ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the European background to the regulation of electronic communications insofar as they relate to property rights. The origins of European legislative intervention in the telecommunications sector can be traced to the Directive on the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision, and the consultation that preceded it. By a series of directives and regulations, the European Union has regulated a number of matters relation to the electronic communications sector, with a view to encouraging competition, improving the functioning of the digital single market and guaranteeing basic user rights. The Digital Single Market proposal was announced by the Juncker Commission in June 2015. The European Commission's Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) formed one of the seven pillars of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which set objectives for the growth of the European Union (EU) by 2020.
