§ Mr. David EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Telecommunications Council held in Brussels on Monday 4 November.
§ Mr. RedwoodThe main item was a further discussion on the European Commission plans to apply "MAC" standards to direct-to-house satellite broadcasting. I continued to argue strongly for service provider freedom to follow their commercial judgment. Consumers should not have imposed on them the costs of these changes, especially where they do not derive benefits from new services on offer. I am pleased to say that opinion among EC states does seem to have shifted in this direction to some extent and I hope that the Commission's revised proposals, expected later this year, will show considerable improvement.
The Council reached political agreement on a resolution on satellite communications, which envisages future liberalisation of that sector. A common position was reached on a Council directive on the application of open network provision to leased lines, which will facilitate future liberalisation of the European telecommunication services market. Agreement was also reached on a Council decision on the harmonisation of the international access code, subject to approval by the United Kingdom parliamentary scrutiny committees and the availability of the opinion by the European Parliament.
The Commission announced that it hoped to produce a Green Paper on postal services for discussion at the next Telecommunications Council on 5 December 1991. The Commission also announced its intention to produce a Communication on a co-ordinated EC position for the world administrative radio conference (WARC), in February 1992. All member states agreed with the United Kingdom that CEPT should remain the principal European body dealing with international radio frequencies and that member states should where possible support the common CEPT proposals at WARC.