The EMERG Plenary assembly will be held via videoconference from Palestine on 23 June 2020, chaired by MTIT, EMERG Chair 2020. Due to COVD-19 emergency, it was not possible to organise a physical meeting as planned at the Contact network in Frankfurt.
According to the EMERG Charter the Plenary’s tasks are:
- Appointing the Chair 2021;
- Appointing the members of the Permanent Secretariat;
- Establishing Expert Working Groups and appointing their Chair or co-chairs.
- Approving the Work-plan;
- Approving the Annual Report and the Benchmark Report of the previous year and decide on their publication on the EMERG Website;
- Granting membership and/or observer status to candidates;
- Adopting and amend the EMERG Charter;
- Adopting and amend its own rules of procedure, as well as those of the Contact Network and the Permanent Secretariat;
- Discussing regulatory issues and proposals emerging from the benchmarking or working group activities with a view to approximation
A public version of the Agenda will be published in due course.
The EMERG/Contact network meeting is the preparatory meeting for the EMERG Activities for 2020.
According to the EMERG Charter, the Members have to discuss the following issues:
- Discuss the yearly Benchmarking Report, and approve the draft to be presented to the Plenary Assembly;
- Assess the implementation of the Work-plan and the recommendations and decisions adopted by the Plenary Assembly;
- Ensure and plan the follow-up of these recommendations and decisions;
- Discuss the tasks and rules of procedures of the Secretariat and propose modifications to the Plenary Assembly whenever necessary;
- Follow up on the development, enhancement, and efficient utilization of EMERG website;
- Study the issues of common interest likely to be the object of debates and discussions during the Plenary Assembly;
- Propose any document to be approved and/or published to the Plenary Assembly;
- Propose a draft agenda for the following Plenary Assembly.
EMERG Members considered the proposals for the work plan 2020 and collected volunteers for hosting the workshops and for chairing them as rapporteur.
Furthermore, the EMERG CN called for volunteers to serve as EMERG Chair in 2021. At the same time, EMERG CN opened the same call for Members of the Permanent Secretariat, considering that CRA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), as outgoing Chair, and MTIT (Palestine) as Chair 2020 are part of it.
2019 was a very fruitful year for EMERG and during the CN three reports, drafted by the competent expert working groups in cooperation with the consultants, namely:
-EMERG Report on International Roaming (International Roaming EWG chaired by MOC Israel)
-EMERG Report on Sustainability (Sustainability EWG chaired by NTRA Egypt)
-EMERG Report on Approximation to the EU Framework (Approximation EWG Chaired by CRA Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The new role of regulators in the era of the new ecosystem of telecommunications and the new challenges of telecom regulation
Rapid technological change that we have been witnessing over the years have significantly influenced the way we live, work and interrelate. Digital transformation brings new opportunities for citizens and industries, but also new challenges for the operators and regulators. Telecom industry is at the center of the technological revolution led by the use of the emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, new “over-the-top” operators, Robotics and Blockchain.
The role of NRAs is becoming complicated in increasingly complex Telco sector where the boundaries between industries are blurring. Communication services are becoming a core product of many non-Telco industries and thus the regulatory area of responsibility becomes unclear.
It is becoming more and more obvious that modern ICT services are forcing NRAs to co-operate with other national and international public Regulatory Authorities.
The aim of this workshop is to discuss the regulatory aspects related to the new telecom ecosystem that rise from innovative technologies such as IoT, OTT, AI. The main question is what will the future role of NRA imply in expending a pure regulatory task to digital industries? The Workshop should also provide an overview of structural and organizational requirements that stand in front of NRAs in order to meet new challenges and define necessary improvements in terms of human capital, new work processes and know-how.
Programme
The new role of regulators: Example IoT ecosystem”, Dr. Arnulf Heuermann, DETECON
OTT Multimedia Services, Vesna Gaspar, HAKOM Croatia
The governance of networks, Stefano Lucidi, WIK
RPA and Intelligent Automation Roadmap, the power of the future vision and the cognitive vision sensing for data pattern, Eman Roshdy, NTRA Egypt
On 26-27 November 2019 an EMERG delegation participated to two events of the Eastern partnership network (EaPeReg) in Riga (Latvia). The first day meeting was about International Roaming, a strategic topic for both platforms, in the view of possible regional agreements as it was for the Western Balkans countries; the second day meeting was the EaPeReg Plenary, where EMERG introduced itself and confirmed the intention to cooperate with the Eastern partnership network for the future. Consequently, other opportunities will be planned to continue on this path, since both networks and the European Commission, considered them valuable and of mutual benefit.
The first time EMERG met EaPeReg representatives was during the Summit with BEREC and Regulatel which took place in Crete (Greece) last October. In that occasion, EMERG and EaPeReg agreed to strengthen cooperation between the two regional platforms and to share experience and achievements in the fields of common interest such as International Roaming.
Alongside the participation to the EaPeReg events, the EMERG took the opportunity to visit the BEREC Office (the European agency which is supporting BEREC), whose premises is in Riga: the BEREC Office Director, László Ignéczi, presented the Agency, its organisation, mission and goals, while EMERG gave a short overview on the regional cooperation among its members, focusing on its mandate in term of approximation to the European regulatory framework. To this aim, it was also recalled the Memorandum of Understanding with BEREC signed in 2017.
The EMERG delegation was composed of Natasa Kuzmanovic (CRA Bosnia and Herzegovina, EMERG Chair 2019), Mahmoud Hatem (NTRA Egypt, EMERG outgoing Chair), Michal Vizan (MOC Israel, Roaming EWG Chair), Paola Calestani (AGCOM Italy, EMERG Communication Officer).
EaP credits
Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) as EMERG Chair 2019, invited the EMERG Members to the Plenary assembly that will be held in Sarajevo on 26 March 2019. According to the EMERG Charter the Plenary’s tasks are:
- Appointing the new Chairman and the new Vice-Chairman;
- Appointing the members of the Permanent Secretariat;
- Establishing Expert Working Groups and appointing their Chair or co-chairs.
- Approving the Work-plan;
- Approving the Annual Report and the Benchmark Report of the previous year and decide on their publication on the EMERG Website;
- Granting membership and/or observer status to candidates;
- Adopting and amend the EMERG Charter;
- Adopting and amend its own rules of procedure, as well as those of the Contact Network and the Permanent Secretariat;
- Discussing regulatory issues and proposals emerging from the benchmarking or working group activities with a view to approximation
The Plenary meeting will agree on the EMERG sustainability after 2020.
Public AGENDA link:
EMERG Work Plan for 2019
The Work Plan 2019 is the result of a comprehensive, transparent and inclusive procedure, aiming at relaunching the EMERG activities, stimulating the participation of the Members and achieving the main strategic goals for the benefit of both sides of the Mediterranean basin.
With the aim to ensure continuity in the workflow over the year, EMERG agreed that two 2019 workshops serve as a follow-up to the two virtual working groups and cover topics of Net Neutrality and International Roaming.
Namely, at the Plenary meeting in Rome in 2017 Members expressed the need to set up two Expert working groups in order to better consolidate a cooperation among the Members, on the specific topics that push for harmonized approaches, such as Net Neutrality and International Roaming. The two groups were officially activated at the Plenary meeting in Cairo in 2018 and as a follow up to these activities, topics have been included in Working Plan 2019.
Workshop 1: Wholesale Regulation of very high capacity networks (VHCNs)
Workshop 2: Net Neutrality
Workshop 3: International Roaming
Workshop 4: The new role of regulators in the Era of new ecosystem of telecommunications and the new challenges of telecom’s regulation
The Plenary Assembly appointed the Chair for 2020:
Ministry for Telecommunications and IT MTIT (State of Palestine)
The Permanent Secretariat will also include:
Communications Regulatory Agency CRA (Bosnia and Herzegovina) EMERG Chair 2019
National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority NTRA (Egypt) EMERG Chair 2018
Telecommunications Regulation Commission TRC (Jordan)– volunteer
Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni AGCOM (Italy) – volunteer