Standardisation of the CI Plus Specification

16.7.2009

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3793/09
by Markus Ferber (PPE)
to the Commission

1. Is the Commission aware of any problems which the possible European standardisation of the CI Plus Specification, e.g. by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), would create for consumers and small and medium-sized manufacturers?

2. Does the Commission regard the introduction of the CI Plus Specification by the undertakings concerned and/or the organisation CI Plus LLP as a concerted practice by a group of undertakings which is incompatible with, and prohibited by, internal market rules, which is likely to pose an obstacle to trade between Member States, and which is intended or will serve to prevent, restrict or distort competition within the internal market?

3. Does the Commission regard the introduction of the agreed CI Plus Specification by the undertakings concerned and/or the organisation CI Plus LLP as an obstacle to the manufacture and marketing of consumer electronics or to the further digitalisation of the television market, to the detriment of consumers and small and medium-sized manufacturers?

4. Does the Commission see a need, with a view to protecting consumers, to introduce a legally binding labelling requirement within the EU for manufacturers of equipment with a CI Plus interface, for example by stipulating that when such items of equipment are sold a sticker must be affixed to them stating clearly that they are incompatible with modules meeting the earlier CI 1.0 standard and that consumers buying such equipment in order to receive pay-TV channels are wasting their money?

5. Does the Commission see the introduction of the new specification by the undertakings concerned as creating a risk of market segregation in the internal market, with the result, intended or otherwise, that small and medium-sized manufacturers of digital set-top boxes/CI 1.0 modules will be driven out of the low-cost segment of the market?

OJ C 10 E, 14/01/2011