21285 - SCTE Broadband Dec2021 COMPLETE v1

29 Vol. 43 No. 4 - November 2021 Issue from the industry The RED The European Commission decided the DIRECTIVE 2014/53/ EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 April 2014 on the harmonization of the laws of the member states relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment and repealing Directive 1999/5/EC. This DIRECTIVE is well known under the name RED (Radio Equipment Directive). We have discussed the RED many times here in Broadband Journal, and all work from David Hodges is related to the RED or the EMCD. For the ongoing work, the Commission is assisted by the Radio Expert Group (REG). This group works under the umbrella of TCAM. The RED covers many topics, but for the delegated act, we only list the relevant chapters (see therefore article (6) and (13) in the RED). [..] n (6) Equipment which intentionally emits or receives radio waves for the purpose of radio communication or radiodetermination makes systematic use of radio spectrum. In order to ensure an efficient use of radio spectrum so as to avoid harmful interference, all such equipment should fall within the scope of this Directive. n (13) The protection of personal data and privacy of users and of subscribers of radio equipment and the protection from fraud may be enhanced by particular features of radio equipment. Radio equipment should therefore in appropriate cases be designed in such a way that it supports those features. [..] The RED stated in article 3(3) from the beginning that radio equipment within certain categories or classes shall be so constructed that it complies with the following essential requirements: [..] n 3(3)(d) radio equipment does not harm the network or its functioning nor misuse network resources, thereby causing an unacceptable degradation of service; n 3(3)(e) radio equipment incorporates safeguards to ensure that the personal data and privacy of the user and of the subscriber are protected; n 3(3)(f) radio equipment supports certain features ensuring protection from fraud; [..] Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri= uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2014.153.01.0062.01.DEU The discussion about article 3(3) (d) .. (f) was very intensive in the REG, and the Commission had a very fruitful exchange with the ESOs and industry partners. The debate was on a fair and constructive basis. The Delegated Act The Commission developed a draft for the Delegated Act based on the discussion in the REG and the exchange with the member states. In the first lines, the Commission explained why the Commission started the work on the delegated act. The draft stated [..] n The RED empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts in order to render applicable any of the essential requirements set out in Article 3 (3) of the RED, by specifying each of those requirements that shall concern categories or classes of radio equipment. The three points of the second subparagraph of Article 3 (3) are relevant for this initiative: n 3(3)(d), to ensure network protection; n 3(3)(e), to ensure safeguards for the protection of personal data and privacy, n 3(3)(f), to ensure protection from fraud. These points cover exactly the relevant articles of the RED in article 3(3). With the statement: [..] n The aim is, however, not to produce additional or overlapping rules to existing legislation but to ensure that the existing principles, where applicable, are translated into specific requirements for manufacturing goods to be placed on the Union market with a certain degree of enforcement or verifiability. It is important to ensure complementarity with the existing EU framework. n The key objective of this initiative is to contribute to strengthen the ‘ecosystem of trust’ which stems from the synergies of all related pieces of EU law concerning protection of networks, privacy and against fraud, which are better detailed in the accompanying Impact Assessment. [..] (1) EUR-Lex, Summaries of EU Legislation, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/glossary/delegated_acts.html