Changes to General Conditions and Universal Service Conditions - Statement

Statement published 23|05|11

Executive Summary

Implementation of the revised EU Framework

1.1 On 24 February, we issued our consultation on the changes we needed to make to certain General Conditions ('GCs') and Universal Service Conditions ('USCs') by 25 May 2011 in order to implement the revised EU Electronic Communications Framework ('the Framework') in the UK.

1.2 Thirty three stakeholders responded to our consultation, which closed on 7 April. Having fully considered their responses, this statement sets out our conclusions and changes to the GCs and USCs.

1.3 We have also taken account of the conclusion of the UK Government's (the Department for Culture, Media and Sport - DCMS) recent statement which set out its own approach to making amendments to the Communications Act 2003 (the 'Act'), the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, in order to implement the Framework . Some of our proposed changes depended upon their alterations to the legal framework - in particular the changes made to the Act via the statutory instrument laid in Parliament on 5 May 2011.

The General Conditions and Universal Service Conditions

1.4 The GCs apply mainly to Communications Providers ('CPs') such as companies providing phone and broadband services as well as the networks supporting them. There are currently 24 GCs and the applicability of particular conditions varies depending on the type of network or service a CP is providing.

1.5 The USCs apply only to BT and to Kingston Communications . They ensure that basic fixed line telecoms services are available at an affordable price to citizens across the UK.

Our consultation

1.6 In our consultation, we noted that the changes we proposed had to be transposed in accordance with the revised EU Directives and that we had limited discretion in terms of how we implemented many of the requirements. In all cases, we set out the amendments we proposed to make and described any likely impacts, where possible.

1.7 We also provided more details in those cases where we considered that changes were likely to be more significant:

• GC9 where we proposed a number of changes in order to implement requirements relating to the provision of additional contract information, the length of contracts and the conditions for termination;
• GC15 where we proposed mandating emergency SMS to help promote equivalent access to emergency services for disabled end-users; and
• GC18 where we proposed implementation of a requirement to port phone numbers within one working day and for CPs to provide compensation for subscribers experiencing a fault or abuse with porting.

Our conclusions

Number portability

1.8 The amended Universal Service Directive ('USD') requires that, where subscribers have concluded an agreement to port a number to a new provider, they shall have their number activated within one working day and that CPs must provide compensation to subscribers in the event of delay or fault with the porting process.

1.9 We have implemented this requirement as proposed in our consultation . For fixed numbers, port activation must take place within one working day from when a subscriber's new provider requests activation from the subscriber's existing provider - which is after the necessary consumer protection measures and any physical line provisioning have been completed. For bulk mobile ports the one working day timetable starts when a subscriber gives their porting authorisation code ('PAC') to their new provider .

1.10 CPs must put in place schemes which give reasonable compensation to subscribers following any porting delay or abuse. CPs are able to design the details of the schemes themselves, however, we have set out guidance on the operation of such schemes and the meaning of an 'abuse' of porting. We intend to review these schemes in 12 months' time.

Mandating emergency SMS to help promote equivalent access to emergency services

1.11 The new Framework also requires access to emergency services via 112 (and in the UK, 999 as the national emergency call number) for disabled people to be "equivalent to that enjoyed by other end-users".

1.12 We have proceeded to implement our proposal to mandate the provision of an emergency SMS service on both 999 and 112, via General Condition 15 to help promote such equivalence for disabled end-users. CPs will be required to offer this service to hearing and speech-impaired people. Although access to emergency SMS is currently provided on a voluntary basis, mandating access to the service helps ensure that the service is maintained and the requirement for equivalence continues to be met.

Changes to Contract terms

1.13 The amended USD requires us to make a number of changes in order to implement its new contract related requirements. We are now implementing the following requirements:

• CPs must provide additional information to consumers for contracts concluded after 25 May 2011 and make this information available to other end-users on request;
• subscribers must be able to withdraw from contracts penalty-free following a notice of materially detrimental contract modifications;
• contract termination conditions and procedures for termination must not act as a disincentive to end-users from switching their providers; and
• users generally must be offered a contract option, for the provision of public electronic communication services , whose duration is no more than 12 months.

1.14 In addition, we are implementing one further provision on contract duration - which is a rule that 'initial commitment periods' cannot exceed 24 months . This rule is applicable to all consumer contracts concluded by CPs (under the scope of GC9) after 25 May 2011 and therefore does not apply to existing consumer contracts.

Other GC and USC changes

1.15 We are also making changes in relation to definitions affecting many GCs and USCs, modifications to GC2(which relates to technical standards), GC3(on maintaining network and service availability), GC4(emergency call numbers), two telephone numbering related GCs (17 and 20) as well as a few minor changes to the USCs.

Implementation date for CPs

1.16 Member States are required to adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions (such as, in the UK, the GCs and USCs) necessary to comply with the changed framework, by 25 May 2011. Such measures must then be applied from 26 May 2011 and so our changes to both the GCs and USCs set out in this document will take effect from this date.

1.17 Our modifications to the GCs and USCs are set out in Annexes 2 and 4 and CPs must therefore ensure compliance with the amended conditions which apply to them, as they come into force on 26 May 2011.