We have been tracking the implementation of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) in various EU Member States including the UK, which remained obliged to transpose the EECC into national law under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, since the original transposition deadline of 21 December 2020.

With considerable delays and despite repeated threat of enforcement action by the European Commission, there is – after almost a year has passed – still only a handful of countries that have fully implemented the EECC.

Our review of final national legislation shows that the rules that were purportedly aiming at high level of harmonisation still differ significantly and providers of regulated Electronic Communications Services across multiple EU jurisdictions and the UK will still have to engage in a country-by-country analysis to ensure compliance.

This is illustrated by a selection of five important EECC topics across four jurisdictions.

The first three involve topics relevant to end-user protection and in particular extension to certain categories of B2B services, which will be important for any Europe-wide operations and the corresponding contractual arrangements. Another one focuses on the obligation to ensure access to Emergency Services. The last one demonstrates how different the new general authorisation regime can be.

To view our full report, please click here.