On September 11, the Commission brought an action before the European Court of Justice against Poland for the lack of independence of the Polish National Regulatory Authority ("NRA"). Interestingly the Commission notes the fact that "The Polish State has extensive shareholdings in numerous telecommunications undertakings" seems to constitute the issue.
However, Poland is not the only country targeted for lack of independence, so are Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden. The Swedish case is rather interesting since the problem results from the interpretation given by national courts.
The basis of the action was further provided in a previous Commission press release
"In Poland, following the adoption on 24 August 2006 of the law on state personnel, the President of the Council of Ministers has unlimited discretion to dismiss the head of the national regulatory authority. At the same time, a clear term of office (tenure) for the regulator together with the limited list of circumstances in which s/he could be dismissed was removed from the Polish telecommunications law. This undermines the effectiveness of structurally separating the regulatory function from ownership or control activities, considering that the Polish government controls significant shareholdings in a number of telecom companies".
In this regard, one would also remind that in the ECTA regulatory scorecard, Poland scored last overall, scoring very badly for independance.
However, Poland is not the only country targeted for lack of independence, so are Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden. The Swedish case is rather interesting since the problem results from the interpretation given by national courts.
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