Faced with complaints from consumers about payments to mobile operators for content and services which they have not subscribed to, ANACOM has decided to recommend to providers that they only require payment in cases where customers have previously and expressly given their authorisation through a declaration made on a durable medium. ANACOM will also send a proposal to the Government to amend the Electronic Communications Law, in order to ensure that the rights of consumers are enshrined in law.
These are situations in which subscribers to communications services, while browsing the Internet, access WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) pages in which they allegedly inadvertently acquire entertainment content and are then surprised by the billing and collection of such content by their mobile operator (for and on behalf of the providing entity).
Billing and charging for content is undertaken under an agreement concluded between the provider of the mobile Internet access service and content providers. The price of content purchased, which consists of a weekly or monthly sum, is charged in the bill, in the case of post-paid offers; or deducted from the balance, in the case of prepaid offers.
In some cases, complainants become aware of the situation upon receiving an SMS sent by the content providers confirming acquisition of the content; in other cases, they only find out upon checking their bill or the balance.
These situations entail a set of services which are not electronic communications services or value-added services based on SMS or MMS message sending and are not, therefore, covered by prevailing sector legislation. They comprise entertainment services and/or content, including ringtones, games, contests or wallpapers, subscribed to upon accessing Internet pages.
Given the lack of provisions in prevailing sector legislation protecting consumers in this matter, ANACOM has decided to inform Direção Geral do Consumidor (Directorate General for the Consumer), ASAE and Banco de Portugal of these situations and to proceed with the two measures, already mentioned, considering that these will best address the problems being faced by consumers.
Consult:
- Recommendation to companies offering electronic communications networks and services as regards WAP Billing services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1422387
