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Introduction

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Universal Service in WTO and EU law

Part of the book series: Legal Issues of Services of General Interest ((LEGAL))

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Abstract

This theoretical chapter explores the general necessity for the regulation of telecommunications services markets with a focus on the universal service instrument. It argues that telecommunications has always been a service of public interest and this status has required some special regulatory arrangements. Testing this assumption, first, the notion of services of public interest is investigated, in particular what this public interest consists of, as well as what kinds of regulation have been employed in relation to such services and why. To explain this last point, the theory of the social embeddedness of markets by Karl Polanyi is employed. Second, the theoretical framework of services of public interest to telecommunications services is applied in order to establish whether they can indeed be classified as such. Third, the nature and special features of telecommunications services are described that are useful for understanding their uniqueness among other commercial services, and to justify particularities of their provision and regulation. This allows one to present telecommunications services and the specifics of their regulation in terms of Polanyian theory.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Social regulation” is understood as the regulation of a market in order to protect and promote social welfare and public interest.

  2. 2.

    See Polanyi 2001, Chap. 5; see also Sect. 2.1.1.3 of this book.

  3. 3.

    See Aronson and Cowley 1988; Compaine 1986; Hills 1989; Horwitz 1997; Noam 1987; Stone 1991.

  4. 4.

    For the WTO see Allen 1998; Blouin 2000; Bronckers 2000; Bronckers and Larouche 1997; Drake and Noam 1997; Fredebeul-Krein and Freytag 1997 and 1999; Langenfurth 2000; McLarty 1999; Satola 1997; Tarjanne 1999; for the EU see Bauer 1999; Hart 1998; Hulsink 1999; Klein 2000; Sandholtz 1993, 1998; Schmidt 1998; Schweitzer 2001/2002; Scott 2000; Ungerer 2001; Woodrow and Sauvé 1994.

  5. 5.

    For example, the market failure explanation in Bozemen 2002; Gómez Barroso and Martínez 2003; public good qualities of telecommunications, Gómez Barroso and Martínez 2004; public interest theory, Birke 2009; Blackman 2007; Krajewski 2011.

  6. 6.

    Milgrom 1996; Nett 1998; Wallsten 2008; Weller 1999.

  7. 7.

    Choné et al. 2002; Castelli et al. 2000; Gasman 1998; Jaag and Trinkner 2009; Levin 2010; Peha 1999.

  8. 8.

    Bohlin and Teppayayon 2009; Burkart 2007; Feijóo González et al. 2005; Goggin 2008; Pau 2009.

  9. 9.

    Alampay 2006; Burgelman 2000; Falch and Henten 2009; Kirsch and von Hirschhausen 2008; Lie 2007; Mueller 1997; Sawhney and Jayakar 2005, 2007; Xavier 1997, 2008.

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  1. Leuphana Law School, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

    Olga Batura

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Batura, O. (2016). Introduction. In: Universal Service in WTO and EU law. Legal Issues of Services of General Interest. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-081-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-081-7_1

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