Ministry to speed up telecom rules
By : Roseanne Gerin
The Economy Ministry said last week it will issue four or five statutes to the Telecommunications Law within the next two months to speed up the harmonization of Poland's telecom regulations with European Union (EU) rules. The news came after the government's breakup of the Telecommunications Ministry last Tuesday.
Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek dissolved the ministry after the Supreme Board of Inspection (NIK), the state auditing agency, issued a report in mid-July accusing it of financial irregularities in awarding telecom licenses. Buzek transferred the ministry's functions to the Economy Ministry.
"(Economy Minister Janusz Steinhoff) will be interested in completing a big number of ordinances in the telecom law," said Economy Ministry Spokesman Pawel Badzio. He said that while about 20 statutes could be completed in the next two months before the Sept. 23 parliamentary elections, the ministry would realistically issue four or five of the most important ones.
The opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) party is favored to win the September parliamentary elections, which will result in changes of ministry heads. This will give the Economy Ministry only two months to enact the telecom statutes. "He (Steinhoff) knows two months is a short time for doing things," Badzio said.
Badzio also said that while the current Solidarity Election Action (AWS)-led government favored the transfer of the Telecommunications Ministry's responsibilities to the Economy Ministry, SLD party members wanted the newly created Infrastructure Ministry to oversee the functions.
"Because of our relations with the EU we have to make faster progress," Badzio said. He said it was too early to say which specific ordinances Steinhoff would issue. "They are very needed to have an effective telecom law."
The Telecommunications Law, which took effect on Jan. 1, was drafted to bring Poland's telecom regulations into line with the EU's directives. It requires the Telecommunications Ministry to enact statutes relating to various telecom issues such as the extension of the transmission ranges of radio-communications equipment that can be used without a permit, the conditions for the provisions of specified telecom services, the detailed requirements for the quality and availability of telecom service, and the cost-accounting systems for telecom operators.
Tomasz Szyszko, the former telecommunications minister who was fired after the corruption allegations surfaced, said at his final news conference on July 20 that his ministry was still analyzing the Telecommunications Law's ordinances and that his successor could probably complete the analysis by the end of the year.
"Szyszko made progress in implementing the telecom law, but it's clearly set that here are some ordinances about 10 of which are very important," said Badzio.
Under the new law some of the regulatory powers of the Telecommunications Ministry had been transferred on Jan. 1 to the Telecommunications Regulation Office (URT), the independent telecom watchdog agency. But with the ministry's liquidation, its remaining powers had to be passed to another ministry according to the law on the structure of government, and not to "an office of lower range," Badzio said.
In the next two months, the Economy Ministry will also focus on the passage of a new postal law, which fell under the scope of the Telecommunications Ministry. The new proposal, designed to match the EU's postal standards, is expected to be passed later this year.
