Judgment_paragraph 38 · Eircom Limited v Commission for Communications Regulation (C-494/21)

38Although the second subparagraph of Article 12(1) of, and Part A of Annex IV to, the Universal Service Directive lay down the rules for calculating the net costs of the provision of universal service where the NRAs have considered that such provision may represent an unfair burden, it is not apparent either from Article 12(1) or from any other provision of that directive that the EU legislature itself intended to prescribe the conditions in which the NRAs are to consider, as a preliminary matter, that/whether the provision of universal service may represent an unfair burden. Conversely, it is apparent from the provisions of Article 13 of the Universal Service Directive that it is only on the basis of the calculation of the net costs of the provision of universal service, as referred to in Article 12 of that directive, that NRAs may find that an undertaking designated to provide universal service is in fact subject to an unfair burden and that Member States must then decide, upon a request from that undertaking, to introduce a compensation mechanism in respect of that cost (judgment of 6 October 2010, Base and Others, C‑389/08, EU:C:2010:584, paragraphs 36 and 37).