Industry body says strict new rules are incompatible with the EU's own net neutrality legislation.
Strict net neutrality rules adopted by the Netherlands this week are jeopardising the development of the Digital Single Market (DSM), the GSMA has warned.
Amendments to the Telecommunications Act that ban zero-rating – where usage of a certain service or category of services does not count against a customer's data allowance – were passed by the Dutch Senate on Tuesday.
This runs counter to BEREC's guidelines for implementing the European Union's net neutrality law, which calls for national regulators to consider zero-rated pricing practices on a case-by-case basis.
"The Dutch Net Neutrality law goes far beyond the intent of the EU regulation," said Afke Schaart, the GSMA's vice president for Europe, in a statement on Tuesday. "We therefore call on the European Commission to ensure the harmonised implementation of Europe's open Internet rules."
Earlier this week, T-Mobile Netherlands launched a zero-rated tariff called 'Music Freedom', which as the name suggests, gives customers unmetered access to music streaming services.
On Tuesday, the Dutch competition watchdog, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), said it will investigate Music Freedom, and warned it will sanction T-Mobile if the offer is found to violate the country's strict new net neutrality rules.
In response, T-Mobile said it is prepared to challenge the legislation in court, insisting that Music Freedom conforms with BEREC's guidelines, and that the policy in the Netherlands is in conflict with European law.
The GSMA agrees.
"The new law will be incompatible with the EU Open Internet Regulation, in force from November 2015, putting the development of the EU Digital Single Market at risk," the industry group said. "Moreover, the implementation of the revised law will harm consumers by stifling innovation and limiting the choice of services available to Dutch citizens."