Some critical reflections about access obligations under the European Communications Framework

European communications and competition policy has a tradition on access obligations as primary tool to discipline exclusive control over so called bottleneck facilities. In the 2007 Communication on the Review of the European Communications Framework, the European Commission stressed once more the importance of access rules as a tool to realize consumer welfare, competition and user rights, notably the right for users to access and distribute lawful content. This article will place some critical reflections on access obligations. Using the example of bottlenecks in digital broadcasting, it will show that access obligations that were successfully applied to traditional bottleneck situations are not necessarily the best or effective way of guaranteeing openness of the digital service market. The example of digital broadcasting is for many reasons interesting.