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Most of the Providers Verified by ANCOM Observe the Legislation on Informing the End-Users
05.09.2012
Between March and August 2012, the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) conducted 836 inspections on the electronic communications providers and their partners in order to verify compliance with the obligations of informing the end-users, as imposed by Decision 77/2009. In most cases, the provisions of the secondary legislation in the field were observed; only 17 legal sanctions were applied, i.e. 15 warnings and 2 fines amounting to a total of RON15,000.
During this inspection campaign, the ANCOM inspectors verified whether, before signing the contract, the sales personnel of the operators and of their partners communicate - verbally, in printed or electronic format, - at least the following information to the users: the chosen tariff plan, including the total amount for the whole initial contract duration, specifying the services included – a monthly subscription (number of minutes/credit included, as the case may be), extra-options, connection/installation charges, terminal equipment purchased, with all the taxes included, the tariffs for access and for national calls, tariffs for the calls performed between specific time intervals and the terms of use for the included minutes or credit, the minimum contract duration, as well as the terms for early contract termination and the applicable penalties, as the case may be.
According to the ANCOM decision regarding the users’ information, the telephone operators and their partners have the obligation to post – on their websites – the Complaint Handling Procedure, which should be provided upon request and at the time of signing the contract. This procedure must provide in detail the options for submitting a complaint, the contact details of the department in charge of receiving and registering the complaints, the maximum timelines for submitting and settling a complaint, as well as the end-users’ opportunity to bring a complaint in front of ANCOM.
Moreover, the telephone service providers have the obligation to post - on the homepage of their website – a link to the Framework-Contract, including the General Terms for service provision, which are part of the contract.
Out of the 836 inspections, 305 were conducted by ANCOM’s Bucharest Regional Division to the working points of the telephone operators and their partners in the counties of: Arges, Brasov, Buzau, Calarasi, Constanta, Dambovita, Giurgiu, Ilfov, Olt, Prahova, Tulcea, Teleorman, Valcea and Bucharest. Upon these inspections, ANCOM issued one warning for breach of the obligations regarding the provision, upon request and free of charge, of a copy of the Framework-Contract, including the General Terms for service provision and the Complaint Handling Procedure.
Through the Cluj Regional Division, ANCOM conducted 218 inspections and issued 5 warnings for breach of the obligations regarding the provision, upon the user’s request, of a printed version of the Complaints Handling Procedure and regarding the user’s information, prior to signing the contract, on the chosen tariff plan, the applicable tariffs and the minimum contract duration.
Through the Timisoara Regional Division, ANCOM conducted 121 inspections to the working points of the mobile telephnone providers and of their dealers in the counties of Arad, Caras-Severin, Dolj, Gorj, Hunedoara and Mehedinti, assessing no breaches of the information obligations in force.
As regards the obligations to noticeably place - on the homepage of each provider’s website - a link to the Framework-Contract, including the General Terms for service provision, and the Complaint Handling Procedure, out of the more than 80 websites verified, only 7 failed to meet the information obligations. Six of these operators were sanctioned by warning, one operator being fined RON10.000.
This is the second inspection campaign for verifying compliance with the information obligations, after the one conducted in 2009.
”One of ANCOM’s major objectives is protecting the communications users. We do this indirectly, by fostering competition and providing for the smooth operation of the communications market, as well as directly, by adopting decisions that contribute to increasing the transparency of the service provision and by ensuring their observance. We are glad to see that a large number of providers comply with the ANCOM decision and offer the users the possibility to know exacty what he/she buys and how much he/she has to pay for the chosen services. Our dilligence does not stop here, the Authority being interested in each and every user’s opinion, therefore we elaborated a set of questionnaires to evaluate the satisfaction degree of the communications services customers, available on our website”, declared the ANCOM President, Mr. Catalin Marinescu.
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