Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy is right. That is the reason I will not accept this amendment. There is no point in having three bodies responsible for this area. In addition to that, the Data Protection Commissioner also has some strong investigatory and prosecution powers with regard to unsolicited electronic communications for direct marketing purposes.

Amendment No. 11 is unnecessary. What it proposes is well catered for.

On amendment No. 12 on the universal services obligation in the electronic communications sector, this is provided for under the European Communities (Electronic Communications) (Universal Service and Users' Rights) Regulations which came into force in 2003. These regulations do not include broadband services as an obligation. The European Commission reviewed the scope of the universal service directive the year before last and concluded that broadband need not be required as an obligation under it. The Commission examined the technological market and social developments affecting consumers of e-communication services before concluding that broadband Internet services do not fulfil the criteria for inclusion in the scope of a universal service as the current level of take-up does not meet the criterion of use of the service by a majority of consumers.

Universal services in the communications area is a safety net for those whose financial resources or geographical location do not allow them to access the basic communication services that are already available to the great majority of citizens. Broadband does not yet have the ubiquity that would warrant a universal service obligation.

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