By determination of 21 April 2006, ANACOM approved the determination on the object and form of public disclosure of the conditions of provision and use of electronic communication services.
This measure is comprised within the effective and complete implementation of the regulatory framework resulting from the Electronic Communications Law (Law no. 5/2004, of 10 February), aiming to ensure that all users of electronic communications services enjoy a fair and appropriate level of information. ANACOM thus now defines the form that governs the publication and provision of information associated with the offer both of publicly available networks and services, mobile and fixed (article 47 thereof) and other publicly available electronic communications services (article 39).
The information to be published and provided – which is generally the same for both categories of offers, duly adapted in the light of applicable legal provisions – focuses particularly on the identification of the provider, services offered, prices (covering all types of usage and maintenance charges, discounts and specific tariff schemes, in order to enable consumers to determine the way the service is billed and collected), compensation or refund policies, types of maintenance service offered (it is recommended that the contact number of customer service for fault repair, front-desk working time and respective costs, as well as the minimum quality of service provided to customers as regards fault repair time be published and disclosed) and standard contract conditions.
Draft accession contracts for service provision, as well as information on judicial and extrajudicial dispute settlement mechanisms, including internal procedures implemented by the company, must also be published and disclosed, in order to make clear to the public, and specifically to customers, that they exist and how they may be accessed. It is also recommended that information on available channels for lodging complaints, including the identification of the body responsible for handling complaints, the deadline following which, in the absence of a decision on the complaint, the provider undertakes to contact the customer to inform him/her on the progress achieved towards the situation complained, and the possibility of the subscriber submitting disputes arising from the interpretation or performance of the contract to extrajudicial dispute settlement mechanisms, be published.
Information under consideration must be published and disclosed clearly, at a visible location, at the business premises of providers, their agents and distribution partners, and at the respective websites, and likewise must be provided free of charge and in writing at all sales points of the service and next to sales points of packages associated to the engagement of a service. The amendment of conditions involves updating the information provided.
The approved determination comprises also an attachment with parameters of quality of electronic communications services, put forward by ANACOM, aiming for the definition of levels of quality on the part of operators, comprising the following items: maximum time for service admission, maximum time for service interruption/suspension, maximum time for fault repair, maximum time for service disconnection and activation, maximum time for reply to customer complaints and information requests, minimum guaranteed Internet access speed, maximum time for fulfilment of a number portability order and maximum time for fulfilment of a pre-selection order.
This determination integrates the final report on consultation procedures which the corresponding draft decision had to undergo, following the determination of 21 June 2005, which includes the grounds for the position taken by ANACOM as well as the assessment of replies received from the following entities: DECO, FENACOOP, UGC, ACOP, Instituto do Consumidor (Consumer Institute), SGC Telecom, Grupo PT (PT Group), Onitelecom, TMN, Vodafone Portugal, TELE 2 and Sonae SGPS.
Consult:
- Object and form of public disclosure of the conditions of provision and use of electronic communication services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=191103
Consult press release:
- ANACOM defines information to be provided to customers by operators https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=357234
