Catalogue description Records created or inherited by the Radiocommunications Agency

History, pre-1985:

Responsibilities for radio regulatory and broadcasting matters passed to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications under the Post Office Act 1969, when the Post Office ceased to be a government department. On 17 April 1974 under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Dissolution) Order 1974, responsibilities were divided between the Department of Industry and the Home Office: radio regulatory and broadcasting matters became the responsibility of the Home Secretary, until 13 June 1983, when they passed to the Department of Trade and Industry.

History, post-1985:

The Radiocommunications Agency was established in April 1990 as an executive agency of the Department of Trade and Industry. It took on responsibility for the management of the radio spectrum including licensing and enforcement.

A White Paper - A New Future for Communications (Cm 5010) - published on 12 December 2000, announced proposals for reform of the regulatory framework for the communications sector. The Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Director General of Telecommunications, the Independent Television Commission, the Radio Authority, and the Secretary of State, who had a regulatory role through the Radiocommunications Agency (part of the Department of Trade and Industry) were to be replaced by one unified regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), and this was effected by the Communications Act 2003.

In February 2002 the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers adopted four Directives ('the EC Communications Directives'), which set out a package of measures for a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services. Provisions in the Act implement a significant proportion of this new regulatory package in the UK.