In article <468B1BFA-4BEB-11D8-BCF8-000A95928574@kurtis.pp.se>, Kurt Erik Lindqvist <kurtis@kurtis.pp.se> writes
From the initial discussions in Sweden around the new electronic communications act, it seems as if the operators are obliged to provide tapping free of charge. If this turns out to be the case, I guess it is pretty much the same all over Europe as the law is supposed to be based on a EU framework.
There's nothing in the new EU Communications Framework (or indeed elsewhere in EU law) that controls whether or not operators can charge for wiretaps. It's a country by country thing. Complicated by some countries that claim to re-imburse, actually being chronically bad at paying the invoices. In the UK, for example, the current situation is that running costs are re-imbursed, and network upgrades to be wire-tap ready can benefit from a one-off grant (but new networks must be designed to be wire-tap ready at the operator's expense). -- Roland Perry