IT, Media and Telecommunications Newsletter No. 2/2009
On April 23, 2009 the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications of Romania (“ANCOM”) adopted new regulations in the field of interconnection of the mobile phone networks.
ANCOM designated five operators of mobile phone services as operators with significant power on the market of call termination at mobile points and, consequently, imposed specific obligations on them, of which it can be mentioned:
-The obligation of the operators Vodafone Romania (“Vodafone”), Orange Romania (“Orange”), Cosmote Romanian Mobile Telecommunications (“Cosmote”) and Telemobil to publish on their internet page of a refference offer for the interconnection with the public network that they operate for call termination at the mobile points and of a standard agreement of interconnection, within a period of 90 working days as from communication of the decisions. As concerns RCS and RDS this obligation will be effective from January 1, 2010.
– The obligation to comply with the maximum period of 45 working days established for negotiation of the interconnection agreement, as from receipt of a request submitted in this respect. As an exception, if the applicant accepts the conditions provided in the interconnection standard agreement, the maximum period for negotiation is 25 working days as from the date of receipt of the relevant request.
– The obligation to comply with the maximum level of average tariffs for interconnection, established by ANCOM as follows: Orange and Vodafone: 5,03 eurocents/minute; Cosmote and Telemobil: 6,4 eurocents/minute for a period ranging from May 1 to December 31, 2009, 5,67 eurocents/minute for a period ranging from January 1 to June 30, 2010 and 5,03 eurocents/minute after July 1, 2010; RCS&RDS: 7, 21 eurocents/minute for a period ranging from May 1 to December 31, 2009, 6,4 eurocents/minute for a period ranging from January 1 to June 30, 2010 and 5,67 eurocents/minute after July 1, 2010.
By Decision of the President of ANCOM no. 293/2009 on the designation of the universal service supplier in the field of postal services (“Decision 293/2009”) the National Company “Posta Romana” was designated universal service provider in the field of postal services for a period ranging from April 29, 2009 to December 31, 2012. The obligations of the universal service provider are to provide the entire territory of Romania with the following postal services:
– collecting, sorting, transport and delivery of the
posting that weigh maximum 2 kg;
– collecting, sorting, transport and delivery of
postal packages, both national and international,
that weigh maximum 10 kg;
– services of registered posting.
Moreover, Decision no. 293/2009 imposes on the designated supplier obligations regarding presence in all towns/localities on the territory of Romania and a minimum number of deliveries and daily collections of mail.The universal service supplier enjoys the exclusive right of performing postal services which have as object mail deliveries, irrespective of whether delivery is accelerated or not, the weigh of which does not exceed 50g and which have a tarriff lower then 2 RON.
Law no. 105/2009 for ratification of the Additional Protocol of January 28, 2003 to the Convention of the Council of Europe on cyber crime, regarding incrimination of deeds of rasist and xenophobic nature committed through information systems. The Protocol extends the sphere of application of the Convention of the Council of Europe on cyber crime and incriminates offences of rasist and xenophobic propoganda. The Prootocol imposes on the member states (among which there is also Romania) to take the necessary measures in order to incriminate the following deeds:
– distribution of rasist and xenophobic materials by use of information systems;
– threat based on grounds of rasism and xenophobia;
– insult based on grounds of rasism and xenophobia;
– denyal, severe minimization, approval or jutification of genocide or crimes against humanity.
Considering the ratification of the Protocol, the Ministry of Justice published on the web-site http://www.just.ro a Law Project amending and completing Title III “Prevention and fight against cyber crime” of Law no. 161/2003 on several measures for securing transparency in the exercise of public demnities, public functions and in the business environment, prevention and sanction of corruption.
The European Commission launched the Guide on the rights of the online consumers; to this purpose a digital agenda will be launched as well in the near future. eYouGuide answers the requests of the European Parliament launched in 2007 and represents a new online instrument that approaches consumer issues, such as their rights in relation to the broad band Internet service supplier, music downloads and protection of online personal data and on the websites relating to social networking and offers practical advice on “digital rights” of consumers in accordance with the EU legislation. Thus, European consumers have the following rights when browsing the internet:
– to obtain precise information on prices and conditions prior to engaging in any purchases;
– to decide on how to use their personal data;
– to receive the goods bought on-line in 30 days from purchase;
– to benefit by a period of at least 7 working days after making any purchases online, in which time he may reconsider his option;
– to be granted a guarantee of at least 2 years for the purchased products;
– to enjoy protection against dishonest salespersons, against abusive contractual provisions and unfair commercial practices.
All these rights of consumers will be observed on all websites which end with the extension “.eu” . The website “.eu” may be registered only by natural persons or companies having their corporate office in one of the 27 EU member states and must comply with the EU legislation.
– collecting, sorting, transport and delivery of the posting that weigh maximum 2 kg;
– collecting, sorting, transport and delivery of postal packages, both national and international, that weigh maximum 10 kg;
– services of registered posting.
