Report on implementation impacts of the European Electronic Communications Code published

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has published a monitoring report on the impacts of the legislative amendments that were needed to implement the Directive establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), or Telecoms Directive. The report also includes data on the achievement of the related regulatory objectives. The EECC regulates electronic communications (telecoms) networks and services. The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom carried out the impact assessment under the Ministry’s guidance.

The monitoring largely focused on the key amendments to the Finnish Act on Electronic Communication Services, which entered into force in 2021 following the implementation of the EECC. The key amendments concern the use of frequencies and network licences; telecom operators' obligations to grant or interconnect their access rights; discontinuing the special pricing of national subscriber numbers; user and subscriber rights; location of base stations; emergency warnings; and emergency communications.

In line with the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), amendments to the regulation on audiovisual content were also implemented by the same government proposal. The monitoring project, however, did not cover these amendments.

No significant unforeseen impacts from the legislative amendments 

The legislative amendments resulting from the EECC adopted in 2018 were implemented at the minimum level in Finland, i.e. national legislation was only amended to the extent necessary. Legislative amendments based on solely national needs were also made in connection with the EECC implementation.

According to the report, the amendments have not had any considerable unforeseen impacts. It was not possible to assess the impacts of the legislative changes in all respects during the monitoring project, because some of the provisions have not yet been applied in practice. These include certain provisions on frequency use and network licences, as the current network licences were granted before the legislative amendments entered into force, and the licences are mainly valid until 2033.

In general, the legislative amendments can be considered to have taken the communications markets to the direction intended with the EECC and national amendments, but the actual impacts in Finland have not been particularly significant. 

Next steps

The monitoring report will be used to proactively exert influence on EU regulation, and to assess the effectiveness of the amendments made to national legislation in line with the EECC.

In March 2025, the Ministry of Transport and Communications launched the “Security and new economic growth from information networks” project (TUUTTI). It addresses, among other things, licence regulation, quality and local coverage problems of communications networks and security of the communications infrastructure. The development proposals presented in the monitoring report, especially regarding these themes, can also be used in the TUUTTI project.

Inquiries:

Hanna Laurila, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 29 53 42025, [email protected]
Sini Wirén, Senior Adviser for Communications, tel. +358 29 534 2532, [email protected]