the opinion of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), established by Commission Decision 2002/622/EC of 26 July 2002 establishing a Radio Spectrum Policy Group, may submit legislative proposals to the European Parliament and the Council for establishing multiannual radio spectrum policy programmes. Such programmes shall set out the policy orientations and objectives for the strategic planning and harmonisation of the use of radio spectrum in accordance with the provisions of this Directive and the Specific Directives."
The first Radio Spectrum Policy Programme will outline at a strategic level how the use of spectrum can contribute to the most important political objectives of the European Union from 2011 to 2015. The intended impact of the RSPP presupposes that it should cover all types of radio spectrum use. At the same time the impact should be concrete and measurable in areas that are deemed to be of sufficient importance and at the right stage of maturity. Noting that the RSPP is multi-annual, it is possible to pick and focus on the most urgent and important issues now, while leaving other important issues for the second and following programmes. In other words, the envisaged wide scope should not lead to an exhaustive list of actions, but to a targeted set of objectives to be achieved in a five year time frame, after which point in time the next RSPP would be drafted.
Public Consultation on the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme On Thursday 4 March 2010, the Commission launched a public consultation on the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme.
The purpose of this consultation document is to obtain comments and views from all interested stakeholders on the possible content of the first Radio Spectrum Policy Programme.
EU Spectrum Summit (Brussels, 22-23 March 2010)The European Parliament and the Commission are co-organising a Spectrum Summit to identify what stakeholders view as the strategic issues for spectrum policy in the coming years.
Voor specifieke documenten en om een bijdrage te leveren ga naar: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/radio_spectrum/_document_storage/consultations/2010_rspp/rspp_consultation.pdf [1]