Ministério das Finanças e do Equipamento Social (Ministries of Finance and Social Equipment)
Joint Ministerial Order
The relationship between the Portuguese State and PT Comunicações was formalised in a concessionaire contract signed in March 1995, with the former Portugal Telecom, S. A.
This administrative contract laid down the most appropriate framework for the operation of Portugal Telecom as the organisation in charge of the management of the basic network and as the provider of the public telecommunications service.
However, the emergence of a new regulatory framework for telecommunications, associated with the profound changes that the sector has undergone over recent years and the challenges that the same changes necessarily imply, has led to the need to reconsider the present system in force.
In effect, the concessionaire contract was signed at a particular historical moment, prior to the full liberalisation of the sector and the Basic Law on Telecommunications itself, thus reflecting a reality that is currently substantially outdated.
Therefore, both the Portuguese Government and PT Comunicações have considered justifiable to conduct an analysis of the contractual relationship in question, aiming to settle the occasion and the terms of an eventual revision.
Accordingly, the Ministers of Finance and Social Equipment have resolved that:
1 - A working group shall be set up, with the designation of working group for the revision of the concessionaire contract for the public telecommunications service held between the State and PT, to which are assigned the tasks of studying and evaluating the need to modify the concessionaire contract currently in force between the State and PT Comunicações and, consequently, drawing up preliminary projects for any legislative and contractual action that may be necessary.
2 - The working group that is hereby created shall immediately begin its task and present the results of its work to the signatories of this Joint Ministerial Order, by the 10th of November 2001, and, if necessary, it shall follow the entire execution of the proposed work, as well as the work that may be justifiable.
3 - The working group consists of the following members:
Dr. António Bernardo de Meneses and Lorena de Séves, representing the Minister of Finance, which is to preside;
Dr. João Pedro Guimarães, representing the Minister of Social Equipment;
Dr.ª Filomena Maria Amaro Vieira Martinho Bacelar, representing the General Tax Inspectorate;
Dr. Álvaro Marques de Miranda, representing the Instituto das
Comunicações de Portugal (ICP);
Dr. António Manuel Robalo de Almeida, representing Portugal Telecom,
SGPS, S. A.
4 - The chairman of the working group may request from the departments of the Ministries, or from other entities, any studies and opinions, as well as answers to enquiries and the presence in its meetings of any officers or managers, that it may deem necessary for the smooth running of its work. It may also request the acquisition of documentation, under the authorisation from the Ministers of Finance and Social Equipment.
5 - Within the scope of its mission, the working group may correspond with any Portuguese or foreign entities.
6 - The working group may request any information, particularly with statistical, administrative or legal interest, from the departments of the Ministries or from entities under the auspices of the Ministries of Finance or Social Equipment, which shall be provided with the minimum possible delay.
7 - The members of the working group shall carry out their duties free of charge.
8 - This Ministerial Order comes into effect as from the date it is signed.
18th of October 2001. - The Minister of Finance, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins. - The Minister of Social Equipment, Eduardo Luís Barreto Ferro Rodrigues.
