Interesting People mailing list archives
Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to National Wireless Carriers
From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:48:29 -0500
From: Sandra Keegan [mailto:sandra.keegan () gmail com] Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 4:29 PM To: dave () farber net; ip () pdc co uk Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to National Wireless Carriers Paul, I am a lawyer and I have worked in the European Commission for twenty years. The free movement of goods (services, capital and persons) provisions of the EC Treaty are addressed to (and legally constrain) the behaviour of States and governments. That means that the measures which fall foul of these principles are State measures only, not private company behaviours. Commercial behaviours which are caught and prohibited by the EC Treaty are found in the EC competition rules (Articles 81 and 82 EC) - known in the US as antitrust law. Unilateral (single company) behaviour which is anti-competitive and restricts free movement of goods is caught/prohibited under European law only when the company holds a dominant position in the relevant market (like Microsoft or IBM). Unless the French company/Apple partner is dominant, its restrictive behaviour as to where its mobile handsets will work is not prohibited under EC competition law (although national consumer protection law may require otherwise: in Belgium, all handsets must be sold unlocked and there are NO subsidies for purchase). Kind regards, Sandra Keegan On Dec 16, 2007 3:06 AM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote: Begin forwarded message: From: Paul Davey <ip () pdc co uk> Date: December 15, 2007 1:13:24 PM EST To: dave () farber net Cc: ip < ip () v2 listbox com> Subject: Re: [IP] Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to National Wireless Carriers At 14:50 15/12/2007, David Farber wrote:
Sad but a nice opportunity for competitors djf
Perhaps a nice opportunity for lawyers as well. I'm not an a lawyer, nor even an expert, but a fundamental EU principle is freedom of movement of goods (not to mention services, people and capital). (Of course markets are served by national carriers.) Restricting use of a device (as opposed to a service) to national carriers only might be seen as impinging those rights. It would be interesting to see if this policy could be challenged under EU law in that (as I understand it) as UK resident I should have the same opportunities to purchase goods and services from across the EU. One could argue that a French resident has better choice of goods than those in other countries do. But of course the right to purchase contract free is a French right, not an EU one. Still I suppose we have the opportunity to use a French SIM for roaming but even at the EU capped voice roaming fees (between member states) but it would be expensive in data charges. kind regards. Paul ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now <http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now> RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to National Wireless Carriers David Farber (Dec 15)
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- Re: Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to National Wireless Carriers David Farber (Dec 15)
- Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to National Wireless Carriers David Farber (Dec 16)