Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato (Italy) lodged on 22 May 2019 — Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni v BT Italia SpA and Others

(Case C-399/19)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni

Respondents: BT Italia SpA, Basictel SpA, BT Enia Telecomunicazioni SpA, Telecom Italia SpA, PosteMobile SpA and Vodafone Italia SpA

Questions referred

Does Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2002/20/EC 1 preclude national legislation which imposes on undertakings authorised under that directive the total administrative costs incurred by the national regulatory authority in organising and carrying out all the tasks, including regulatory, supervisory, dispute-resolution and sanctioning tasks, assigned to it under the European framework for electronic communications (laid down in Directives 2002/19/EC, 2 2002/20/EC, 2002/21/EC 3 and 2002/22/EC), 4 or are the activities mentioned in Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2002/20/EC co-extensive with the ‘ex ante regulatory activities’ performed by the national regulatory authority?

Is Article 12(2) of Directive 2002/20/EC to be interpreted as meaning that the yearly overview of the administrative costs of the national regulatory authority and of the charges levied (a) may be published after the end of the financial year, in accordance with national laws on public accounting, in which the administrative charges have been levied and (b) permits the national regulatory authority to make the ‘appropriate adjustments’ even with reference to financial years that are not immediately consecutive?

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1 Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive) (OJ 2002 L 108, p. 21).

2 Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to, and interconnection of, electronic communications networks and associated facilities (Access Directive) (OJ 2002 L 108, p. 7).

3 Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive) (OJ 2002 L 108, p. 33).

4 Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive) (OJ 2002 L 108, p. 51).