It is announced, under the terms of and for the purposes of paragraph 1 of article 98 of the Código do Procedimento Administrativo (Administrative Proceeding Code), that, within the scope of its assigned responsibility, under point h) of paragraph 1 of article 8, and in the exercise of the regulatory power set out in point a), paragraph 2, article 9, in article 10 and in point b), paragraph 1, article 26, all of ANACOM's Statutes (approved by Decree-Law no. 39/2015 of 16 March), the Board of Directors of Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) decided on 2 June 2017, to commence a regulatory procedure regarding the requirements to be observed by providers of communications services in their procedures for handling complaints from consumers and other end-users; this in pursuit of the regulatory objectives set out in point c) of paragraph 1 and point b) of paragraph 4, both of article 5, and under the provisions of paragraph 2 of article 48-A and paragraph 1 of article 125, all of Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February, in its current version (Lei das Comunicações Eletrónicas - Electronic Communications Law), as well as under the terms of point a) of paragraph 2 of article 8 and of paragraph 2 of article 41, both of Law no. 17/2012 of 26 April in its current version (Lei Postal - Postal Law).
The aim of this regulation is to lay down the rules applicable to the handing, by providers of electronic communications and postal services, of complaints addressed to them by consumers and other end-users, irrespective of the means used for submitting these complaints, in accordance with paragraph 1 of article 48-A of Lei das Comunicações Eletrónicas (Electronic Communications Law) and paragraph 1 of article 41 of the Lei Postal (Postal Law).
Through this regulation, ANACOM is seeking to strengthen the rights of users, in the context of the handling of complaints made to service providers by consumers and other end-users, to ensure harmonised treatment of complaints (irrespective of the means used to submit the complaint) and to ensure increased efficiency in the articulation between the procedures of service providers and the procedures of ANACOM, as well as improvements in the conditions for the exercise of ANACOM's supervisory powers.
Stakeholders may send any contributions which, in their view, should be considered in the preparation of this regulation within a period of 10 working days from the date of this announcement. As such, contributions should be sent to ANACOM no later than 22 June 2017, in writing and in Portuguese, to regulation.reclamacoes@anacom.pt1.
Afterwards, stakeholders will have an opportunity to comment on the draft regulation, which will be submitted to public consultation in accordance with the provisions of article 10 of ANACOM's Statutes and article 101 of Código do Procedimento Administrativo (Administrative Proceeding Code), with publication on ANACOM's website (www.anacom.pthttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=2958) and in 2nd Series of Diário da República (Official Journal).
ANACOM will examine the contributions made by stakeholders and, upon approval of the regulation, will issue a report referencing the contributions received and providing an overall assessment which reflects ANACOM's position and the reasoning which supported the options taken.
1 Each email may contain one or more files as long as the total size of all files does not exceed 10 megabytes and, if necessary, comments may be divided into two or more emails.
Consult:
- Approval of the commencement of a regulatory procedure on requirements to be observed by providers of communications services in their procedures for handling complaints from consumers and other end-users https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1411896
