Ofcom consulting on proposed changes to General Conditions and Numbering Plan

British telecoms regulator Ofcom has begun consulting on proposed changes to both the ‘General Conditions’ and the ‘National Telephone Numbering Plan’, with a view to ‘preparing for all eventualities relating to the UK’s planned withdrawal from the EU’. In a press release regarding the matter, the watchdog said that it is seeking feedback on changes that would need to be made to two regulatory instruments in the event that the UK were to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 without a withdrawal agreement being in place. Specifically, it has said that in such a scenario it would seek to amend both the General Conditions and National Telephone Numbering Plan so as to change references to the ‘European Union’ in those documents to either the ‘United Kingdom and European Union’ or ‘United Kingdom or European Union’, in order that ‘the scope of the regulations remains the same’ after the country’s exit from the European bloc. A deadline of 15 March 2019 has been set for submissions to the consultation.