(1)

The EU’s information society policy and the i2010 initiative stress the benefits of ready access to information and communication resources in all areas of daily life. A coordinated approach to regulate mobile communication services on aircraft (MCA services) would help to secure these benefits and facilitate cross-border electronic communications services across the Community.

(2)

When authorising MCA services, Member States must comply with the Framework Directive and with Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive) (2).

(3)

Pursuant to the Framework Directive, national regulatory authorities in the Member States should contribute to the development of the internal market by, inter alia, removing remaining obstacles to the provision of electronic communications networks, associated facilities and services and electronic communications services at European level and by encouraging the establishment and development of trans-European networks and the interoperability of pan-European services, and end-to-end connectivity.

(4)

Pursuant to the Authorisation Directive, the least onerous authorisation system possible should be used to allow the provision of electronic communications networks and services in order to stimulate the development of new electronic communications services and pan-European communication networks and services and to allow service providers and consumers to benefit from the economies of scale of the single market. Those aims can generally best be achieved by general authorisation of all electronic communications networks and services.

(5)

The technical conditions necessary to reduce the risk of harmful interference with terrestrial mobile networks by MCA operation are dealt with separately in Commission Decision 2008/294/EC (3).

(6)

The technical basis for Decision 2008/294/EC is Report 016 of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), which was written in response to the EC mandate given to the CEPT on MCA of 12 October 2006.

(7)

ETSI Harmonised Standard EN 302 480 provides for presumption of conformity with the essential requirements of Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 1999 on radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment and the mutual recognition of their conformity (4) for equipment used for MCA services in the European Union.

(8)

Issues relating to air safety are of paramount importance and MCA services may be provided only on condition that they have fulfilled air safety requirements via appropriate airworthiness certification and other relevant aeronautical agreements, together with electronic communications requirements. Airworthiness certificates valid for the whole European Union are issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

(9)

Provided the technical conditions specified in Decision 2008/294/EC and in Harmonised Standard EN 302 480 or equivalent standards and relevant airworthiness certificates fulfil the relevant requirements, the risk of harmful interference will be negligible and therefore general authorisations should be considered for MCA services.

(10)

Responsibility for authorisation of MCA services should lie with the country of registration of the aircraft, in accordance with that country’s authorisation system.

(11)

The availability and sharing of sufficient information should help to resolve possible cross-border interference issues caused by MCA services.

(12)

Member States are to provide some of the information required to the ERO Frequency Information System (EFIS) pursuant to Commission Decision 2007/344/EC of 16 May 2007 on harmonised availability of information regarding spectrum use within the Community (5). Other relevant information may be obtained from operators of MCA services or from civil aviation administrations.

(13)

A dedicated register of relevant data for all MCA-bearing aircraft flying within the European Union, and also into and out of the European Union, could help to resolve interference by gathering all the information on a timely basis and in a common format. At first, and subject to periodic review, such a common register would be maintained by the relevant MCA operators and would be made available to the Commission and to the Member States.

(14)

The resolution of interference issues between Member States may also be helped by the provisions of the international ITU Radio Regulations treaty on notification and recording of frequency assignments and on reporting harmful interference.

(15)

The authorisation of MCA-bearing aircraft flying within the airspace of Member States but registered outside the European Union would be assisted by relevant information provided by industry in its dedicated MCA register and by the application of relevant provisions in the ITU Radio Regulations. A common approach on the mutual recognition of MCA authorisations with countries where non-EU aircraft is registered could be helpful.

(16)

Member States have already granted rights of use of frequencies to terrestrial mobile operators. Such authorisations do not cover MCA services and are generally limited to terrestrial mobile services.

(17)

For the purposes of this Recommendation, the aircraft cabin space is considered to be under the jurisdiction and control of the country of registration of the aircraft.

(18)

Use of MCA services may also have implications for public security. Appropriate measures may be taken nationally or pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2320/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 establishing common rules in the field of civil aviation security (6) in order to ensure that mobile phones in aircraft are not used for illegal purposes.

(19)

The regulatory and technical elements of the common approach to authorisation of MCA services in the European Union should be kept under scrutiny to ensure that they remain satisfactory for the overall purpose of avoiding harmful interference, failing which appropriate remedial measures will be considered.

(20)

The measures provided for in this Recommendation are in accordance with the opinion of the Communications Committee,