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The minimum contract period or the price for a 'free' handset
14.05.2014
According to the law, in Romania, contracts for electronic communications services (telephone, internet or television) are concluded for a minimum period that cannot exceed two years. The providers have the obligation to also make available to the end-users offers with a minimum contract period of up to 12 months. The users cannot terminate the contract without paying early termination penalties unless the minimum contract period has expired.
The complaints addressed to ANCOM reveal the fact that many users are not aware of the minimum contract period and that many do not understand how this clause may affect them when they decide to terminate an electronic communications services contract.
The minimum contract period or the initial contract period is the period during which the users cannot terminate the contract concluded with a communications service provider unless they pay some penalties, except for the cases when users request the termination as a result of a unilateral amendment of the contract. The providers set such a contract period in order to ensure the return of their costs in case of the commercial offers comprising additional benefits for the users (such as free or cheaper handsets, tablets, gaming consoles, promotional tariff plans, free installation of service etc.).
In order to protect the users, the telecom legislation establishes two thresholds for the minimum contract period: 12, respectively 24 months. Communications providers cannot conclude contracts with the users for an initial period longer than 24 months. At the same time, they have the obligation to offer contracts for an initial period shorter or of at most 12 months.Generally, contracts with an initial period longer than 12 months are associated with greater benefits for the users, compared to the ones concluded for less than 12 months. These legal provisions apply by default to natural persons and upon request to legal persons.
The users who wish to terminate an electronic communications contract must check whether the minimum contract period has expired, or the amounts due for early contract termination (e.g. the equivalent amount of the subscription for the months up to the expiry of the minimum period). This is applicable also for the persons who wish to keep their telephone number, taking into account the fact that submitting a porting request triggers the termination of the contract with the provider whose network they want to leave.
The minimum contract period is different form the total contract duration. Thus, after the expiry of the minimum contract period, the contract will continue for an undetermined period or will be extended, by default, for the minimum contract period, based on the actual contract provisions, if the subscribers do not request termination. In this case, the contract will be terminated without the payment of any penalties, since the minimum contract duration expired.
Additional information is available to the interested persons on the InfoCentre posted on the Authority’s website, www.ancom.org.ro, subsection Contracts from a to z. The users may complain to ANCOM using the sequence in Complain to ANCOM, when their telecom service contract does not contain any references to its duration or initial duration, mention a minimum contract period longer than 24 months or if the possibility to conclude a contract for an initial period of at most 12 months has not been provided.
The InfoCentre section on ANCOM’s website makes valuable information available to the users of electronic communications (telephony, internet and television) and of postal services, in order to help them choose and use the respective services. Such information mainly refers to contact conclusion, charging method, service quality, handset unlocking or the roaming service. Moreover, the users may find here dedicated guidelines, on topics such as fraud over the telephone or internet access services.
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