Communications Act 2003

83 Special rules for transnational markets

(1) This section applies where a services market is for the time being identified by a decision of the European Commission under Article 15(4) of the Framework Directive as a transnational market.

(2) Where the market area includes the whole or a part of the United Kingdom, OFCOM must enter into and maintain arrangements with the other relevant regulatory authorities about—

(a) the extent to which the agreement of all the relevant regulatory authorities is required for the doing of any of the things mentioned in subsection (3); and

(b) the procedures to be followed for securing that agreement where it is required.

(3) Those things are—

(a) the identification of the whole or a part of the market as a market in relation to which it is appropriate to determine whether a person has significant market power;

(b) the making of such a determination in relation to the whole or a part of the market;

(c) the setting of a condition the setting of which requires such a determination to have been made;

(d) the modification or revocation of such a condition.

(4) OFCOM must not do any of the things mentioned in subsection (3) except in accordance with arrangements maintained under that subsection.

(5) Those arrangements may include arrangements requiring OFCOM, when doing any of those things, to comply with—

(a) a decision made, by one or more other regulatory authorities; or

(b) a decision made by a person appointed under the arrangements to act on behalf of some or all of the relevant regulatory authorities.

(6) In this section—

• “market area”, in relation to a services market identified by the European Commission as a transnational market, means the area identified by that Commission as the area for which the market operates; and

• “relevant regulatory authorities”, in relation to such a market, means the regulatory authorities for each member State the whole or a part of which is comprised in the market area.