Law no. 95/2001, of 20 of August

Published in D.R. number 192 (Series I-A) of 20 August 2001

Assembleia da República (Assembly of the Republic)

Law

(This is not an official translation of the law)

First alteration to Decree-Law no. 177/99, dated May 21, which regulates the regime of access and exercising the activity of audiotext service provider, to Decree-Law no. 474/99, dated November 8, which approves the Regulations for the Exploration of the Fixed Telephone Service, and to Decree-Law no. 175/99, dated May 21, which regulates the advertising of audiotext services.

Under the terms of paragraph c) of article 161 of the Constitution, the Government decrees that the following shall become a general law of the Republic:

Article 1

Articles 10, 13, 14 and 16 of Decree-Law no. 177/99, dated May 21st shall be changed to read as follows:

"Article 10
Limitations in access to services

1 - Support service providers shall block access to audiotext services at no charge to the customer, with these services only being activated, generically or selectively, at the express request of the respective customer.

2 - Audiotext services designated 'televote audiotext services' where access is automatically provided for the user from the moment the contract celebrated between the user and the support service provider comes into effect shall be excluded from that laid down in the previous number.

Article 13
[...]

1 - Whenever use of the access code allocated in the light of the declaration referred to in sub-paragraph a) of paragraph 2 of article 5 is found not to be in accordance with the latter, or if the oral message mentioned in paragraph 2 of article 5 is missing, the ICP may suspend use of the access code allocated to the audiotext service provider for a maximum of 2 years or cancel its registration.

5 - ...

Article 14
[...]

1 - ...

a) ...
b) ...

2 - The offences covered by this statute incur the imposition of a fine of between PTE 500,000 and PTE 5,000,000 or of between PTE 3,000,000 and PTE 10,000,000, depending on whether such offences are committed by self-employed person or a company.

3 - ...

Article 16
[...]

1 - ...

2 - ...

3 - ...

4 - In order for support service providers who celebrated their contracts before the present statute became effective to comply with that laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 10, they must block access to audiotext services at no cost to the customer (with the exception of the televote services) within 90 days of this date, as well as providing customers with the necessary instruments so that they may request generic selective access to these services in their own time."

Article 2

Articles 4 and 17 of Decree Law nº 474/99, dated November 8th shall be changed to read as follows:

"Article 4
[...]

1 - ...

a) ...
b) ...
c) ...
d) Access to audiotext services on FTS support when the subscriber has requested access under the terms of that laid down in article 10 of Decree Law nº 177/99, dated May 21st.

2 - ...

a) ...
b) ...
c) ...
d) ...

Article 17
[...]

1 - ...

2 - ...

a) ...
b) ...
c) ...
d) ...
e) ...
f) ...
g) ...

3 - ...

a) ...
b) ...
c) ...
d) Mention that the subscriber may only have access to audiotext services after requesting such access under the terms of that laid down in article 10 of Decree Law nº 179/99, dated May 21st;
e) ...

4 - ...

5 - ...

6 - ..."

Article 3

Article 3 of Decree Law nº 175/99, dated May 21st, shall be changed to read as follows:

"Article 3
[...]

1 - Violation of the provisions of article 2 of this statute constitutes an offence punishable with a fine of between PTE 500,000 and PTE 2,000,000 or between PTE 1,500,000 and PTE 10,000,000, depending on whether the offence is committed by a self-employed person or a company.

2 - ...

3 - ..."
 
 
Approved on the 28th June 2001.

The Chairman of the Assembly of the Republic, António de Almeida Santos.

Promulgated on the 4th August 2001.

Let it be published.

The President of the Republic, JORGE SAMPAIO.

Countersigned on the 9th August 2001.

The Acting Prime Minister, Jaime José Matos da Gama.