13 May 2004 08:06
Russia proposes changes to radio frequency regulation
Excerpt of Ivan Cheberko report "Frequencies will be handed back to government. Ministry of Finance proposes
dissolving State Radio Frequencies Commission" by Russian newspaper Kommersant on 6 May:
At the end of last week the Russian Federation Ministry of Finance presented to the government a draft law proposing
revolutionary changes to the system of state regulation in the communications sphere. The Ministry of Finance's
ideas amount to scrapping the State Commission for Radio Frequencies and the radio frequency service, and also to
stripping the Ministry of Transport and Communications of a number of key functions - in particular, the power to
allocate radio frequencies. Market players reckon that implementing the Ministry of Finance's proposals could
disrupt the communications sector.
The draft federal law "On amending Russian Federation legislative acts in connection with the passing of federal
laws on amending and supplementing the Russian Federation law `On general principles of organization of the legislative
and executive organs of state power of Russian Federation components'" has been drawn up by the Ministry of
Finance on the instructions of the Russian president and in fulfilment of Russian Federation government instructions.
The draft law was presented to the government for its 29 April session, and was sent to a number of ministries for
approval.
The federal law "On communications", which Ministry of Finance officials are proposing to have rewritten,
was passed last year. The amendments being proposed by the ministry are so substantive that their adoption will, in
essence, amount to the passing of a completely new law "On communications".
[Passage omitted: Status of Ministry of Transport and Communications as the telecommunications sector's
administration will be eroded]
There is a proposal also to transfer directly to the government the functions of regulating the radio frequency
spectrum - this is currently handled by the State Commission for Radio Frequencies, whose working procedures are also
prescribed in the law "On communications". The Ministry of Finance is proposing that the State Commission for
Radio Frequencies be abolished. In addition, there is a proposal to abolish the directly-acting norms prescribed by the
law "On communications" that concern the distribution of frequencies - these are mainly procedural matters
relating to the procedure for handling applications, time periods for considering them, and so forth.
[Passage omitted: Russian Deputy Minister for Communications and Information Technology Andrey Beskorovaynyy says
proposed amendments threaten to paralyse communications market; Russian General Staff Deputy Chief Yevgeniy Karpov, a
member of the State Commission for Radio Frequencies, says proposals would have impact on security; Maksim Korobov, a
member of the State Duma Committee for Power Generation, Transportation, and Communications, says proposals are
illogical; FINAM company analyst Oleg Shenker says powers should be shared out; Aleksandr Vronets, first vice president
of Sistema-Telekom company, says sector should be centrally controlled]
[Kommersant] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
