Abstract

This article analyzes the role of competition law, regulation and asymmetric rules in the new Community regulatory framework for electronic communications, and more specifically the conditions for the intervention of the regulatory authorities and the imposition of "ex ante" measures. Although it was foreseen that the review of the original legislation which liberalized the telecommunications sector would have led to a reduction in the role of regulation in favor of a system where more weight would be left to the "ex post" application of competition rules, this goal has not been achieved. As a matter of fact, the role and the discretion of national regulatory authorities remains extremely broad and seems to be destined to last, and to remain a stable feature of the telecommunications sector. The analysis also focuses on the purported convergence between regulation and competition law and comes to the conclusion that the two systems continue to diverge considerably, despite the use of terminology which on the face of it would seem to be fairly similar.