European Commission starts legal proceedings against German government

6th March 2007

The German government risks to get legal action started by the anti-monopoly commissions of the EU in case it accepts amendments to the law governing the activities of telecommunication companies. The bill actually protects the largest German telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom from competition at the market of internet services. The European Commission has stated that such a law would be inconsistent with the European antimonopoly legislation. The Commission representatives Nelly Cross and Viviane Reding wrote a letter to the officials warning that if the law is accepted, the Commission will put the German government on trial and impose large fines. If Germany government does not respond to the demands of the Commission within 15 days, the European Court in Luxemburg will start legal investigation of the case, said Infoworld. The reason for European Commissionâ€™s discontent was amendments which will give Deutsche Telekom more flexibility in dealings with regulating authority, than to other operators, and put the company in a privileged position at the market of high-speed Internet access services (by technology VDSL). Originally, the amendment was brought into consideration at the request of Deutsche Telekom, which is still partly owned by the state. But according to the EU rules, all propositions, concerning regulation should be adjusted with European Commission. This is already the sixth claim of its kind claim of European Commission to Germany by the European that is related to violations of telecommunicating legislation of EU.