Simon Taylor

The European Commission is calling for telecommunications operators to provide leased lines to retail service suppliers within a fixed deadline or face financial penalties. The move is designed to deal with delays faced by new operators in some member states, where receiving leased lines can take over seven times longer than in other states.

The current deadlock over the European Union's fiercely contested plans to allow patents for software will be unblocked next week when Poland gives the green light to a controversial deal struck by ministers last May.

A planned European Union (E.U.) law that critics say would allow software to be patented has come under fire again, with Green members of Parliament (MEPs) and one Germany's biggest music TV channels attacking the legislation.

The European Union (E.U.) looks likely to set up a U.S.-style system of checks on biometric data at border points of entry after technical problems with a planned chip-based visa system emerged.

European Union (E.U.) governments have rubber-stamped rules governing the patentability of inventions implemented by computers, known as the software patents directive, standing by an agreement they reached in May, according to an E.U. spokesman.

The European Commission is planning to warn eight European Union (E.U.) member states to bring their regulatory regimes for electronic communications into line with common standards or face legal action in the Court of Justice, it said on Monday. It also stated that within days a group of 25 national regulators would announce coordinated action to tackle excessive roaming charges for mobile phones.

The European Commission has approved a

The European Union judge deciding whether Microsoft Corp. will have to reform its business practices will continue to take into account arguments made by Novell Inc. and a prominent technology industry group, despite settlements reached between Microsoft and those two parties earlier this month.