Erna Hennicot-Schoepges (PPE-DE). - (FR) Madam President, Commissioner, I should like to congratulate you on your dedication, and, of course, I should like to congratulate the rapporteurs and especially Mrs Trautmann, who has worked extremely hard to reach this consensus, which she wanted to be neutral and to have no sectoral distinction. However, as regards rights to use spectrum, it should be noted that investment and depreciation cycles differ from one sector to the next. However, the provisions of the text on the allocation and harmonisation of frequencies and licences place satellite operators in a situation of legal uncertainty given the specific nature of their sector. The new Article 8a, proposed by the rapporteur, does provide certain guarantees, but the wording of this clause must be tightened up in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity and ITU rules. A number of questions also remain open regarding the substance and scope of the Commission’s negotiating mandate.

Regarding Mr Harbour’s report, I should like to raise the issue of the definition of ‘publicly available telephone service’, as laid down in Article 1, point 2b. This definition should apply only to two-way services, in accordance with the definition given in the Privacy Directive. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and games consoles are in no way comparable to traditional telephony services. Their assimilation as such would create a regulatory framework that inhibits innovation and provides uninformed users with tools that they do not see as being intended for certain uses, for example, the possibility of making an emergency call from a games console which can establish one-way communication. It is therefore important to limit the definition to two-way services.

Regarding copyright, I should like to endorse the comments made by all my colleagues who have raised this issue.