ACM not to appeal ruling on net neutrality

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) will not file an appeal with a higher court against the ruling of the District Court of Rotterdam concerning the case of ‘Data-free Music’ (in Dutch: ‘Datavrije Muziek’), a service offered by telecom provider T-Mobile. ACM had imposed an order subject to periodic penalty payments on T-Mobile. As a result of the court’s ruling, this order has been cancelled. Henk Don, Member of the Board of ACM, adds: ‘We brought this case to court in order to clarify whether or not Dutch law can co-exist alongside the European regulation. Now we have clarity. And we will abide by the ruling of the court.’

In its ruling of April 20, the court did not say anything about the admissibility of T-Mobile’s service under the European Regulation on Net Neutrality. That is why, following the court’s ruling, ACM launched an investigation into this matter. At this point, we cannot say anything about when this investigation is expected to be completed. As long as the investigation is ongoing, T-Mobile may keep offering its Data-free Music service.

About the Data-free Music service

In October 2016, T-Mobile launched its Data-free Music service. With this service, T-Mobile customers can stream music that does not count against their data plans. This is called zero-rating. Under Dutch law, zero-rating is not allowed under any circumstances. The court has now ruled that Dutch law is at odds with the European regulation with regard to this particular point. This means that ACM is no longer allowed to enforce the law with regard to this point.

Request for enforcement filed by Bits of Freedom

Dutch digital-rights organization Bits of Freedom has already filed a request for enforcement with ACM. In its request, Bits of Freedom officially asks ACM to prohibit T-Mobile’s service on the basis of the European regulation