Committee Europeene des Postes et Telecommunications (CEPT)
url: http://www.cept.org

CEPT is currently being administered by the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications, Malta which provides facilities for the CEPT secretariat. Contact details are:

Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications
"Casa Leone" 478
St. Joseph High Road Sta.
Venera CMR 02
Malta

url: http://www.mtc.gov.mt/

The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) was established in 1959 by 19 countries, which expanded to 26 during its first ten years. Original members were the incumbent monopoly-holding postal and telecommunications administrations. CEPT's activities included co-operation on commercial, operational, regulatory and technical standardisation issues.

In 1988 CEPT created ETSI, The European Telecommunications Standards Institute, into which all its telecommunication standardisation activities were transferred.

In 1992 the postal and telecommunications operators created their own organisations, Post Europe and ETNO respectively. In conjunction with the European policy of separating postal and telecommunications operations from policy-making and regulatory functions, CEPT became a body of policy-makers and regulators. At the same time, Central and Eastern European Countries became eligible for membership of CEPT. With its 48 members CEPT now covers almost the entire geographical area of Europe.

The role and purpose of CEPT was redefined at its plenary assembly on 5-6 September 1995 in Weimar. CEPT offers its members the chance of:

• establishing a European forum for discussions on sovereign and regulatory issues in the field of post and telecommunications issues;
• providing mutual assistance among members with regard to the settlement of sovereign/regulatory issues;
• exerting an influence on the goals and priorities in the field of European Post and Telecommunications through common positions;
• shaping, in the field of European posts and telecoms, those areas coming under its responsibilities;
• carrying out its activities at a pan- European level;
• strengthening and fostering more intensively co-operation with Eastern and Central European countries;
• promoting and facilitating relations between European regulators (e.g. through personal contacts);
• influencing, through common positions, developments within ITU and UPU in accordance with European goals;
• responding to new circumstances in a non-bureaucratic and cost-effective way and carrying out its activities in the time allocated;
• settling common problems at committee level, through close collaboration between its committees; giving its activities more binding force, if required, than in the past;
• creating a single Europe on posts and telecommunications sectors.

CEPT deals exclusively with sovereign/regulatory matters and has established two committees, one on postal matters, CERP (Comité européen de Réglementation Postale) and one on telecommunications issues, ECC (Electronic Communications Committee). The field of responsibility for each committee is decided by CEPT's Plenary Assembly, while each committee establishes its own rules of procedure and elects its chairman.

The committees handle harmonisation activities within their respective fields of responsibility, and adopt recommendations and decisions. These recommendations and decisions are normally prepared by their working groups and project teams.

On 6 May 1991, the European Radiocommunications Committee established a permanent office in Copenhagen, the European Radiocommunications Office (ERO) with the purpose of supporting the activities of the committee and conducting studies for it and for the European Commission.

The administrations of the following 48 countries are members of CEPT:

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