telecommunications law: telecommunications law
TRANSCRIPT
Book reviews
511
Publication of the second edition of
telecommunications law came just prior to the far
reaching changes in the regulatory environment in
the UK brought about by the Communications Bill
at that time before Parliament. This new edition
focuses on the role of the European Commission
and how this has affected UK law. In particular it
examines the manner in which it dictates
regulatory policy for communications, but omits
much of the local regulation of specific types of
communications systems such as cable television.
It provides continued detailed analysis of the BT
licence which “has been the cornerstone of UK
telecommunications regulations since 1984 …
although in less than a year it is due to be replaced
by a more standardised ‘European’ Version”. The
work in Volume I is divided into eight chapters
dealing with the evolution of telecommunications;
principles of competition law; the European
telecoms framework; international and UK
regulatory authorities; the UK telecoms
framework; the BT licence; content and privacy
communications; broadcasting and a glossary of
non technical and technical terms. Volume II
contains a chronology of liberalisation;
Commission guidelines on market analysis and
assessment of significant market powers; European
legislation; UK legislation; the Communications
Bill; and a template for a standard fixed PTO
licence.
Available from: LexisNexis UK, 2 Addiscombe
Road, Croydon, CR9 5AF, Tel: 020 8662 2000.
TELECOMS LAW
Telecommunications
Law, Volumes I and II,
second edition
David Gillies and Roger
J.W. Marshal, 2003,
hard-cover, Butterworth,
LexisNexis, 518pp., £225,
ISBN Vol. I – 0 406
96873 X; Vol. II 0 406
96874 8.
The aim of this text, which is in its first
edition, is to provide comprehensive coverage of
telecommunications law in the UK. It is prefaced
by the huge deregulation that has taken place in
the telecommunications industry over the past 20
years and the convergence of the technologies of
telecommunications information technology and
broadcasting, which have blurred the edges of
what was, prior to that, a clear demarcation of
those fields. The authors note in their introduction
that the book has been “an unusually fraught
task”. This was because of the complications of
the timing of writing the book and the major
reforms of 2003 that culminated in the passage of
the Communications Act of that year. This
legislation creates a major reorganization of the
telecoms field and this, of course, is covered
throughout the book. There are ten chapters
altogether – the development of communications
law; scope of the legislation; access and inter-
connection; universal service; numbers, names and
numbers; data protection and the communications
sector; the Communications Code; competition
and telecoms; telecoms on the international stage;
and the technology of telecommunications. The
book will be of major interest to students studying
the range of courses in the telecoms law field as
well as those involved in the provision or use of
telecommunications services and, of course, those
engaged in legal advice on such matters.
Available from: LexisNexis UK, 2 Addiscombe
Road, Croydon, CR9 5AF, Tel: 020 8662 2000.
TELECOMMUNICATIONSLAW
Telecommunications
Law
Professor E Lloyd and
Professor David Mellor,
2003, soft-cover,
LexisNexis Butterworths,
320pp., £26.95, ISBN 0
406 94799 6.
This is the second edition of this major work
that aims to provide a comprehensive guide to
the whole field of national, international and
regional copyright law. It returns the basic
structure of the first edition by retaining in
Section 1 a commentary on the law – its
background and basic principles. Part 2 focuses
on national, international and regional
protection and examines the range of
international treaties and European Commission
regulations. Part 3 looks at current issues and
future prospects for the development of global
copyright law. Section 2 of the work contains
comparative summaries of international and
regional standards of protection and Section 3 a
glossary of legal and technical terms. Finally,
Section 4 contains reference materials of the
relevant international texts. It also contains a
reference list of national laws and supplementary
material, historic documents and miscellaneous
reference materials.
Available from: Sweet & Maxwell,
International Customer Service. Tel: +44 1264
342906, UK 020 7449 1111, by mail: Sweet &
Maxwell Group, Freepost, Lon 12091, London
NW3 4YS, Internet: www.sweet&maxwell.uk
COPYRIGHT LAW
World Copyright Law
J.A.L. Sterling, 2003,
hard-cover, Sweet &
Maxwell, 1357 pp.,
£235, �332, ISBN 0
421 79070 9.