ANCOM launches for public consultation a draft decision on amending the procedure of settling the disputes within ANCOM’s scope of competence. This amendment has been triggered by the legislation changes and by the need to identify solutions to the various problems regarding the dispute settlement procedure, encountered by ANCOM since 2003.
Ever since, ANCOM has applied an administrative-jurisdictional settlement procedure, which is optional and cost-free, both in the disputes between the providers of electronic communications networks and services regarding the rights and obligations established by the legislation in the field, as well as in the disputes between end-users and the providers of electronic communications services raised by the enforcement of Law no.304/2003 for Universal Service and the users’ rights regarding the electronic communications networks and services.
Following the changes of the legislation in the field of postal services, the procedure proposed today does no longer contain provisions regarding ANCOM’s competence to settle disputes between the providers of postal services and disputes between the end-users and the providers of postal services. Moreover, subsequent to the entry into force of Law no.192/2006 on mediation and the organisation of the mediator profession, which lays down the settlement of disputes by means of the mediation procedure, as well as the terms for a third party’s possibility to settle various disputes as a mediator, the Authority considers that this draft decision does no longer need to include provisions that establish ANCOM’s attributions regarding the settlement of the disputes within its scope of competence, by means of the mediation procedure.
Therefore, two main categories of disputes remain within ANCOM’s scope of competence, i.e. disputes between the providers of electronic communications networks or services, on the one hand, and disputes between end-users and the providers of electronic communications services, on the other hand.
With a view to a more rapid and efficient procedure, the Authority introduced provisions regarding the expiry of a claim submitted to ANCOM and the terms under which a claim against the preliminary solution cold be filed. Furthermore, upon ANCOM’s request, where the claim does not comply with the requirements in the draft decision, the plaintiff may submit the due completions within a certain term. The sanction of rejecting the request will be applied only in case the plaintiff does not submit the necessary completions within the term provided by ANCOM. In case of completions being submitted, the 4-month settlement term will start from the date when the plaintiff has submitted the respective completions or clarifications.
The draft decision also provides a procedure dedicated exclusively to solving the requests for establishing provisional measures. As well, special provisions have been introduced to clarify the regime of confidential information submitted by the providers during the settlement procedure.
As regards the settlement of the disputes between end-users and the providers of electronic communications services, which is a written, cost-free procedure, in order to support the end-users and to speed up the settlement process, the Authority introduced provisions on the minimum mandatory content requirements of the complaints submitted to ANCOM in disputes regarding the enforcement of Law no. 304/2003 that have not been settled amiably with the providers of electronic communications services. Thus, ANCOM makes available to the end-users also a complaint form, which is optional but may serve as a model regarding the information categories to be specified.
The draft decision is available for consultation on the ANCOM website, here. The interested persons are invited to submit their comments and suggestions, by 20 May 2010, at the ANCOM headquarters in 2 Delea Noua Street, Bucharest 3, directly to the Registry or by means of the Authority’s regional divisions. Comments and recommendations may also be sent by fax to +40 732 845 404 or by e-mail to consultare@ancom.org.ro.