EU Net Neutrality Rules Are Working but Could Be Clearer, Regulators Say

Europe's net neutrality rules are working well but could be tweaked, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) said in an opinion Wednesday. Stakeholders are primarily concerned about being allowed to innovate and having harmonized, clear and flexible application of the EU open internet regulation and BEREC's guidelines, it said. Consumers generally agreed the system is working but said national regulators should be harder on zero rating. One academic said the EU's regulatory approach, unlike that of the U.S., stifles innovation.

Net neutrality guidelines will be modified next year after more public consultation, BEREC said: Commercial practices, 5G and consistent application of the regulation. One commercial practice where clarity is needed in zero rating, where national regulators could use more help in analyzing cases more consistently, it said. Also under consideration are traffic management practices, and clearer distinction between data compression and "throttling," BEREC said. More clarity may come in what conditions must be met for a service to be considered specialized, it said.

The European Consumer Organisation shares the view the regulation and guidelines are generally working well though some clarifications are needed, Team Leader Digital David Martin told us. Zero-rating "needs more than just clarifications," he said. Such practices violate the regulation "and BEREC should take a tough stance."

"The opinion divides stakeholders between those representing consumers and those representing ISPs, when three of BEREC's four official consumer/civil society stakeholder groups (AccessNow, European Digital Rights and Internet Society) are funded by Google," emailed American Enterprise Institute Visiting Scholar Roslyn Layton.

Google-funded groups want a ban on zero rating, which BEREC can't do legally, said Layton. The organization "adds so many hoops, so it effectively quashes any differentiation in marketing." Reading between the lines shows BEREC recognizes the problems its guidelines created, in that they are interpreted differently across countries, and that some regulators' decisions have been challenged, she said. The guidelines are so "long and convoluted" that they consume an increasing amount of time for BEREC and telecom operators to manage, Layton said. "It offers a potent contrast to the US which has taken the opposite regulatory direction, and which sees greater innovation both in the network and at the edges." Google and BEREC didn't comment.