Book reviews

511

Publication of the second edition of

telecommunications law came just prior to the far

reaching changes in the regulatory environment in

the UK brought about by the Communications Bill

at that time before Parliament. This new edition

focuses on the role of the European Commission

and how this has affected UK law. In particular it

examines the manner in which it dictates

regulatory policy for communications, but omits

much of the local regulation of specific types of

communications systems such as cable television.

It provides continued detailed analysis of the BT

licence which “has been the cornerstone of UK

telecommunications regulations since 1984 …

although in less than a year it is due to be replaced

by a more standardised ‘European’ Version”. The

work in Volume I is divided into eight chapters

dealing with the evolution of telecommunications;

principles of competition law; the European

telecoms framework; international and UK

regulatory authorities; the UK telecoms

framework; the BT licence; content and privacy

communications; broadcasting and a glossary of

non technical and technical terms. Volume II

contains a chronology of liberalisation;

Commission guidelines on market analysis and

assessment of significant market powers; European

legislation; UK legislation; the Communications

Bill; and a template for a standard fixed PTO

licence.

Available from: LexisNexis UK, 2 Addiscombe

Road, Croydon, CR9 5AF, Tel: 020 8662 2000.

TELECOMS LAW

Telecommunications

Law, Volumes I and II,

second edition

David Gillies and Roger

J.W. Marshal, 2003,

hard-cover, Butterworth,

LexisNexis, 518pp., £225,

ISBN Vol. I – 0 406

96873 X; Vol. II 0 406

96874 8.

The aim of this text, which is in its first

edition, is to provide comprehensive coverage of

telecommunications law in the UK. It is prefaced

by the huge deregulation that has taken place in

the telecommunications industry over the past 20

years and the convergence of the technologies of

telecommunications information technology and

broadcasting, which have blurred the edges of

what was, prior to that, a clear demarcation of

those fields. The authors note in their introduction

that the book has been “an unusually fraught

task”. This was because of the complications of

the timing of writing the book and the major

reforms of 2003 that culminated in the passage of

the Communications Act of that year. This

legislation creates a major reorganization of the

telecoms field and this, of course, is covered

throughout the book. There are ten chapters

altogether – the development of communications

law; scope of the legislation; access and inter-

connection; universal service; numbers, names and

numbers; data protection and the communications

sector; the Communications Code; competition

and telecoms; telecoms on the international stage;

and the technology of telecommunications. The

book will be of major interest to students studying

the range of courses in the telecoms law field as

well as those involved in the provision or use of

telecommunications services and, of course, those

engaged in legal advice on such matters.

Available from: LexisNexis UK, 2 Addiscombe

Road, Croydon, CR9 5AF, Tel: 020 8662 2000.

TELECOMMUNICATIONSLAW

Telecommunications

Law

Professor E Lloyd and

Professor David Mellor,

2003, soft-cover,

LexisNexis Butterworths,

320pp., £26.95, ISBN 0

406 94799 6.

This is the second edition of this major work

that aims to provide a comprehensive guide to

the whole field of national, international and

regional copyright law. It returns the basic

structure of the first edition by retaining in

Section 1 a commentary on the law – its

background and basic principles. Part 2 focuses

on national, international and regional

protection and examines the range of

international treaties and European Commission

regulations. Part 3 looks at current issues and

future prospects for the development of global

copyright law. Section 2 of the work contains

comparative summaries of international and

regional standards of protection and Section 3 a

glossary of legal and technical terms. Finally,

Section 4 contains reference materials of the

relevant international texts. It also contains a

reference list of national laws and supplementary

material, historic documents and miscellaneous

reference materials.

Available from: Sweet & Maxwell,

International Customer Service. Tel: +44 1264

342906, UK 020 7449 1111, by mail: Sweet &

Maxwell Group, Freepost, Lon 12091, London

NW3 4YS, Internet: www.sweet&maxwell.uk

COPYRIGHT LAW

World Copyright Law

J.A.L. Sterling, 2003,

hard-cover, Sweet &

Maxwell, 1357 pp.,

£235, �332, ISBN 0

421 79070 9.