A consultation on key questions arising from the issue of net neutrality has been launched by the European Commission. It covers such issues as whether ISPs should be allowed to adopt certain traffic management practices, prioritising one kind of internet traffic over another, whether such traffic management practices may create problems and have unfair effects for users, whether the level of competition between different ISPs and the transparency requirements of the new telecom framework may be sufficient to avoid potential problems by allowing consumers' choice, whether the EU needs to act further to ensure fairness in the internet market, or whether industry should take the lead. The commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes announced in April her intention to launch this consultation in order to take forward Europe's net neutrality debate. The consultation will feed into a commission report on net neutrality, which should be presented by the end of this year. All interested parties are invited to respond to the consultation by 30 September. An open and neutral internet underpins many of the targets set out in the Digital Agenda for Europe. The public consultation seeks views on the issues of internet traffic management relating to net neutrality. The EC wants to know more about potential problems linked with certain forms of traffic management and whether the new telecom rules are sufficient to tackle them, technical and economic aspects, quality of service considerations, and whether net freedoms may be affected. The EC will analyse the responses to the consultation and the views raised in other forums. It will then come forward with a Communication on net neutrality by the end of 2010. This document will set out the Commission's thinking on whether additional initiatives or guidance are required.
