Consultations

Under the Telecommunications Act (TKG) 2003 (Federal Law Gazette I No. 70/2003), the regulatory authority is required to give interested parties the opportunity to comment on drafts of ordinances, official decisions and other measures that are expected to have a significant impact on the market in question.

Consultation procedures pursuant to Art. 128 TKG 2003

Under this provision of the TKG, the respective competent authority (BMVIT/TKK/KommAustria/RTR) is required to give interested parties the opportunity to comment, within a reasonable period, on draft measures (e.g. ordinances or official decisions) that are expected to have a significant impact on the market in question. Ongoing consultation procedures launched by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) are published on the Ministry's web site.

Coordination procedures pursuant to Art. 129 TKG 2003

The amendment introduced in Federal Law Gazette I No. 102/2011 expanded the coordination procedure stipulated under Art. 129 TKG 2003. In addition to the European Commission and the other national regulatory authorities in EU member states, BEREC must also be given an opportunity to submit comments and opinions on draft measures.

In cases where a draft measure refers to

• market definition or market analysis (Articles 36 and 37 TKG 2003), or
• obligations pursuant to Articles 38 to 43 TKG 2003,

and if the intended measure has an effect on trade between member states, the measure is to be communicated to the European Commission, BEREC and the other national regulatory authorities in EU member states, together with the reasoning on which the measure is based, once the consultation pursuant to Art. 128 TKG 2003 has been completed. The period within which those institutions can submit comments is one month.

Other national consultations

On behalf of the Telekom-Control-Kommission and KommAustria (and for its own purposes), RTR also carries out consultations on important regulatory issues which are not subject to the mandatory provisions of Articles 128 and 129 TKG 2003.

International coordination procedures

These procedures refer to the coordination procedures of all other national regulatory authorities in EU member states (see above regarding Art. 129 TKG 2003). The European Commission is required to maintain and publish a list of all pending procedures as well as the comments received on those procedures. For a list of the international coordination procedures under Art. 7 of the Framework Directive, please refer to the European Commission's Communication & Information Resource Centre (CIRCA) at http://forum.europa.eu.int:80/Public/irc/infso/Home/main.

Ongoing consultations and the accompanying documents can be found under "Open consultations". Once a consultation has been completed, the contributions received (unless stipulated otherwise) as well as the results of the consultation procedure are published on the CIRCA site with due attention to the protection of company and trade secrets. Contributions are passed on the European Commission in the course of the procedure pursuant to Art. 7 of the Framework Directive, likewise with due attention to the protection of company and trade secrets.