@ -25,18 +25,9 @@ a picture of the future development of compulsory routers.</p>
<h2>Current state and glance into the future</h2>
<p>At the moment the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs is just ahead of
finishing a revision of the Telecommunication Act and some meetings with
companies and organisations already took place. In our estimation the Ministry
of Economy is headed in the right direction of getting rid of compulsory
routers.</p>
<p>Yet there are still some unclear crucial points which are essential for
customers' free device choice. Among them specific exceptions in broadband cable
networks and the status of cable modems as well as liability and burdal of
proof when using other devices than those recommended by the provider.</p>
<h2>The story so far</h2>
<p>The Federal Ministry of Economy (BMWi) reworked its former bill to unambiguously free cable and DSL internet users from compulsory routers. We evaluated the draft as positive in large part because it can finally end the discrimination of internet users' choice of terminal devices. Only smaller wordings could be formulated more precisely to preemptively close possible legal loopholes.</p>
<p>The bill has been presented to the EU commission and the member states for comments until beginning of July. According to our information only one small formal ambiguity has been criticised furing this process. The BMWi currently fixes this and will introduce it to the Federal Cabinet. Afterwards the parlamentary process is planned to start in fall 2015. We hope that ministers and representatives will withstand the pressure of enemies of free and fair terminal device choice, and defend and restore the rights of internet users.</p>