Europe’s top court says net neutrality rules bar ‘zero rating’ – ProWellTech

The Supreme Court of the European Union has made its first decision on the bloc’s net neutrality rules – interpreting the law as excluding the use of a commercial “zero rating” by internet service providers.

“Zero rating” refers to the practice of ISPs who offer certain apps / services “duty free” by excluding their data consumption. It is controversial because it can rate and / or block non-zero use of apps / services that may be inaccessible while the zero rated apps / services are inaccessible – which in turn undermines the principle of net neutrality Promise of fair competition through equal and equal competitive conditions for all digital things.

The EU-wide Net Neutrality Regulation came into force in 2016 amid much controversy over concerns that it would undermine rather than strengthen the playing field on the internet. Therefore, the first decision by the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) to interpret the regulation is an important moment for regional digital rights observers.

Despite the existence of a net neutrality regulation, European airlines continue to offer packages that set certain apps, such as Facebook’s WhatsApp, to zero. This raises questions about whether such offers are compliant. Today’s ruling suggests that it is not.

In another example from Hungary one of the porters Telenors 1GB data plans (pictured below) advertise unlimited domestic data usage across a range of social apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Twitter. This means that all other apps / services are penalized as usage is throttled by the user’s 1GB permission.

A Budapest court hearing two lawsuits against Telenor in connection with two of its “zero rating” packages referred to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation and application of Article 3 (1) and (2) of the Regulation protects one Set of rights for end users of Internet access services and prohibits service providers from entering into agreements or business practices that restrict the exercise of these rights – and Article 3 (3), which establishes a general obligation to “equality and non-equality”, discriminatory treatment of traffic ”.

The court found that “zero-rated” agreements that combine a “zero tariff” with measures that block or slow down traffic related to the use of “non-zero tariff” services and applications, in fact the exercise of end-user rights can limit the importance of regulation and affect a substantial part of the market.

“Such packages can increase the use of the preferred applications and services and accordingly reduce the use of the other available applications and services, considering the measures the Internet access service provider takes to make this use technically more difficult, if not impossible. The more customers enter into such agreements, the more likely it is that the cumulative effect of these agreements, due to their scope, leads to a significant restriction in the exercise of the rights of end users or even undermines the essence of these rights, ”the court wrote in a press release.

It was also noted that the Regulation does not require an assessment of the impact of measures to block or slow down traffic on the exercise of end-users’ rights, while measures applied for commercial (rather than technical) reasons are considered automatically incompatible have to.

The complete judgment of the ECJ is available Here in French and Hungarian. (To update: And in English Here.)