As open and neutral internet underpins many of the targets set out in the Digital Agenda for Europe, in June the European Commission launched a consultation on key questions arising from the issue of net neutrality.
The consultation covers such issues as whether internet providers should be allowed to adopt certain traffic management practices like prioritizing one kind of internet traffic over another, and whether such traffic management practices may create problems and have unfair effects for users.
The Commission also wishes to know whether the level of competition between different internet service providers and the transparency requirements of the new telecom framework are sufficient to avoid potential problems by allowing consumers’ choice and whether the EU needs to act further to ensure fairness in the internet market, or whether industry should take the lead.
Interested parties are to respond to the consultation by 30 September 2010. The consultation will feed into a Commission report on net neutrality, which is to be presented by the end of 2010.
