What is the problem?

Companies which dominate the ICT sector achieve wide market penetration of their products and services. If their products are incompatible with those of other brands, users feel locked into the dominant company's product range, for fear that any new devices they purchase will not be compatible with their existing equipment.

Why is EU action required?

Companies should provide interoperability information about their devices and applications. With this information available, smaller enterprises have the opportunity to develop applications and services compatible with those offered by dominant market players. The end result will be an extremely competitive market and a happy consumer.

What will the Commission do?

The Commission will analyse how the market situation could change if the significant market players were legally forced to disclose interoperability information and if necessary will draft Commission Communication or a Directive by 2012.

Contact:

rainer.zimmermann@ec.europa.eu