S.I. No. 284/1997:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES MONITORING) REGULATIONS, 1997

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES MONITORING) REGULATIONS, 1997

I, ALAN DUKES, Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 , (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Commission Directive 90/388/EEC of 28 June 1992¹ (as amended by Commission Directive 92/44/EEC of 5 June, 1992² Commission Directive 94/46/EEC of 13 October, 1994³, Commission Directive 95/51/EEC of 18 October, 1995⁴ Commission Directive 96/2/EC of 16 January, 1996⁵ and Commission Directive 96/19/EC of 13 March, 1996⁶) hereby make the following Regulations:

¹O J No. L192 of 24.7.90, p.10.

²O J No. L165 of 19.6.92, p.27.

³O J No. L268 of 19.10.94, p. 15.

⁴O J No. L256 of 26.10.95 p.49.

⁵O J No. L20 of 26.1.96, p.59.

⁶O J No. L74 of 22.3.96, p. 13.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Telecommunications Services Monitoring) Regulations, 1997.

2. In these Regulations--

"the Act of 1983" means the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 (No. 24 of 1983);

"the Act of 1993" means the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act, 1993 (No. 10 of 1993).

3. Section 2 (1) of the Act of 1983 is hereby amended by the insertion after "the Companies Acts" of the following definition:

"'the Director means the Director of Telecommunications Regulation;"

4. Section 98 of the Act of 1983 is hereby amended--

( a ) in subsection (2A) (inserted by section 13 of the act of 1993)--

(i) by the deletion in paragraph (e) after "court", of "or" and the substitution in paragraph (f) for "disclosure." of "disclosure, or", and

(ii) by the insertion after paragraph (f) of the following paragraph:

"(g) to an officer of the Minister or an authorised officer of the Director for the purpose of any monitoring in accordance with section III (8).", and

( b ) the insertion after subsection (2C) (inserted by section 13 of the act of 1993) of the following subsection:

"(2D) A request by an officer of the Minister or an authorised officer of the Director to a person employed by the company to make a disclosure in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2A) shall be in writing and, as the case may be, signed by an officer of the Minister authorised in that behalf by the Minister or an authorised officer of the Director authorised in that behalf by the Director.".

5. Section III of the Act of 1983 is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (7) (inserted by Regulation 7 of the European Communities (Telecommunications Services) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 45 of 1992 )), of the following subsection:

"(8) ( a ) Telecommunications links may be monitored in accordance with paragraph (b) by or on behalf of the Director to establish whether or not telecommunications services are telecommunications services to which subsection (2A) applies and, if they are, that such services at all times comply in all respects with any service conditions prescribed by the Minister under that subsection.

( b ) Telecommunications links may be monitored for the purposes of paragraph (a) by any measurement or surveillance (other than interception within the meaning of section I of the Act of 1993) of traffic carried on telecommunications links and the recording by any means of such.".

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 23rd day of June, 1997.

ALAN M. DUKES,

Minister for Transport, Energy and

Communications.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The purpose of these Regulations is to give further effect to Commission Directive 90/388/EEC of 28th June 1990 on competition in the market for telecommunications as amended, by authorising the Director of Telecommunications Regulation to take steps necessary to ensure that telecommunications services providers are in compliance with applicable licence conditions.