Telecoms Package Universal Service Commission Amended Proposal

Telecoms Package: Directive on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service 2002/22/EC) − European Commission Amended Proposal − 2008-11-06

Article 20
Article 20 − Contracts

2. Member States shall ensure that, where subscribing to services providing connection to a public communications network and/or electronic communications services, consumers and other end-users so requesting have a right to a contract with an undertaking or undertakings providing such services and/or connection. The contract shall specify in a clear, comprehensive and easily accessible form at least:

(a) the identity and address of the supplier;

(b) services provided, including in particular:

- information on any restrictions imposed by the provider regarding a subscriber's ability to access, use or distribute lawful content or run lawful applications and services,

- the service quality levels, with reference to any parameters specified under Article 22(2) as appropriate,

- types of maintenance and customer support services offered, as well as how to contact customer support,

- the time for the initial connection, and

- any restrictions on the use of terminal equipment imposed by the provider;

(c) the subscriber's decision as to whether or not to include his or her personal data in a directory, and the data concerned;

(d) particulars of prices and tariffs, the means by which up-to-date information on all applicable tariffs and maintenance charges may be obtained, payment methods offered and any differences in costs due to payment method;

(e) the duration of the contract and the conditions for renewal and termination of services and of the contract, including

- any charges related to portability of numbers and other identifiers; and

- any charges due on termination of the contract, including any cost recovery with respect to terminal equipment;

(f) any compensation and the refund arrangements which apply if contracted service quality levels are not met;

(g) the method of initiating procedures for settlement of disputes in accordance with Article 34;

(h) the type of action that might be taken by the undertaking providing connection and/or services in reaction to security or integrity incidents or threats and vulnerabilities, as well as any compensation arrangements which apply if security or integrity incidents occur.

The contract shall also include information provided by the relevant public authorities on the use of electronic communications networks and services to engage in unlawful activities or to disseminate harmful content, and on the means of protection against risks to personal security, privacy and personal data referred to in Article 21(4a) and relevant to the service provided.

4. Member States shall ensure that where contracts are concluded between subscribers and undertakings providing electronic communications services that allow voice communication, subscribers are clearly informed whether or not access to emergency services is provided. Providers of electronic communications services shall ensure that customers are clearly informed of the lack of access to emergency services in advance of the conclusion of a contract and regularly thereafter.

7. Subscribers shall have a right to withdraw from their contracts without penalty upon notice of modifications in the contractual conditions proposed by operators. Subscribers shall be given adequate notice, not shorter than one month, ahead of any such modifications and shall be informed at the same time of their right to withdraw, without penalty, from such contracts, if they do not accept the new conditions.

''(12c) In order to address public interest issues with respect to the use of communications services, and to encourage protection of the rights and freedoms of others, the relevant national authorities should be able to produce and have disseminated, with the aid of providers, public interest information related to the use of communications services. This information should include public interest warnings regarding copyright infringement, other unlawful uses and dissemination of harmful content, and advice and means of protection against risks to personal security, which may for example arise from disclosure of personal information in certain circumstances, privacy and personal data. The information could be coordinated by way of the cooperation procedure established in Article 33(2a) of Directive 2002/22/EC. Such public interest information should be updated whenever necessary and it should be presented in easily comprehensible printed and electronic formats, as determined by each Member State, and on national public authority websites. National regulatory authorities should be able to oblige providers to disseminate this standardised information to all their customers in a manner deemed appropriate by the national regulatory authorities. Significant additional costs incurred by service providers for dissemination of such information should be agreed between the providers and the relevant authorities and met by those authorities. The information should also be included in contracts.''

''(14) End-users should decide what lawful content they want to be able to send and receive, and which services, applications, hardware and software they want to use for such purposes, without prejudice to the need to preserve the integrity and security of networks and services. A competitive market with transparent offerings as provided for in Directive 2002/22/EC should ensure that end-users are able to access and distribute any lawful content and to use any lawful applications and/or services of their choice, as stated in Article 8 of Directive 2002/21/EC. Given the increasing importance of electronic communications for consumers and businesses, users should in any case be fully informed of any restrictions and/or limitations imposed on the use of electronic communications services by the service and/or network provider. Such information should, at the option of the provider, specify the type of content, application or service concerned, individual applications or services, or both. Depending on the technology used and the type of restriction and/or limitation, such restrictions and/or limitations may require user consent under Directive 2002/58/EC (Privacy Directive).''

''(14b) In the absence of relevant rules of Community law, content, applications and services are deemed lawful or harmful in accordance with national substantive and procedural law. It is a task for the relevant authorities of the Member States, not for providers of electronic communications networks or services, to decide, in accordance with due process, whether content, applications or services are lawful or harmful or not. The Framework Directive and the Specific Directives are without prejudice to Directive 2000/31/EC (Directive on electronic commerce), which inter alia contains a "mere conduit" rule for intermediary service providers, as defined therein. The Framework Directive and the Specific Directives do not require providers to monitor information transmitted over their networks or to take punitive action or legal prosecution against their customers due to such information, nor does it make providers liable for the information. Responsibility for any such punitive action or legal prosecution remains with the relevant authorities.''

(14d) Since inconsistent quality of service requirements will significantly impair the achievement of the internal market, the Commission should assess any measures adopted by national regulatory authorities for possible regulatory intervention across the Community and, if necessary, adopt technical implementing measures in order to achieve consistent application throughout the Community.

Article 21
Article 21 − Transparency and publication of information

2. Member States shall ensure that undertakings providing connection to a public electronic communications network and/or electronic communications services publish transparent, comparable, adequate and up-to-date information on applicable prices and tariffs, any charges due on termination of a contract and information on standard terms and conditions, in respect of access and use of their services provided to end-users and consumers in accordance with Annex II. Such information shall be published in a clear, comprehensive and easily accessible form. National regulatory authorities may specify additional requirements regarding the form in which such information is to be published.

3. National regulatory authorities shall encourage the provision of comparable information to enable end-users and consumers to make an independent evaluation of the cost of alternative usage patterns, by means of interactive guides or similar techniques. Member States shall ensure that when such guides or similar techniques are not available on the market, free of charge or at a reasonable price, national regulatory authorities make them available themselves or through third parties. Third parties shall have a right to use without charge tariff information published by undertakings providing electronic communications networks and/or services, for the purposes of selling or making available such interactive guides or similar techniques.

4. Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities are able to oblige undertakings providing connection to a public electronic communications network and/or electronic communications services to inter alia:

(a) provide applicable tariff information to subscribers regarding any number or service subject to particular pricing conditions; with respect to individual categories of services national regulatory authorities may require such information to be provided immediately prior to connecting the call;

(b) regularly remind subscribers of any lack of reliable access to emergency services or caller location information in the service they have subscribed to;

(c) inform subscribers of any change to any restrictions imposed by the undertaking on their ability to access, use or distribute lawful content or run lawful applications and services of their choice;

(d) inform subscribers of their right to determine whether or not to include their personal data in a directory, and of the types of data concerned in accordance with Article 12 of the Directive on privacy and electronic communications; and

(e) regularly inform disabled subscribers of details of current products and services aimed at them.

If deemed appropriate, national regulatory authorities may promote self- or co-regulatory measures prior to imposing any obligation.

4a. Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities oblige the undertakings referred to in paragraph 4 to distribute public interest information to existing and new subscribers where appropriate. Such information shall be produced by the relevant public authorities in a standardised format and shall inter alia cover the following topics:

(a) without prejudice to Directive 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce, the most common uses of electronic communications services to engage in unlawful activities or to disseminate harmful content, including infringements of copyright and related rights, and their legal consequences; and

(b) means of protection against risks to personal security, privacy and personal data in using electronic communications services.

Significant additional costs incurred by an undertaking in complying with these obligations shall be reimbursed by the relevant public authorities.

6. In order to ensure that end-users can benefit from a consistent approach to tariff transparency, as well as to the provision of information in accordance with Article 20(5) in the Community, the Commission may, having consulted the European Electronic Communications Market Authority (hereinafter referred to as “the Authority”), take the appropriate technical implementing measures in this area, such as specify the methodology or procedures. Those measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 37(2). On imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission may use the urgency procedure referred to in Article 37(3).

Article 22
Article 22 − Quality of service

1. Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities are able, after taking account of the views of interested parties, to require undertakings that provide publicly available electronic communications networks and/or services to publish comparable, adequate and up-to-date information for end-users on the quality of their services and on measures taken to ensure equivalent access for disabled end-users. The information shall, on request, also be supplied to the national regulatory authority in advance of its publication.

2. National regulatory authorities may specify, inter alia, the quality of service parameters to be measured, and the content, form and manner of information to be published, including possible quality certification mechanisms, in order to ensure that end-users, including disabled end-users, have access to comprehensive, comparable, reliable and user-friendly information. Where appropriate, the parameters, definitions and measurement methods given in Annex III could be used.

3. A national regulatory authority may set minimum quality of service requirements in order to prevent degradation of service and slowing of traffic over networks. Such requirements shall take due account of any standards issued under Article 17 of Directive 2002/21/EC (Framework Directive).

The Commission may, having examined such requirements and consulted [xxx], adopt technical implementing measures if it considers that the requirements set at national level may create a barrier to the internal market. Such measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 37(2).

''(14a) A competitive market should also ensure that users are able to have the quality of service they require, but in particular cases it may be necessary to ensure that public communications networks attain minimum quality levels so as to prevent degradation of service, usage restrictions and/or limitations and the slowing of traffic. Where there is a lack of effective competition, national regulatory authorities should use the remedies available to them under the Directives establishing the regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services to ensure that users" access to particular types of content or applications is not unreasonably restricted. It should also be possible for national regulatory authorities to set minimum quality of service requirements under Directive 2002/22/EC, with regard to the interests of users and all other relevant circumstances.''

Article 28
Article 28 − Access to numbers and services

1. Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities take all necessary steps to ensure that:

(a) end-users are able to access and use services, including information society services, provided within the Community; and

(b) end-users are able to access all numbers provided in the Community regardless of the technology and devices used by the operator, including those in the national numbering plans of Member States, those from the European Telephone Numbering Space and Universal International Freephone Numbers; and

National regulatory authorities shall be able to block on a case-by-case basis access to numbers or services where this is justified by reasons of fraud or misuse, and to ensure that in such cases, including where an investigation is pending, providers of electronic communications services may withhold relevant interconnection or other service revenues.

2. In order to ensure that end users have effective access to numbers and services in the Community, the Commission may adopt technical implementing measures. Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 37(2).

Any such technical implementing measure may be periodically reviewed to take account of market and technological developments.

''(22) A single market implies that end-users are able to access all numbers included in the national numbering plans of other Member States, and to access services, including Information Society services, using non-geographic numbers within the Community, including, among others, freephone and and premium-rate numbers and directory enquiry services. End-users should also be able to access numbers from the European Telephone Numbering Space (ETNS) and Universal International Freephone Numbers (UIFN). This will facilitate cross-border exchanges between end-users, regardless of the operator they choose. Cross-border access to numbering resources and to the associated service should not be prevented except in objectively justified cases, such as when this is necessary to combat fraud, and abuse e.g. in connection with certain premium-rate services, or when the number is defined as having a national scope only (e.g. national short code). Users should be fully informed in advance in a clear manner of any charges applicable to freephone numbers, such as international call charges for numbers accessible through standard international dialling codes. In order to ensure that end-users have effective access to numbers and services in the Community, the Commission should be able to adopt implementing measures.''

Article 33
Article 33 − Consultation with interested parties

1. Member States shall ensure as far as appropriate that national regulatory authorities take account of the views of end-users, consumers, manufacturers and undertakings that provide electronic communications networks and/or services on issues related to all end-user and consumer rights concerning publicly available electronic communications services, in particular where they have a significant impact on the market.

In particular, Member States shall ensure that national regulatory authorities establish consultation mechanisms ensuring that due consideration is given to, and account taken of, issues relating to end-users, including, in particular, disabled end-users, in their decision-making process.

2. Where appropriate, interested parties may develop, with the guidance of national regulatory authorities, mechanisms, involving consumers, user groups and service providers, to improve the general quality of service provision by, inter alia, developing and monitoring codes of conduct and operating standards.

2a. Without prejudice to national rules in conformity with Community law promoting cultural and media policy objectives, such as cultural and linguistic diversity and media pluralism, national regulatory authorities and other relevant authorities shall as far as appropriate promote cooperation between undertakings providing electronic communications networks and/or services and the sectors interested in the promotion of lawful content in electronic communication networks and services. That co-operation may also include coordination of the public interest information to be made available under Article 21(4a) and Article 20(2).

3. Member States shall submit a yearly report to the Commission and the Authority on the measures taken and the progress towards improving interoperability and use of, and access to, electronic communications services and terminal equipment by disabled end-users.

4. Without prejudice to the application of Directive 1999/5/EC and in particular of disability requirements pursuant to its Article 3(3)(f), and in order to improve accessibility to electronic communications services and equipment by disabled end-users, the Commission may, having consulted the Authority, take the appropriate technical implementing measures to address the issues raised in the report referred to in paragraph 3, following a public consultation. These measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive by supplementing it shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 37(2).

''(25) In order to overcome existing shortcomings in terms of consumer consultation and appropriately address the interests of citizens, Member States should put in place appropriate consultation mechanisms. Such mechanisms could take the form of a body which would, independently from the national regulatory authority as well as from service providers, carry out research on consumer-related issues, such as consumer behaviour and mechanisms for changing suppliers, and which would operate in a transparent manner and contribute to the existing mechanisms for stakeholders" consultation. Furthermore, a mechanism should be established for the purpose of enabling appropriate cooperation on issues relating to the promotion of lawful content. Any cooperation procedures agreed pursuant to such a mechanism should however not allow for systematic surveillance of internet usage. Where there is a need to address the facilitation of the access to and use of electronic communications services and terminal equipment for disabled users, and without prejudice to Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 1999 on radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment and the mutual recognition of their conformity and in particular the disability requirements pursuant to its Article 3(3)(f), the Commission should be able to adopt implementing measures.''

Article 34
Article 34 − Out-of-court dispute resolution

1. Member States shall ensure that independent bodies provide transparent, simple and inexpensive out-of-court procedures for dealing with disputes between consumers and undertakings providing electronic communications networks and/or services relating to the contractual conditions and/or performance of contracts concerning the supply of such networks or services. Such procedures shall enable disputes to be settled fairly and promptly and shall take account of the requirements of Commission Recommendation 98/257/EC of 30 March 1998 on the principles applicable to the bodies responsible for out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes (OJ L 115, 17.4.1998, p. 31.). Member States may, where warranted, adopt a system of reimbursement and/or compensation. Member States may extend these obligations to cover disputes involving other end-users.

Member States shall ensure that the bodies in charge of dealing with such disputes, which can be single points of contact, provide relevant information for statistical purposes to the Commission and the authorities.

2. Member States shall ensure that their legislation does not hamper the establishment of complaints offices and the provision of on-line services at the appropriate territorial level to facilitate access to dispute resolution by consumers and end-users.

3. Where such disputes involve parties in different Member States, Member States shall coordinate their efforts with a view to bringing about a resolution of the dispute.

4. This Article is without prejudice to national court procedures.