Federal Network Agency

Federal Network Agency

Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Posts and Railway
Bundesnetzagentur für Elektrizität, Gas, Telekommunikation, Post und Eisenbahnen
Abbreviation	BNetzA
Formation	1 January 1998
Type	Federal agency
Legal status	Established by Telecommunications Act 1996,renamed by Federal Agency Act
Purpose	Regulator and competition authorityforprivatisedinfrastructure.
Headquarters	Bonn,Germany
Region served	Germany
President	Klaus Müller
Main organ	Board
Parent organization	German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology
Website	www.bundesnetzagentur.de
Remarks	Established as Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Posts (Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post,RegTP)

Headquarters in Bonn

TheFederal Network Agency(German:BundesnetzagenturorBNetzA) is the German regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and railway markets. It is afederal agencyof theFederal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Actionand headquartered inBonn,Germany..

Responsibilities

Telecommunications

In telecommunications, the agency has the authority over theGerman telephone numbering planand other technical number assignments. It also regulates the telecommunication market, including termination fees and open access to subscriber lines and licenses telephone companies.

Inradio communications,the Agency manages theradio frequency spectrum,licenses broadcasting transmitters and detectsradio interferences.LicensingradioandTV stations(that is, content providers), however, is the task ofStateauthorities.

It is also a rootcertificate authorityforqualified signaturesaccording to the German Signature Act.

Postal services

The Agency's responsibility in the post market include the licensing of companies for postal services and the observation of the market. It also regulates the market, assuring non-discriminatory access to some service facilities, such asPO boxes.

Electricity and gas

In the electricity and gas market, the Agency is responsible for ensuring non-discriminatory third-party access to networks and regulating the fees. The Agency is not responsible for licensing energy companies. These tasks remain with authorities determined byStatelaw.

TheBundesnetzagenturhas the following roles under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG):

• determining the level of financial payment for installations for the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources
• monitoring the nationwide EEG equalisation scheme process between the distribution network operators, the transmission system operators and the electricity suppliers
• publishing the capacity of the newly installed renewable energy installations (monthly)
• conducting the auction process for renewable energy installations.

Railway

In the area ofrailway traffic,the Federal Network Agency is responsible for ensuring non-discriminatory access to railway infrastructure. This includes monitoring and regulating the train schedules, allocation of railway track slots, access to service facilities, etc.

The agency is not responsible for technical supervision and licensing of railway companies. These tasks remain with theFederal Railway Office(Eisenbahn-Bundesamt,EBA).

History

In the 1990s, the telecommunications and postal services in Germany wereprivatized.In 1994, theDeutsche Bundespost,was privatised and split intoDeutsche PostandDeutsche Telekom,which remained under the supervision of the Federal Office for Post and Telecommunications (Bundesamt für Post und Telekommunikation,BAPT). When the market was finally opened to competitors on 1 January 1998, theRegulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Posts(Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post,RegTP) was established, superseding the Federal Office as the supervisor for posts and telecommunications.

When the government decided to improve competition for the energy and railway markets as of 13 July 2005 and 1 January 2006, it found that the Regulatory Authority's expertise in enablingopen accessto telecommunication networks would also be useful in these infrastructure markets. To reflect these new competences, the authority was renamed toFederal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Posts and Railway(Bundesnetzagentur für Elektrizität, Gas, Telekommunikation, Post und Eisenbahnen,BNetzA).

Governance

Presidents

• Klaus-Dieter Scheurle (1998–2000)
• Matthias Kurth (2001–2012)
• Jochen Homann (2012–2022)
• Klaus Müller (2022–present)

Advisory Council

The Advisory Council consists of 16 members of the GermanBundestagand 16 representatives of the GermanBundesrat;the Bundesrat representatives must be members or political representatives of the government of a federal state. The members and deputy members of the Advisory Council are appointed by the federal government upon the proposal of the German Bundestag and the German Bundesrat.

See also

• SMARDdata portal