Competition Law and Regulation of the EU Electronic Communications Sector

Since the Electronic Communications Regulatory Framework of 2002 introduced competition law
principles and methodologies into the regulatory regime, the so-called Article 7 procedure has (in
the opinion of many) become no less than an impenetrable labyrinth. National regulatory authorities
are obliged to analyse markets to identify undertakings which enjoy 'significant market power'
- a regime which has fostered troublesome and unresolved divergence between regulators and
competition authorities and left both practitioners and academics in a particularly undefined sphere
of interpretation and action.