Europese Commissie stemt in met implementatie EU kader voor uitzending diensten in Griekenland (en)

The European Commission i has decided to close its infringement procedure against Greece for failure to fully comply with the European Court of Justice's ruling of 14 April 2005. The ruling had confirmed that Greece had failed to implement the Electronic Communications Competition Directive with regard to broadcasting transmission services. In 2007, the Commission had therefore decided to refer Greece again to the Court for continuing the infringement after the Court's April 2005 ruling (see IP/07/397 ). In September 2007, Greece formally notified its new "Law on Media Concentration" to the Commission. This new law liberalises broadcasting services.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes i said "Greece has finally completed its national regulatory framework for broadcasting transmission services. Companies who want to invest in Greece, in particular in digital broadcasting, will now be fully aware of rights and obligations. I really hope they will take full advantage of it. Greek consumers have been deprived of the benefits the digital economy for too long".

Commission Directive 2002/77/EC of 16 September 2002 on competition in the markets for electronic communications networks and services aims to guarantee competitive market conditions throughout the EU. The Directive extends the principle of full market liberalisation to all electronic communications services, including broadcasting services. Under this Directive, Member States had to inform the Commission of the measures taken to comply with it by 24th July 2003.

The Commission referred Greece to the Court of Justice and on 14 April 2005 the Court confirmed that Greece had failed to fulfil its obligation to implement the Directive. On 10 April 2006, the Commission asked Greece for information on the state of implementation of its obligations, by way of a "letter of formal notice" under EC Treaty infringement procedures for failure to respect a Court ruling (Article 228 of the Treaty). Greece replied on 26 June 2006 that a new media law it was adopting would also implement the Directive as regards broadcasting transmission services.

The Commission then formally requested Greece to comply with the Court ruling before the end of December 2006 by sending it a "reasoned opinion", the second step of the infringement procedure. In its reply of 13 March 2007 Greece, however, informed the Commission that it had not yet fully complied with the ruling. Following the decision of the Commission to refer Greece for a second time to the Court, in September 2007 the Greek authorities notified the adoption of the Media concentration bill by the Greek Parliament to the Commission. The new Act liberalised both analogue and digital broadcasting services, allowing these services to be provided on the basis of a declaration made according to the procedure set out in the Greek Electronic Communications Law 3431/2006. The Commission has therefore decided to close the procedure.