Brussels, BELGIUM – A new independent study launched today warns that the European Commission’s proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA) already opens two legal pathways to network fees.
The warning comes as the draft opinion of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) worsens the text by adding mandatory dispute resolution, giving telco incumbents a direct route to demand payments from online services.
For years, legacy telecom operators have pushed for ‘fair share’ payments to charge twice for the same internet traffic. The study warns these threats are no longer theoretical. They now risk being permanently written into the legal text being examined by EU co-legislators.
The study, ‘The DNA Risks to IP Interconnection and the Broader Communications Ecosystem’ by telecoms expert Benoit Felten and commissioned by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe), identifies two separate pathways to this outcome.
First, Article 9.2 would stretch telecoms-specific obligations far beyond telecom operators, capturing key parts of the internet ecosystem such as content delivery networks and private networks. Second, Articles 191-193 create a new ‘conciliation mechanism’ between telecom operators and an undefined range of “other undertakings”. While framed as voluntary, a 36-month review clause would allow the Commission to make this mechanism mandatory.
According to the study, the DNA incorrectly assumes today’s internet traffic exchange system is broken, but provides no proof. Instead, the proposal creates additional legal uncertainty, adds costs for businesses, and gives dominant telecom operators a playbook to game the system and potentially force payments.
The study recommends two urgent fixes: explicitly exclude content delivery networks and private networks from Article 9.2, and remove the conciliation mechanism altogether. CCIA Europe also warns that any proposals for mandatory dispute resolution, including IMCO’s, should be rejected outright. This stance is widely shared across European sectors.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Europe’s Senior Policy Manager, Maria Teresa Stecher:
“Network fees were rejected repeatedly because they would hurt consumers, businesses, and the open internet. Yet the DNA text creates legal backdoors that can be weaponised to bring them back through technical-sounding provisions most people will never read.”
“Europe’s lawmakers still have time to fix the Digital Networks Act. But they need to close all the dangerous backdoors, and avoid adding new ones that harm Europe’s connectivity.”
