European Union – Directives. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding, among other things, that Directive (EC) 2002/21 of the European Parliament and of the Council was to be interpreted as not precluding, in principle, national legislation which entailed the merger of a national regulatory authority (NRA), with other national regulatory authorities, in order to create a multisectoral regulatory body responsible, inter alia, for the tasks entrusted to the NRAs, provided that, in performing those tasks, that body met the requirements of competence, independence, impartiality and transparency laid down by that directive and that an effective right of appeal was available against its decisions to a body independent of the parties involved, which was a matter to be determined by the national court.