Digital Networks Act debate heads to Florence
A Florence conference will examine the Digital Networks Act and its impact on EU electronic communications regulation.
A conference at the European University Institute in Florence will examine the proposed Digital Networks Act and its implications for the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications.
The event, titled ‘Digital Networks Act for a competitive and secure Europe’, will take place on 28 and 29 May 2026 at the EUI campus and online. It will bring together policymakers, regulators, industry representatives, and academics to assess how the proposal could reshape digital network governance in Europe.
The conference will focus on the Digital Networks Act as a shift from the existing directive-based telecom regime to a directly applicable regulation. Discussions will examine how the proposal could constrain national discretion, centralise selected decisions at the EU level, reduce implementation delays, and address regulatory fragmentation affecting the digital single market.
The proposed Act would repeal and consolidate several core EU telecom instruments, including the European Electronic Communications Code, the BEREC Regulation, the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme, and selected provisions of the Open Internet Regulation and the ePrivacy Directive.
The event will place the proposal in the context of the Commission’s 2023 exploratory consultation on the future of the electronic communications sector, the 2024 White Paper on Europe’s digital infrastructure needs, the 2025 Call for Evidence, and wider debates on competitiveness, resilience, scale, and Europe’s digital economy.
Speakers will also discuss delays in transposing the European Electronic Communications Code, which was due by December 2020 but was fully transposed across all the EU member states only in 2024. The delays are presented as an example of the limits of a directive-based approach, particularly for spectrum assignment, 5G deployment, and convergence with cloud, edge, and AI-enabled infrastructure.
Across keynote addresses and thematic panels, participants will examine access regulation, symmetric and asymmetric remedies, copper switch-off, spectrum and satellite governance, market structure and consolidation, and resilience in digital networks.
Why does it matter?
The conference reflects the growing importance of the Digital Networks Act debate for Europe’s connectivity and digital infrastructure agenda. Moving from a directive-based telecom framework to a directly applicable regulation could shift more decisions to the EU level, reduce national divergence, and reshape how Europe governs spectrum, access regulation, network resilience, satellite connectivity, and future infrastructure linked to cloud, edge, and AI.
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