The European Court of Justice has found Belgium guilty of failing to meet the deadline for compliance with the European Community’s laws covering telecommunications terminal equipment, Reuters reports. Specifically, the court judgement ruled that the Kingdom of Belgium failed to adopt the laws and regulations, and implement the necessary administrative measures, to comply with the telecommunications directive, including the mutual recognition of terminal equipment conformity. The two European rules at issue are the third paragraph of Article 189 of the European Community Treaty, and Article 17 of directive 91/263. Belgium has been ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings. The Belgian government did not dispute its failure to implement directive 91/263 by the European Union deadline – which was November 6 1992 – but asked the court to take into consideration that the decrees designed to implement the directive are currently being drafted.
