The Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC) was established on the basis of the Radio Spectrum Decision (Decision No. 676/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council) on 24 April 2002. The RSC is a comitology committee of experts that assists the European Commission in developing implementing acts relating to radio spectrum. The Committee is composed of representatives of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the European Commission. Germany is represented on this committee by the Ministry and the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway.

The necessary technical studies on the harmonized conditions are commissioned directly from the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) by the RSC by means of mandates issued by the European Commission (aka “EC mandates”). The mandates are answered by the CEPT’s Electronic Communications Committee (ECC).

The RSC considers the Commission’s proposals, resulting from the mandates, on harmonized conditions of radio spectrum use. The outcome is a decision whether the measures are to apply in the Community, and a deadline for their implementation by the Member States is set. These decisions must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and are thus directly applicable to Member States.