Competences for the resolution of inter-operator disputes and telecoms supervision

Inter-operator disputes

Under the Electronic Communications Act (ZEKom-2), the Agency is responsible for resolving disputes between operators regarding technical and commercial issues relating to operator access or interconnection. The Agency shall, by decision, regulate only those interconnection or operator access issues on which no agreement can be reached between the parties and which are not contrary to the ZEKom-2. The provisions of the Act governing the general administrative procedure shall apply to the dispute settlement procedure.

The Agency is obliged to make public decisions relating to inter-operator disputes. They must be published in a manner which respects the prohibition on publication of business secrets of the parties to a particular dispute settlement procedure, so that individual parts of the text are adequately protected.

Control

The Agency supervises the implementation of the provisions of the ZEKom-2, the regulations, general acts and individual measures issued on the basis of the ZEKom-2, as well as the provisions of those EU regulations which are subject to supervision and sanctions at the level of the member States. The supervision tasks are performed by authorised persons of the Agency under the authority of the Minister, in accordance with the requirements of the Act on Inspection Supervision (ZIN) and the Act on Electronic Communications (ZEKom-2).

The Agency is responsible, inter alia, for the supervision of:

• electronic communications networks and services (conditions for the provision of services, correctness of entries in records, correctness of revenue reporting);
• the construction of networks and associated infrastructure (transparency regarding planned construction works, fulfilment of obligations in the case of a declared interest in joint construction, entries of the communication network and associated infrastructure in the register of infrastructure networks and facilities);
• the legal use of the radio spectrum and the radio frequency allocation decisions issued;
• the correct use of numbering space (numbering and compliance with numbering space decisions);
• ensuring the security of networks and services (auditing the security of operators' networks and services);
• ensuring competition (interconnection requirements, operator access, sharing, ensuring obligations imposed by regulatory decision on operators with significant market power);
• implementation of universal service (provision of directory and universal directory enquiry service, affordability, measures for disabled users, cost control, obligation to issue and level of itemisation of bills, quality of universal service, transmission speed);
• ensuring users' rights:
  • requirements for subscription contracts: provision of pre-contractual information, summary of contracts, duration, commitment period;
  • modification of contract terms;
  • Non-operation or degradation of services;
  • switching of Internet access service providers and the procedure for switching Internet access service providers or number portability;
  • number portability;
  • transparency and publication of information;
  • monitoring and control of service consumption;
  • quality of public communications services;
  • emergency communications;
  • measures for disabled users;
  • disaggregated bill;
  • service restrictions or interruptions;
  • right of objection and dispute;
• ensuring communications privacy (confidentiality of communications, collection of subscriber data, collection of traffic data, unsolicited communications, breaches of personal data protection by operators, lawful interception of communications).

The Agency is also responsible for monitoring the implementation of additional conditions for the accessibility of electronic communications services under the Law on Accessibility of Products and Services for Persons with Disabilities (LAPD). When providing access to an electronic communications service, including emergency communications, the provider must ensure that:

• voice communication and the use of non-voice communication, where non-voice communication includes SMS, video and real-time text recording;
• a full conversation service where video is available in addition to voice communication;
• emergency communication using voice and text (including real-time text) is synchronised and, where video is available, is also synchronised in the form of a full conversation service and is forwarded by electronic communications service providers to the most appropriate PSAP.

If the Agency finds irregularities in the course of the monitoring procedure, it shall inform the undertaking of its findings in writing and give it an opportunity to respond within a reasonable time. On receipt of a reply or on expiry of the time limit for reply, the Agency may require the infringement to be brought to an immediate end or brought to an end within a reasonable time, and at the same time take appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure that the irregularities are remedied.

By a decision issued in the course of a monitoring procedure, the Agency may also impose a suspension or discontinuation of the provision of a service or package of services which, if continued, would be likely to cause significant harm to competition until the undertaking has complied with the access obligation on the basis of a market analysis.

The Agency shall, by decision issued in a control procedure, impose on the natural or legal person the measures necessary to remedy the infringement or its consequences, including, in particular, the reimbursement of overcharged amounts or the retroactive regularisation of the contractual relationship. The Agency may also issue a decision establishing the existence of an infringement in cases where the infringement has already ceased.

In the event of failure to comply with the measures within a specified period of time, the Agency may, in the event of serious and repeated infringements, by decision prohibit the undertaking from continuing to provide electronic communications networks or services or suspend or withdraw the right to use radio frequencies or numbering elements.

In the event of an infringement, the Agency may impose an infringement fine on the undertaking for the period of the infringement, even if the infringement may have subsequently been remedied.

The Agency may, where it has evidence of an infringement which constitutes an immediate and serious threat to public policy, public security and public life and health or is likely to cause serious economic or operational difficulties to other providers or users of electronic communications networks or services or other users of the radio spectrum, take urgent interim measures to remedy the situation before a final decision is adopted, without first setting a time limit for the remedying of the infringement or giving an opportunity to be heard on the matter. In this case, the obliged party will only be given the opportunity to comment on the matter and propose a solution after the adoption of the urgent interim measures.

The Agency publishes summaries of the administrative acts issued in the supervisory proceedings on its website.

Infringement proceedings

The Agency is also an infraction authority under the Law on Infractions (ZP-1). The Agency's authorised persons independently conduct infringement proceedings in accordance with the Law on Infringements.
In the context of a summary offence procedure, the Agency's authorised person issues an offence decision or a payment order, but in certain cases provided for in the ZP-1, it may be decided not to issue a decision (or to file a charge). Instead of initiating offence proceedings, the authorised person may issue a warning.

The summary offence procedure may result in different decisions, namely:

• by issuing an offence decision (an offence decision is also considered to be an order for payment, which is issued if the offence is detected in person by an authorised official or by the use of appropriate technical means or devices),
• without an offence decision (the Agency decides not to issue an offence decision or to bring an indictment if the act is not an offence, because the prosecution is time-barred, for other reasons precluding prosecution, if the offence is of minor importance and the particular circumstances, the low degree of responsibility or the personal circumstances of the offender indicate that the procedure would not be expedient).

An application for judicial protection may be lodged against the decision on the offence and the order for payment.