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10 JULY 2012. - An Act to amend the Act of 17 January 2003 concerning the appeals and processing of disputes on the occasion of the Act of 17 January 2003 relating to the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
CHAPTER 1^er. - Object
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
This Act partially transposes in Belgian law the Directive 2009/140/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 amending the Directives 2002/21/EC on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services, 2002/19/EC on access to electronic communications networks and associated resources, as well as their interconnection, and 2002/20/EC on the authorization of electronic communications networks and services (J.O.
CHAPTER 2. - Amendment of the Act of 17 January 2003 concerning the appeals and processing of disputes on the occasion of the Act of 17 January 2003 relating to the status of the regulator of the sectors of Belgian posts and telecommunications
Art. 2. In the Act of 17 January 2003 concerning the appeals and processing of disputes on the occasion of the Act of 17 January 2003 relating to the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors, an article 1 is inserted.^er/1 to read:
“Art. 1^er/1. Chapters II and III partially transpose the Directive 2009/140/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 November 2009 amending Directives 2002/21/EC on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services, 2002/19/EC on access to electronic communications networks and associated resources, as well as their interconnection, and 2002/20/EC on the authorization of electronic communications networks and services. »
Art. 3. In section 2 of the Act, replaced by the Act of May 31, 2009, the following amendments are made:
1° in paragraph 1^erParagraph 1^er is supplemented by the following sentence:
"The Institute is an opposing party to the proceedings. »;
2° in paragraph 2, the following modifications are made:
(a) in paragraph 2, the 4th is repealed;
(b) in paragraph 2, in the 5th, the word "full" is inserted between the word "exposed" and the words "means";
(c) in paragraph 2, the 5th is supplemented by the words ", without prejudice to section 748 of the Judicial Code, no new means may be developed by the appellant during the preparation of the case, with the exception of public means that may be raised at any time of the proceedings, until the proceedings are closed, by the Court of Appeal and by the parties";
(d) paragraphs 3 to 5 are replaced by the following:
"If the request contains elements that the appellant considers to be confidential, it explicitly states, and it shall, in a case of nullity, file a non-confidential version of the request.
The Registry of the Court of Appeal shall promptly notify the request, and if so its non-confidential version, to the Institute that publishes it on its website and to the Minister, if it is not the applicant.
Any interested party may intervene. This intervention will be admissible only if it is filed in accordance with the conditions and within the limits set out in paragraph 2, within thirty days after the publication of the request by the Institute on its website. »;
3° in paragraph 3, a paragraph as follows is inserted between subparagraphs 1^er and 2:
"The Institute shall report to each part of its file whether it is confidential or not. Confidential documents are not transmitted to the parties. If it is possible to establish a public version of the confidential documents, only this non-confidential version is transmitted to the parties. »;
4° in paragraph 4, paragraph 3, the words "and hardly repairable" are inserted between the word "serious" and the words "for the interested person".
Art. 4. In the same Act, an article 4/1 is inserted as follows:
"Art. 4/1. § 1^er. The following paragraphs are applicable when a cross-border dispute arises with respect to electronic communications, which falls within the jurisdiction of the national regulatory authorities of at least two Member States including Belgium and a party submits the dispute to the Conseil de la concurrence in accordance with Article 4 of the law.
§ 2. Any party may submit the dispute to the Competition Council even if the dispute has already been submitted to another national regulatory authority of another Member State.
If the dispute has been submitted both to the Competition Council and to at least one national regulatory authority of another Member State of the European Union, the Competition Council coordinates its work with those of that national regulatory authority in order to find a coherent solution to the dispute, in accordance with the objectives set out in articles 6 to 8 of the Act of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications.
§ 3. If the dispute has not been submitted to one or more national regulatory authorities of others Member States of the European Union, also competent, the Conseil de la concurrence resolves the dispute by adopting measures, taken in accordance with the law of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications.
Before resolving the dispute through the adoption of measures, the Conseil de la concurrence may request the ORECE to make a recommendation on the measures to be taken.
§ 4. If the dispute is submitted by a party to a national regulatory authority of another Member State of the European Union also competent, before the Conseil de la concurrence has resolved the dispute through the adoption of measures, the Conseil de la concurrence requests the ORECE to make a recommendation on the measures to be taken, or the Conseil de la concurrence suspends the processing of the dispute until the ORECE has made a recommendation on the measures to be taken at the national level of the application
§ 5. The Conseil de la concurrence does not resolve the dispute by taking action before the ORECE has made the recommendation requested by the Conseil de la concurrence or a national regulatory authority of a Member State of the European Union, without prejudice to the application of Article 20 of the Law of 17 January 2003 on the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors.
In adopting dispute resolution measures, the Conseil de la concurrence takes the most account of the recommendation made by ORECE.
§ 6. After the ORECE made its recommendation, the Conseil de la concurrence may decide to entrust the resolution of the dispute by adopting measures to one of these national regulatory authorities.
§ 7. The Conseil de la concurrence may decide on its own, if the dispute has only been submitted to the Council, or if it is not the case, in agreement with the national regulatory authorities of other Member States to which the dispute has also been submitted, not to resolve a dispute by adopting measures if other mechanisms exist, such as arbitration or mediation, that could better contribute to the resolution of the dispute in due time and in accordance with the principles listed in articles 6 to 8 of the law
The Competition Council shall notify the parties as soon as possible.
If the dispute is not resolved within four months, if it has not been brought before another jurisdiction by the party seeking compensation, and if one of the parties so requests, paragraphs 2 to 6 are applied as the case may be.
§ 8. This procedure does not exclude the introduction of other judicial proceedings. »
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 10 July 2012.
ALBERT
By the King:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Consumers and the North Sea,
J. VANDE LANOTTE
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
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Notes
(1) Session 2011/2012.
Documents of the House of Representatives:
Bill, 53-2144, No. 1. - Report, 53-2144, No. 2. - Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate, 53-2144, No. 3.
Full report: 21 June 2012
Documents of the Senate:
Project transmitted by the House of Representatives, 5-1678, No. 1. - Report, 5-1678, No. 2. - Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, 5-1678, No. 3.
Annales of the Senate: June 28, 2012.
See also:
Session 2011/2012.
Documents of the Senate:
Project referred to by the Senate, 5-1677, No. 1. - Amendments, 5-1677, No. 2. - Report, 5-1677, No. 3. - Decision not to amend, 5-1677, No. 4.
Annales of the Senate: June 28, 2012.