Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to National Wireless Carriers

["David Farber" <dave () farber net>]

From: Sandra Keegan [mailto:sandra.keegan () gmail com] 
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2007 4:29 PM
To: dave () farber net; ip () pdc co uk
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to
National Wireless Carriers

 

Paul,

I am a lawyer and I have worked in the European Commission for twenty years.
The free movement of goods (services, capital and persons) provisions of the
EC Treaty are addressed to (and legally constrain) the behaviour of States
and governments. That means that the measures which fall foul of these
principles are State measures only, not private company behaviours.  

Commercial behaviours which are caught and prohibited by the EC Treaty are
found in the EC competition rules (Articles 81 and 82 EC) - known in the US
as antitrust law.  Unilateral (single company) behaviour which is
anti-competitive and restricts free movement of goods is caught/prohibited
under European law only when the company holds a dominant position in the
relevant market (like Microsoft or IBM).  Unless the French company/Apple
partner is dominant, its restrictive behaviour as to where its mobile
handsets will work is not prohibited under EC competition law (although
national consumer protection law may require otherwise:  in Belgium, all
handsets must be sold unlocked and there are NO subsidies for purchase). 

Kind regards,
Sandra Keegan

 

On Dec 16, 2007 3:06 AM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:



Begin forwarded message:

From: Paul Davey <ip () pdc co uk>
Date: December 15, 2007 1:13:24 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip < ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Unlocked French iPhones Still Country-Locked to
National Wireless Carriers

At 14:50 15/12/2007, David Farber wrote:

> Sad but a nice opportunity for competitors djf 

Perhaps a nice opportunity for lawyers as well.

I'm not an a lawyer, nor even an expert, but a fundamental EU
principle is freedom of movement of goods  (not to mention services,
people and capital).  (Of course markets are served by national 
carriers.) Restricting use of a device (as opposed to a service) to
national carriers only might be seen as impinging those rights.

It would be interesting to see if this policy could be challenged
under EU law in that (as I understand it) as UK resident I should have 
the same opportunities to purchase goods and services from across the
EU. One could argue that a French resident has better choice of goods
than those in other countries do.  But of course the right to purchase
contract free is a French right, not an EU one.

Still I suppose we have the opportunity to use a French SIM for
roaming but even at the EU capped voice roaming fees (between member
states) but it would be expensive in data charges. 

kind regards.
 Paul





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