The European Commission (EC) has referred France and Spain to the European Court of Justice, stating that they “continue to impose specific charges on the turnover of telecoms operators in breach of EU law,” while also issuing a request for information from the Hungarian authorities relating to a similar matter. In the case of France and Spain, the so-called “telecoms taxes” were introduced in line with a decision to end paid advertising on public television channels. In Hungary, special taxes were introduced on retail commerce, electronic communications and energy, in order to boost the country’s tax revenue. The EC said that the fees are “incompatible with EU telecoms rules,” which require specific charges on operators to be directly related to covering the costs of regulating the telecoms sector. The Hungarian government has two months to reply to the request; timescales for the French and Spanish actions were not given.

Separately, the Commission requested that Hungary and Spain “comply in full with the EU’s updated GSM Directive by ensuring that the 900MHz frequency band can be used for faster mobile services such as mobile internet.” According to the body, EU member states had agreed to implement the amended GSM Directive into law by 9 May 2010, as part of the Digital Agenda for Europe to extend basic broadband services to all customers by 2013. Hungary and Spain have “not yet adopted or notified the Commission of national measures.” The regulator now says that “if Hungary and/or Spain failed to inform the Commission of measures taken to comply with their obligations under the amended GSM within two months, the Commission could decide to refer them to the Court of Justice and request the Court to impose financial penalties.”