Dr. Bonnie Peng, Chairperson of the National Communications Commission (NCC), visited Ms. Viviane Reding, member of European Commission (Information Society and Media) on October 23. Their discussion focused on how to better manage the communications industry under the current trend of convergence and create a win-win for both industry and national development.

Besides her political career, Ms. Reding, from Luxembourg, was a reporter and the president of Luxembourg Unions of Journalists. Her expertise and observations in these matters, thus, were particularly valuable. Since she became one member of the European Commission (Information Society and Media), Ms. Reding has been committed to creating superiority of the EU communications industries market and accelerating the development of EU audiovisual media industries.

Dr. Peng mentioned that after the digital convergence, cross-platform operation in broadcasting and telecommunications has caused some burgeoning issues. Specifically, the traditional regulation, categorized as either telecommunications or broadcasting, is no longer appropriate and does not satisfy the more modern needs of industry. In response, NCC has been actively making amendments to regulations. In its response to convergence, the EU has amended related regulations of communications and audiovisual media services. Moreover, it has adopted a new angle in supervision in the face of convergence. This is worth learning for Taiwan.

Dr. Peng and Ms. Reding also discussed spectrum management, especially in regards to the spectrum made available after the switchover of wireless TV, and how to manage market competitions and cooperation for the cross-platform operation. They also explored some aspects of EU policy-making. The meeting was concluded in the hope that both Taiwan and EU can have further active exchange in the future.