Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, attended the BEREC-IRG General Assembly Meeting.
The European Electronic Communications Regulators' Body (BEREC) and the Independent Regulators Group (IRG) General Assembly meetings, where regulatory authorities in the electronic communications sector from European countries convene with the European Commission to act within a common framework for the implementation of the EU's electronic communications legislation and to compare national and Union legislation in line with changes and developments in the sector, were held on 3-4 October 2019 on the island of Crete in Greece.
The ICTA was represented at the assembly, which was the 40th meeting of BEREC—where our country holds observer status—and the 3rd meeting of IRG for 2019, where our member, by the presidents of national regulatory authorities from EU member states as well as EFTA (European Free Trade Area) countries and EU candidate countries, by ICTA President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu.
Speaking on the first day of the meeting, President Karagözoğlu shared his assessments on IRG's activities and targets for the next 10 years. Drawing attention to IRG being a very important source of information for its members, Karagözoğlu emphasized the importance of cooperation between IRG and BEREC. Karagözoğlu also highlighted the need to further strengthen IRG, where technical studies on electronic communications are conducted, and the importance of its independence.
At the BEREC General Assembly, where the EU's agenda for the electronic communications sector was discussed, discussions were held on reports prepared by BEREC expert working groups on topics such as "net neutrality," "end-user," "roaming," and "5G," as well as the BEREC 2020 work plan. At the end of the meeting, it was decided to submit the draft 2020 work plan, the 5G feasibility study prepared by the working groups, and draft guideline principles on common approaches to defining network termination points in different network topologies for public consultation.
On the other hand, a discussion document on the new commission's priorities in the digital economy and digital society was presented by BEREC President Jeremy Godfrey. The document included BEREC assessments on the political principles and priority areas announced by Ursula von der Leyen, former German Defense Minister, who was elected as President of the European Commission by the European Parliament following the elections held in May, to be pursued during her term covering 2019-2024. In the discussions, the Commission President's priority areas were addressed within the scope of BEREC's work areas, and views were exchanged on the extent to which they are prioritized by BEREC and how the outputs of BEREC's work can contribute to their implementation.
In the elections held at the BEREC General Assembly, Dr. Monika Karas, President of the Hungarian Authority NMHH, and Tonko Obuljen, President of the Croatian Authority HAKOM, were elected as 2020 Vice-Presidents to work alongside Dan Sjöblom, President of the Swedish Authority PTS, who was selected as the 2020 President under BEREC procedures last year. Michel Van Bellinghen, Council President of the Belgian Postal Services and Telecommunications Institute - BIPT, was appointed as the 2020 BEREC President. At the meeting, the election of the 2020 IRG Vice-President to represent non-EU member countries represented in BEREC management without voting rights was postponed to the next IRG-BEREC General Assembly.
Additionally, during the BEREC General Assembly, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to further strengthen the partnership between the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and BEREC and to formalize it. Through the Memorandum of Understanding signed by ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, BEREC 2019 President Jeremy Godfrey, and BEREC Office Director Laszlo Igneczi, ITU and BEREC, sharing common goals such as promoting investments and innovations in information and communication technologies, reached an understanding on sharing information, documents, and experiences; organizing joint events for capacity building; providing expert support within the scope of technical assistance to countries; and creating synergies in joint work areas to prevent duplication of activities, in order to serve the purpose of making modern communication technologies available to all people.