The aim of this appendix is to examine the making of the European New Regulatory Framework up to its implementation in 2003, showing the main concerns that have shaped this framework. The final section highlights these concerns and discusses some of the problems that have arisen.

The vision for telecoms

Until 1987, generally speaking, very little attention was paid at EU level to telecoms services which tended to be left to member states. From 1987, however – with the liberalisation of telecoms having been put firmly on the agenda by the substantial liberalisations occurring in the mid-1980s in Japan, the USA and the UK – the EU itself began to take a far closer interest in telecoms services. Exhibit A2.1 provides a detailed periodisation of the main EU policies that were adopted in the telecoms field services.