Page 24 - Lawtext Utility Law Review Journal Sample

EUROPEAN CURRENT SURVEY 16[2006/2007]4 ULR 171

Nuclear

European Commission approves the The European Commission has approved the investment project of the French authorities
construction of a new nuclear power for the construction of an European Pressurised Water Reactor (‘EPR’) nuclear power
plant in France plant at the Flamanville site. Under Article 41 of the Euratom Treaty, persons and undertakings
(IP/06/1450) 24 October 2006 engaged in the industrial sectors relating to nuclear activities must notify the Commission
of investment projects relating to new installations and also to replacements or conversions.
The EPR design has been developed since the 1990s by EDF and AREVA-ANP, in partnership
with German electricity companies. The EPR project is aimed at achieving the highest
possible level of nuclear safety, environmental protection and economic performance. The
EPR uses 17 per cent less fuel than the types of reactor currently operating in France, and
has an expected service life of 60 years.

European Commission takes a step The European Commission recommended that the Council of the European Union conclude
towards a EU-Kazakhstan agreement a co-operation agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy between the Euratom
on peaceful use of nuclear energy Community and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The agreement would
(IP/06/1463) 24 October 2006 complete the current co-operation in nuclear safety and nuclear fusion between the two
parties. The agreement aims to facilitate nuclear trade between the two parties, while
complying with internationally recognised rules concerning non-proliferation, safeguards
and the physical protection of nuclear material. It also encourages co-operation in nuclear
safety, nuclear fusion and research, while it can also be expanded to other domains related
to nuclear energy. The commercial value of the agreement is estimated at half a billion
euros for the initial ten-year duration of the agreement. The Council has to examine the
Commission’s recommendation, with a view to finalising the agreement.

Communications

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/index_en.html

Electronic communications/internet

European Commission requests more The European Commission has informed the German telecoms regulator
market data before assessing draft Bundesnetzagentur (‘BNetzA’) that it has ‘serious doubts’ as to the compatibility of the
regulatory measures for the German notified draft measures for the German wholesale leased lines markets with Community
wholesale leased lines markets law. On the basis of its market analysis, BNetzA proposes to divide the market into segments
(IP/06/1304) 4 October 2006 according to bandwidth (that is, up to and including, and above 2Mbit/s) and to designate
Deutsche Telekom as having significant market power (‘SMP’) only in the lower bandwidths
of these two markets. In the Commission’s view, BNetzA has so far provided insufficient
evidence to support its definition of the wholesale leased lines markets in Germany and
the conclusions on the competitive situation in certain market segments. After further
market assessment, and on the basis of this additional data, the Commission will decide
whether BNetzA will need to withdraw or whether it can adopt the proposed regulatory
measure.

Nine new infringement cases opened In a new round of proceedings against possible infringements of EU rules on Electronic
and eight cases go into the second Communications, the European Commission has opened nine new infringement cases
round concerning the Regulatory against Member States. The Commission has also sent reasoned opinions to eight Member
Framework for Electronic States. The majority of cases in this new round concern a failure to complete market
Communications reviews to assess the status of competition on national telecommunications markets or
(IP/06/1358) 12 October 2006 the lack of caller location information available to emergency authorities. For example,
Estonia and Luxembourg have completed one and four market reviews respectively. Six
Member States failed to ensure access to the single European emergency number 112. A
letter of formal notice has been sent to Germany as the must-carry rules in various federal
states do not conform with the requirements of the Universal Service Directive. The
Commission has also closed nine cases, following the satisfactory implementation of EU
legislation by the Member States concerned since proceedings were first opened.

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