Advising the Government

In the context of advising the Government, ICP-ANACOM made the following key contributions.

Transposition of Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 amending Directive 97/67/EC with regard to the full accomplishment of the internal market of Community postal services

Following the preparatory work carried out in 2009, ICP-ANACOM engaged in work to transpose Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008. In this context and as a first step, a draft bill was submitted to the Government amending Law no. 88-A/97 of 25 July, which regulates access of private economic initiative to certain economic activities, and in August, a draft bill transposing the Postal Directive was submitted.

Transposition of Directives nos. 2002/19/EC, 2002/20/EC, 2002/21/EC, all of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 March, as amended by Directive no. 2009/140/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November, Directive no. 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March, as amended by Directive no. 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November, and Directive no. 2002/77/EC of the European Commission of 16 September.

In 2010, ICP-ANACOM worked on the transposition of these directives with a view to the submission of draft implementing legislation to Government in early 2011.

Draft Decree-Law amending Decree-Law no. 150/2001 of 7 May

ICP-ANACOM prepared a draft law amending Decree-Law no. 150/2001 of 7 May, establishing the regime governing access to and the exercise of the activity of provider of postal services operated in competition, bringing about the necessary adaptations of this sectorial regime in line with the requirements of Directive 2006/123/EC ("Services Directive") transposed by Decree-Law no. 92/2010 of 26 July.

This draft also set out to bring the sanctioning regime set forth in this legislation into conformity with the framework system of administrative offences within the communications sector, as approved by Law no. 99/2009 of 4 September.

Preparation of draft tender documents for the selection of the provider(s) of the universal service of electronic communications

The draft tender documents were completed and presented to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Works and Communications.

Public tenders for the installation, management, operation and maintenance of high-speed electronic communication networks

In 2010, ICP-ANACOM continued to advise the panel of the five tenders launched for the installation, management, operation and maintenance of high-speed electronic communications networks in rural areas, assisting in their analysis and assessment of the presented proposals until award of the tenders was made in the second half of the year. Also during the year and in the context these tenders, ICP-ANACOM advised the government on issues related to the process of notification of State aid to the European Commission.

In its role of adviser to the Government and in the light of the powers and responsibilities conferred on ICP-ANACOM by law, this Authority conducted analysis of the following documents:

Draft law of the new legal regime governing institutional advertising and the acquisition of advertising space by public bodies;
Draft cinema law;
Draft legislative authorisation law and draft decree law designed to simplify the regime governing access to and the exercise of different economic activities (zero licensing draft legislation);
First amendment to Law no. 27/2007 of 30 July (Television Law), with a view to transposing Directive 2007/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December;
Draft Radio Law;
Draft legislation on the special compulsory purchase scheme for the execution of infrastructure covering beneficiary applicants of co-financing of EU funds and allocated to the development of logistics platforms;
Decree-Law no. 56/2010 of 1 June, on unlocking of equipment used to access electronic communications services;
Draft decree-law approving the creation of a system of monitoring and overseeing public initiative investment projects;
Draft Decree-Law transposing into national law Directive no. 2008/114/EC of the Council of 8 December on the identification and designation of European critical infrastructures (ECI) and the assessment of the need to improve their protection;
Draft Decree-Law establishing the principles and rules required to simplify free access to and exercise of service activities performed in Portuguese territory by providers established in Portugal or in another EU Member State, transposing into the national legal system Directive No. 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market ("Services Directive") (Decree-Law no. 131/2010 of 19 March).

In this context, ICP-ANACOM was also asked to prepare draft amendments to sectorial legislation in line with the regime resulting from the Directive due to be transposed, specifically:

Draft decree-law approving the creation of a system of monitoring and overseeing public initiative investment projects, and the Agência para o Investimento Público e Parcerias (Public Investment and Partnerships Agency), E. P. E., and making a third amendment to Decree-Law no. 86/2003 of 26 April, which is a second new version of the draft Decree-Law that created the Unidade de Acompanhamento das Parcerias e Concessões (Partnerships and Concessions Monitoring Unit) and defined respective intervention in the preparation, launch, award and oversight of public-private partnerships (Decree-Law no. 221/2010 of 21 July);
Draft Decree-Law on the requirements for accreditation, surveillance and marketing of products with CE marking, with a view to ensuring effective application in national law of the provisions of Regulation (EC) no. 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008, setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products (Decree-Law no. 473/2010 of 19 November);
Draft Decree-Law regulating the Código dos Regimes Contributivos do Sistema Previdencial de Segurança Social (Code for Social Security Contributions);
Draft Decree-Law which establishes the authorization of expenditure relating to contracts to be concluded by the State, public institutions, local authorities, public foundations, associations and state companies;
Draft Decree-Law that approves the legal regime governing the licensing of radio transmission equipment on board aircraft;
Draft Resolution of the Council of Ministers - Repeal of RCM no. 23/98, which indicates that the entities in the national territory may benefit from a reduction in radio spectrum fees by directly participating in the prevention, detection, surveillance and combat of fire, as well as providing pre-hospital emergency assistance in the Autonomous Regions;
Draft Order of Minister for the Interior, the Minister for Public Works, Transport and Communications and the Minister for Health setting out the creation of the deployment platform of eCall in Portugal;
Application no. 275/XI presented by the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group (investment in public works, transport and communications focusing on the Algarve);
Draft resolution submitted by the Portuguese Communist Party Parliamentary Group - Resolution No. 48/XI (creating an emergency plan for the District of Castelo Branco, given the serious crisis in this district);
Draft resolution no. 264/XI submitted by the Bloco de Esquerda (Left Bloc) Parliamentary Group (defence of Internet neutrality);
Draft Law no. 418/XI presented by the Portuguese Communist Party Parliamentary Group (establishing the principle of neutrality of electronic communications network);
Draft Law no. 419/XI presented by the Portuguese Communist Party Parliamentary Group (approving the regulatory framework for quality of service in Internet access);
Question no. 1805-XI presented by the Portuguese Communist Party Parliamentary Group (possible violation of the rights of citizen José Fernando Borges de Carvalho and consequences of the installation by PTC of masts on his property);
Question no. 785-XI/2 presented by the Portuguese Communist Party Parliamentary Group (privileged telephone access lines).

As adviser to the Government and in the light of the powers and responsibilities legally conferred upon this authority, ICP-ANACOM also prepared the following documents:

Request for exemption or reduction in GSM-R radio fees presented by REFER - the application was examined upon request of the Office of SEAOPC, and an unfavourable opinion was presented.
Clarification of queries related to operation of telephone call centres - response given to the questions raised by APRITEL, Vodafone and PTC on the impact of the regime approved under Decree-Law no. 134/2009 of 2 June, which establishes the legal regime for the provision of promotion, information and consumer and user support services through telephone call centres), in services provided through the telephone call centres of electronic communications companies.
Clarification of queries concerning the obligations established under Decree-Law no. 123/2009 - clarification was given to queries raised by public entities and companies, both in the area of electronic communications (ONI), and from other sectors - energy, construction (TEGAEL and Teixeira Duarte) as to the applicability of rules governing access to infrastructure as set out in Decree Law no. 123/2009 of 21 May, as amended by Decree-Law No. 258/2009 of 25 September.