Consumer Protection

Introduction

The provisions of horizontal consumer protection apply to all Services of General Interest, including the telecommunications sector. The relevant legislation includes the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Directive, the Distance Contracts Directive and Misleading Advertising Directive (*). The Commission also publishes a regular update on inventory of Community acts relating to consumer affairs and consumer health protection, which provides the basic information concerning binding and non-binding measures relating to consumer protection.

Specific provisions in the Universal Service Directive (USD)

Tariff Transparency

Consumers have the right to access up-to-date information on:
. applicable prices and tariffs
- standard terms and conditions in relation of access to and use of publicly available telephone services.

Article 21 of the USD imposes an obligation on Member States to ensure that such information is available. NRAs must encourage the provision of information to end-users, as far this is appropriate, and to consumers so that they are able to make their own evaluation of the cost of usage patterns. One way of achieving that may be through interactive guides.

Contracts

When a consumer subscribe to services providing connection and/or access to the public telephone network, he/she has the right to a contract with the following elements, at least:

The identity and address of supplier
Services provided, the service quality levels offered, as well as the time for the initial connection.
The types of maintenance service offered
Details of the prices and tariffs and how to obtain up-to-date information on all tariffs and maintenance charges
The duration of the contract along with the conditions for renewal or termination of the services and of the contracts itself
Details of applicable compensation or refunds if the quality of service levels specified in the contract are not met, and
The method of initiating procedures for settlement of disputes.

Member States may decide to extend these obligations to cover other end-users.

If undertakings want to amend a contract, it must give a, at least, one month notice. Subscribers must also be given notice of their right to withdraw from their contracts without penalty if they do not accept the new conditions that have been proposed.

Quality of service

After carrying out a consultation and taking into account the views of interested parties, Member States must ensure that NRAs have the power to require undertakings to publish information on the quality of their services for end-users. Such information must be comparable, adequate and up-to-date.

NRAs can achieve that through the specification of:
- the parameters to be measured and
- the content, form and manner of published information.

This information must be provided to the NRA, if requested.

Consultation with interested parties

The opinions of end-users, consumers (especially including disabled users), manufacturers and undertakings that provide electronic communications networks and/or services must be taken into account by NRAs, on issues related to all end-user and consumer rights concerning publicly available electronic communications services. Especial regard must be given when these matters have a significant impact on the market.

Out-of court dispute resolution

The effectiveness of the procedures to protect consumers is an important principle in EC law in general and in the NRF. Recital 47 of the Universal Service Directive states that

"...Effective procedures should be available to deal with disputes between consumers, on the one hand, and undertakings providing publicly available communications services, on the other. Member States should take full account 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".

The Recommendation referred to gives some indication of the effectiveness of out-of-court settlement. It states that the effectiveness of the procedure is ensured through measures guaranteeing that the procedure is free of charge or at moderate cost.

In the USD it is provided that transparent, simple and inexpensive out-of-court procedures must be available for dealing with unresolved consumer disputes. National legislation implementing these provisions must enable disputes to be settled fairly and promptly and must include consumers but also can include other end-users. A system of reimbursement and/or compensation may be set up.

In the same vein, it must be ensured by Member States that their internal legislation does not thwart the establishment of complaints offices and the provision of on-line services to facilitate end-users access to dispute resolution by consumers and end-users.

If the disputes involve parties in different Member States, they must co-ordinate their efforts to resolve the dispute.

Alternative dispute resolution

In addition to the provisions of the new regulatory framework for electronic communications and services, the Commission has also been working actively to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution or "ADR" - especially for settling consumer disputes. With regard to using ADR to settle disputes specifically involving consumers, the Commission has adopted two recommendations, which set out guidelines for ADR bodies to ensure that consumers are adequately protected. These recommendations can be consulted at

http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress/out_of_court/index_en.htm

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* Council Directive 84/450/EEC of 10.9.84 relating to the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning "misleading advertising" (OJ L 250 of 19.9.84, pp. 17-20) and European Parliament and Council Directive 97/55/EC of 6.10.97 amending directive 84/450/EEC concerning "misleading advertising so as to include comparative advertising (OJ L 290 of 23.10.97, pp. 18-23)

Last update: 25/01/2007