Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) has ordered immediate suspension of the codes 68954 and 68955 used by Euro da Sorte, a company which provides message-based valued added services. The urgency of this decision ensures that the company does not continue to cause harm to consumers.
Following investigations carried out by ANACOM, triggered by complaints received, it was found that 35,337 value added messages were sent in January and February (with a unit cost of € 2.99 + VAT) by order of Euro da Sorte, with a view to participation in a competition. Whereas the law requires an express manifestation of consent by consumers, ANACOM found strong evidence that the recipients did not confirm the requests for the service.
Having found evidence of a breach of applicable legislation, ANACOM has given the company a period of 10 days to adopt measures ordered by the regulator and to demonstrate to ANACOM that they have been properly implemented. In the event that the company fails to comply, ANACOM may proceed to revoke the right of use of the access codes and may even revoke the company's registration as a provider of message-based valued added services, whereby the company will be left unable to pursue its activity.
ANACOM communicated this decision to the provider of the support service in order to block the access codes of Euro da Sorte.
ANACOM will also report this decision to Ministério Público (Public Prosecutor), Ministério da Administração Interna (Ministry of the Internal Administration), Direção-Geral do Consumidor (Directorate General for the Consumer) and Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (National Data Protection Commission).
