§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Telecommunications Council on 17 November.
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe Council adopted a resolution setting a date of 1 January 1998 for the liberalisation of the provision of telecommunications infrastructure, with a possibility of five years additional transition period for Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Greece and two years for Luxembourg. The United Kingdom, supported by five other countries, called upon the Commission to submit proposals for an earlier liberalisation of the use of alternative infrastructure for those services already liberalised at the Community level.
705WThe Council also agreed a common position on a directive on standards for digital television. In addition, the Council agreed, in principle a common position on a decision on guidelines for the development for the integrated services digital networks as a trans-European network. The Council also reached agreement on all the outstanding issues on a decision on interchange of data between Administrations, except funding. The decision was referred back to the Committee of Permanent Representatives for further discussion of the budget. The text of a Council Resolution on access to the space segment and the reform of the international satellite organisations was agreed.
There was a short debate on the draft directives on mutual recognition of satellite and telecommunications licences. The Commission made presentations on the results of its consultations on the Green Paper on Mobile and Personal Communications and its communication on transport telematics. The Commission also stated that it expected to produce proposals on liberalisation of postal services during the first part of 1995.
No formal vote was taken at this Council.