scope:

The legal concept of "terminal", defined in Article 2, is an essential element of the scope of the Directive. The distinction between 'terminal' and 'telecommunications network' was introduced in EU legislation in the 1990's in order to prevent the joint dominance of monopolistic network operators and associated manufacturers of user equipment. This distinction, and the obligation of operators to publish the technical specifications of their network interfaces, as required by Article 4.2 of the Directive, is intended to open the user equipment market to all manufacturers and thus encourage competition and innovation. Following evolutions in technology and in market conditions, the relevance of this distinction with regard to fostering competition deserves to be re-examined. Moreover, related competition issues now also include aspects of access to content that may often be independent of user terminal providers or of subscription to telecommunication services.

The scope of the Directive needs to be reviewed. For instance, the radio and TV receivers which are not able to transmit by radio or cable do not fall within the scope of the Directive, while those which are able to transmit signals do.

Some rather specific pieces of radio equipment are an integral part of systems also covered by other security and safety EU legislation or by international treaties. This is especially the case with maritime, land and aeronautic safety systems. These items do not fit well with the R&TTE procedures and standardisation processes.