Highly quality-sensitive 5G use cases, such as metaverse-type applications, connected and autonomous driving or digitalised health applications, are the future of the mobile internet. These use cases will rely on 5G network slicing technology to ensure scalability and individually calibrated Quality of Service (QoS) levels. New electronic communications services ensuring specific QoS levels are subject to EU-net neutrality rules laid down in Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and are currently being assessed by national regulatory authorities (NRAs) on a case-by-case basis. As acknowledged by the European Commission (EC) in its recent report on the implementation of the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120, this case-by-case approach results in legal uncertainty and acts as barrier to investments and innovation. In particular, it is often unclear to internet service providers (ISPs) if innovative quality-sensitive content, applications or services may be delivered via specialised services in accordance with Article 3 (5) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120. The purpose of the article is to show a way to enhance legal certainty in the application of Article 3 (5) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 while preserving the fundamental digital rights of end-users regarding equal and non-discriminatory treatment of data traffic by ISPs as well as transparency. Specifically, striking this delicate balance could be achieved by introducing rebuttable presumptions to shift the burden of proving that “optimisation is necessary in order to meet requirements of the content, applications or services for a specific level of quality” (Article 3 (5) subpara. 1 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120) and that specialised services are “not […] to the detriment of the availability or general quality of internet access services for end-users” (Article 3 (5) subpara. 2 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120) away from ISPs and towards NRAs.

对质量高度敏感的 5G 使用案例，例如元宇宙类型应用、互联自动驾驶或数字化健康应用，是移动互联网的未来。这些用例将依赖 5G 网络切片技术来确保可扩展性和单独校准的服务质量 (QoS) 水平。确保特定 QoS 水平的新电子通信服务须遵守 (EU) 2015/2120 法规中规定的欧盟网络中立性规则，目前国家监管机构 (NRA) 正在根据具体情况进行评估。正如欧盟委员会 (EC) 在其最近关于法规 (EU) 2015/2120 条款实施情况的报告中所承认的那样，这种逐案处理方法会导致法律不确定性，并成为投资和创新的障碍。特别是，互联网服务提供商 (ISP) 通常不清楚是否可以根据 (EU) 2015/2120 法规第 3 (5) 条通过专门服务提供创新的质量敏感内容、应用程序或服务。本文的目的是展示一种方法，以增强适用法规 (EU) 2015/2120 第 3 (5) 条的法律确定性，同时保护最终用户在平等和非歧视性对待数据方面的基本数字权利ISP 的流量以及透明度。具体而言，可以通过引入可反驳的推定来实现这种微妙的平衡，以转移证明“为了满足特定质量水平的内容、应用程序或服务的要求而必须进行优化”的负担（第 3 条第 5 款） (EU) 2015/2120 条例第 1 条），并且专门服务“不会[...] 损害最终用户互联网接入服务的可用性或总体质量”（条例第 3 (5) 条第 2 款） （EU）2015/2120）远离 ISP 并转向 NRA。