Frontiers in Domestic Regulations

1
Frontiers in Domestic Regulations

• Peter Hlapolosa
• GMTelecommunication Services
• ICASA

2
PRINCIPLES

• The principles that I am focusing on in respect
  of enabling liberalisation in the international
  services sector are the following
• Necessity
• Transparency
• International Standards
• Regular review process
• It is my submission that the above principles
  are essential in ensuring that the regulations
  formulated by authorities do not create
  unnecessary barriers to the availability of
  choice in the provision of services and should be
  supported.

3
Necessity

• Necessity is viewed by us as a guide in our work
  towards ensuring clarity in respect of the
  processes be it for licence applications,
  renewals, etc.

4
TRANSPARENCY

• With regard to licensing processes we support the
  following requirements
• Based on objective and transparent criteria
• No more burdensome than necessary to ensure
  quality of service.
• In case of licensing procedures, not in
  themselves a restriction on the supply of the
  service.

5
Transparent criteria

• This requirement in our view can be met through
  the publication of the criteria and their
  respective weights at the time of the issue of
  the application guidelines.
• Transparency is attained through applicants being
  aware of the criteria and their relative weights
  in advance of submission of their application
  with the authority.

6
Not excessively burdensome

• This principle calls for a qualitative assessment
  of the burden associated with compliance to the
  regulations compared to the need to have the
  services available to customers who need them.

7
Non-restrictive on service provision

• Some of the measures that have been used by us
  have been to adopt a technology neutral approach
  in licensing processes as well as offering
  Information sessions in cases of special
  licensing processes aimed at assisting would-be
  applicants.

8
International Standards

• It is our experience that the recognition of
  qualification and tests conducted abroad obviates
  the need to repeat the same tests which results
  in unnecessary duplication.

9
Regular review process

• Through regular review processes outdated
  regulations can be updated to be in line with
  technological and competitive developments.

10
Challenges

• Infrastructural differences
• Resources
• The infrastructure is a determinant of a
  countrys ability to publish regulations, and to
  make them available on in soft copy format and on
  a website in line with the transparency
  requirement.
• The scarcity of resources at the disposal of
  authorities in developing countries especially
  with regard to funding and skills continue to
  pose great challenges in creating enabling
  environments for liberalisation.