GSMA和Connect Europe对数字综合巴士的看法

Connect Europe and the GSMA, representing the European telecommunication sector, welcome theopportunity to comment on the European Commission’s ‘Digital Omnibus’ and to offer our views onhow this initiative can help to simplify the regulatory landscape related to data, cybersecurity andartificial intelligence. We appreciate the European Commission’s ambition to simplify the EU rulebookand to ‘stress-test’ the current digital rules, resulting in lower administrative costs, more coherentregulation, and a harmonised regulatory framework in line with the EU’s goals for a more competitiveEurope.We also see the need and added value of effective regulation that strikes the right balancebetween safeguarding individuals’ fundamental rights and enabling innovation and competitiveness. An overly complex regulatory landscape, marked by the proliferation of legislative instruments andtheir unclear and fragmented interplays, risks undermining the very objectives set out by EUinstitutions. To effectively protect individuals’ rights while promoting innovation and competitiveness,it is essential to ensure that companies are not overwhelmed by disproportionate bureaucracy,excessive paperwork, or unrealistic expectations (e.g., due to obstacles they cannot control). Forinstance, efforts andinvestments should be directed toward implementing effective and meaningfulmeasures, rather than being consumed by administrative burdens. Geopolitical and market realitiesmust be acknowledged, and the interactions and cumulative (in some instances, redundant) effects ofobligations across different EU legal texts must be clarified to avoid legal uncertainty and regulatoryfatigue. Based on the scope of the current call for evidence, GSMA and Connect Europe members areconcerned that urgent and necessary regulatory simplification in the telecoms sector is being de-prioritised, relative to efforts to simplify or streamline regulationon digital platforms. While we aresupportive of common-sense modifications to reporting requirements under the EU’s Digital Aquis,these efforts must be matched if not exceeded in terms of pace and ambition with simplification ofthe telecoms regulatory framework; recognising the regulatory asymmetry that exists between digitalservices and telecoms operators. In this regard, we believe that the Commission can be moreambitious in tackling regulation that truly hinders innovation and competitiveness,particularly withregard to the ePrivacy Directive and cybersecurity framework simplification. We believe that only ahigh level of ambition will result in real change and will strengthen European players We share our views on the ePrivacy Directive, the ‘data acquis’, the cybersecurity framework, and theAI Act below. ePrivacy Directive European telecommunications providers continue to struggle with the fragmented and duplicitousnature of the ePrivacy Directive, with the Directive’s legal obligations applying exclusively to telecomoperators placing operators at a comparative disadvantage. As such, we would like to reiterate ourconcerns surrounding its application, as well as encouraging the European Commission to broaden itsscope of simplification to better examine how foundational provisions of the Directive could be betterapplied inexisting orfutureEU legislation. We do not consider the Digital Omnibus’ unilateral focuson the cookies’ rules to be sufficiently ambitious. Repeal of the ePrivacy Directive and deferral to other relevant current and upcoming legislationConnect Europe and the GSMAstronglyencourage the European Commission to reevaluate the scopeof its simplification efforts on the ePrivacy Directive. While we commend the Commission’s efforts topursue simplification of the Directive, we would strongly encourage a broader scope of explorationbeyond the issue of cookies, given the raft of persisting issues with respect to the Directive’simplementation. In that vein,Connect Europe and the GSMAreiterate our call for the repeal of theePrivacy Directive entirely, and the incorporation of the principle of the confidentiality ofcommunications into existing and/or future horizontal EU law. TheePrivacy Directive has explicit impacts on the telecommunications industry,with fullimplementation marred by disproportionate obligations, fragmented legal application and legislativeinconsistencies with existing EU law. More specifically, the Directive(article 6)imposes unique legalrequirements exclusively on telecommunications operators that do not apply to other digital serviceproviders. This createsregulatory asymmetries that place telecom operators at a competitivedisadvantage, distortingthe level playing field within the digital single market. Furthermore, theimplementation of the ePrivacy Directive has varied significantly across Member States, resulting in afragmented regulatory landscape that generates legal uncertainty across markets. As a consequenceof this, the current legal framework casts limitations on the adoption