Net Neutrality in France: an overview

Abstract

Net neutrality has brought about a very activedebate in France since 2010. The current legalframework pertaining to this crucial issue forthe future of the Internet very much reflects themultiplication of regulators and courts involved inthe telecommunications and Internet regulation. ARCEP, the Sector regulator has of course beenthe most heavily involved since it issued its 2010“Ten proposals”. Compared to the Korean KCCguidelines, these proposals follow the same goalbut with a larger scope, a much more detailedand “hands on” approach. Since then, ARCEPhas started to implement some of its monitoringmechanisms with the support of the courts,especially the French Council of State. Net neutralityhas also been dealt with by the French CompetitionAuthority in the Cogent vs. France Telecomcase, the first case of abuse of dominant powerfiled against a telecommunications operator by acontent provider. Constitutional values are also atstake, since the Constitutional council has beenruling since 2009 that access to the Internet is akey element to effectively implement Freedom ofspeech. In this complicated legal framework, theExecutive - rather critical against ARCEP policy- and the Legislative – more proactive – arepostponing the preparation of a draft Bill. As aconclusion, this article demonstrates the activismand independence of the sector regulator, andthe necessity to broaden Net neutrality to activitiesbeyond data transport, such as device neutralityand search engine neutrality. Finally, it favourslasting regulation given the economics inherent todata transport.