Today, 14 May, the decision on the obligations of informing the end-users, incumbent on the providers of publicly available electronic communications services will enter into force. Thus, the telephony operators will have the obligation to better inform their customers regarding the services offered and the tariffs involved, so that the latter could make a correct and adequate decision on their own needs.
Starting today, all those who enter the provider’s own shops or its partner’s working stations offering subscription-based telephone services will be able to read a poster placed in easily accessible and publicly available locations, regarding their rights to information as telephony users. Furthermore, they will be informed on the complaint settlement procedure, which is to be detailed in a document issued upon request or at the moment of concluding the contract.
The operators’ sales personnel must provide the customer, orally or, upon request, in printed or electronic format, prior to the conclusion of the contract, with at least the following data: the chosen tariff plan, including the total amount for the whole initial contract period, specifying the included services – monthly subscription (number of minutes/credit included, as the case may be), extra-options, connection/installation, terminal equipment purchased etc., as the case may be, taxes included; the applicable tariffs for access and for national calls, the tariffs for the calls initiated during peak hours/off-peak hours (indicating the corresponding hour intervals) as well as the usage conditions for the included minutes or for the included credit; the minimum contract duration, as well as the terms of early termination and the applicable penalties, as the case may be.
During the contract duration, any end-user will have the right to request and receive a detailed invoice specifying at least the charging period, the tariffs charged, the free offerings/discounts from which the respective subscriber benefited, the full list of the calls initiated and received, alongside their duration etc.
If the contract for the provision of publicly available telephone services is automatically extended, and its subsequent cancellation by the subscriber involves the payment of certain penalties, the operators will have the obligation to notify their subscribers – by means of the invoice or of an SMS message – on the contract expiry date and on the deadline by which the subscriber may request the cancellation of the contract. This notification must be sent to the subscriber minimum 15 days and maximum 45 days before the contract expiry.
“ANCOM’s goal is to protect the users of communications services. We fulfil it indirectly, by ensuring the well-functioning of, and the competition in, the communications market, as well as directly, through decisions as the one coming now into force. The decision on the obligation to inform the end-users is an important step towards the latter’s safety and towards enabling any person to know precisely what is it that he/she buys and how much does he/she pay for the telephone services. ANCOM’s diligences will not stop here; we will make sure that all the provisions of this act are observed and we will conduct control activities in order to ensure that the users receive the information they need, in an accessible form, allowing them to make adequate decisions”, Catalin Marinescu, the President of ANCOM, stated.