European Parliament gets tough on net neutrality

The European Parliament made a resolution on Thursday to protect net neutrality in all EU nation states, and has called on the European Commission to closely monitor internet service providers and their traffic management practices.

The EC has been asked to provide EU-wide guidelines to ensure that all European countries have consistent telecoms rules that are properly applied and enforced.

All EU states will need to make sure that end users' internet connections are not disrupted by network congestion, and that ISPs provide all citizens with equal access to services and content.

Neelie Kroes, European commissioner for the Digital Agenda, presented a report on net neutrality in April that quoted the results of a survey by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (Berec) confirming that internet traffic in Europe is currently given unequal treatment.

The report asserted that in some countries, including the UK, France and Greece, ISPs limit speeds on peer-to-peer file sharing or video streaming services.

In other countries, like Austria, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, ISPs block or charge extra for mobile VoIP services.

Kroes was criticised by some rights organisations for not acting on the Berec information and choosing to adopt a wait-and-see approach on whether the EC should push Europe into greater net neutrality regulations.

Net neutrality issue is fiercely contested. Proponents argue that government regulations are needed to ensure that broadband carriers do not use their market power to discriminate against competing applications or content.