The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) has launched for public consultation a draft decision with a view to extending the activation term for the National Numbers for Directory Enquiry Services in the 118(xyz) range by six months, to twelve months from the date of allotment.
ANCOM allotted 44 numbers in the 118xyz range to 11 companies on 28 November 2008 and one number to another company, on 10 March 2009. The companies had the obligation to activate these numbers within 6 months from the allotment date. Nevertheless, ANCOM found that the process related to the transmission of databases by the providers of publicly available electronic communications services had been delayed due to the lack of a practice and of clear rules for obtaining the subscribers’ agreement on the communication of their personal data to third parties, respectively to the providers of directory enquiry services.
With a view to regulating this issue, ANCOM and the National Authority for Surveillance of Personal Data Processing (ANSPDCP) elaborated and published a series of remarks and recommendations regarding the enforcement of the legal provisions in the field, so that both the providers of publicly available electronic communications services and the providers of directory enquiry services should be thoroughly informed on the legal procedures to be observed in order to ensure compliance with the subscriber’s rights regarding the processing of their personal data.
The draft decision proposes that the operators that requested and were granted national numbers in the 118(xyz) range should have the obligation to activate these numbers starting from 28 November 2009, respectively 10 March 2010, thus extending the activation term from 6 to 12 months.
The draft decision on amending the ANRCTI President’s Decision no.321/2008 on the allotment and use of national short numbers for harmonised services is available on the ANCOM website. The interested persons are invited to send their comments and suggestions by 18.05.2009, to the ANCOM headquarters (2 Delea Noua Street, sector 3, Bucharest), directly to the ANCOM registration office, or to its regional departments. Comments may be sent, as well, by fax, to +40 21 307 54 02, or by e-mail to consultare@ancom.org.ro.
118(xyz) numbers are used at the European level for directory enquiry services. In Romania, by means of such numbers, the providers will be able to offer both directory enquiry services and ancillary services, as well as information regarding the subscriber’s field of activity or profession or directory enquiry services in frequently used foreign languages.