New consumer rights in electronic communications

ZAGREB, 24 February 2015 – The Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM) adopted amendments to the Ordinance on the manner and conditions for the provision of electronic communications networks and services and to the Ordinance on number portability, which lay down in more detail rights and obligations in relation to the operator and users. The most important amendments concern the obligation of clarity of terms and conditions of contracts and prices of services, the trial period for service in mobile communications network, the minimum validity of the prepaid cards, the unlocking of mobile devices before the termination of the contract and the number portability procedure.
 
Having established that users are insufficiently informed when signing a service request especially outside the business premises of operators, in particular in case of requests submitted through agents, HAKOM introduced additional rules on transparency and clarity of terms and conditions in subscription contracts. The amendments lay down, among other things, that operators will have to put the base price on the request signed by the user as well as all fees payable in a month, so that the user may be aware in advance of the fixed costs of his monthly service. Although terms and conditions and the price list, which make a constituent part of any contract for the provision of electronic communications services, contain all the necessary information about the price of the contracted tariff or package, the information about the price on the request itself will ensure that users cannot claim that they did not receive all information about the price of the service.
 
Operators have also been imposed the obligation to ensure the validity of a prepaid account after the renewal for at least three months following the renewal. Until now, this area was subject to competition, and in many cases the validity of prepaid cards with smaller amounts was too short and often a cause of user dissatisfaction.
 
Furthermore, considering the incompatibility of between the time necessary for number porting (3 days) and time necessary for unlocking of a device (15 days), HAKOM laid down in the amendments that any user bound by a contract may ask his or her own operator to unlock the device. This will prevent situations in which users terminated their contract and are no longer using the network of the operator from which they purchased the device, but the device still has not been unlocked for use in one of the other two operators’ networks.
 
Novelties in terms of users’ rights include the extension of a trial period for use of services in mobile communications network from two to five days, except for internet access services, and it will apply to voice services in those networks. In this manner, users in mobile communications networks are able to terminate their contract without penalty if they decide that the contracted service is not what they expected it to be.
 
The amendments to both ordinance prescribe more clearly rights of users who are switching one operator’s network for another operator’s network and fees in case of delayed number porting, both in mobile and fixed network.
 
The provisions of the amended ordinances will enter into force on 1 May of this year, and the provision on the clarity of price on the subscription request will enter into force six months after the publication of the ordinance, so that operators can have enough time to ensure electronic presentation and printout of total fixed price of the tariff and/or package on the application signed by the user.   
 
The amendments to the ordinances are available at the following link: default.aspx?id=3690

ABOUT HAKOM: HAKOM (www.hakom.hr) - Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries – ensures preconditions for a fair market competition, stable growth and environment for innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market. HAKOM protects users’ interests and the possibility of choice among various communications and postal services at affordable prices, defines sustainable competitive conditions for operators and service providers under fair conditions for return on investment, and provides support to economic growth, public services and the quality of life in the Republic of Croatia by using modern technologies. HAKOM’ strategic goals are: to promote regulation of the electronic communications and postal services market, to support growth of investments and innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market, to provide efficient use of limited resources, to accelerate the growth of broadband products and services, to provide affordable offers of communications and postal services, to provide protection and informing of users, to build an efficient and comprehensive information system, to define and implement efficient processes, and to acquire multi-disciplinary competencies in market regulation.