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13 JUIN 2005. - Electronic Communications Act (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
PART I^er. - Definitions and general principles
CHAPTER I^er. - General
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
This Act constitutes the transfer in Belgian law of:
- Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Directive " Framework") (O.C.E. 24 April 2002, L 108/33);
- Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 March 2002 on the authorization of electronic communications networks and services (Directive "Authorization") (O.C.E. 24 April 2002, L 108/21);
- Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to electronic communications networks and associated resources (Directive Access) (J.O.C.E. 24 April 2002, L 108/7);
- Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and user rights in relation to electronic communications networks and services (Directive "Universal Service") (O.C.E. 24 April 2002, L 108/51);
- Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 12 July 2002 on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive "Private Life and Electronic Communications") (O.C.E. 31 July 2002, L 201/37);
- and Commission Directive 2002/77/EC of 16 September 2002 on competition in the markets of electronic communications networks and services (Directive "Currence") (J.O.C.E. 17 September 2002, L 249/21).
Art. 2. For the purposes of this Act, it shall be understood by:
1° "Institute": the Belgian Institute of Postal and Telecommunications Services as referred to in Article 13 of the Act of 17 January 2003 relating to the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors;
2° "Minister": Ministers or Secretary of State who are competent for electronic communications matters as referred to in this Act;
3° "Electronic communications network": transmission systems, active or passive, and, where applicable, switching or routing equipment and other resources that permit the carriage of cable, microwave, optical or other electromagnetic signals, to the extent that they are used for the transmission of signals other than broadcasting and television;
4° "the provision of an electronic communications network": the establishment, operation, monitoring or provision of an electronic communications network;
5° "electronic communications service": the service normally provided against remuneration that consists entirely or principally in the transmission, including commutation and routing operations, of signals on electronic communications networks, with the exception (a) of services consisting of providing content or exercising editorial responsibility on that content, with the exception (b) of the signals of the information society as defined in section 2 of 2003
6° " traffic data": any data processed for the delivery of a communication by an electronic communications network or the billing of such communication;
7° "location data": any data processed in an electronic communications network indicating the geographic location of the terminal equipment of a end user of an electronic communications service accessible to the public;
8° "Traffic data service": a service that requires a particular processing of traffic data beyond what is strictly necessary for the transmission or billing of the communication;
9° "location data service": a service that requires a particular processing of location data beyond what is strictly necessary for the transmission or billing of the communication;
10° "public electronic communications network": an electronic communications network used entirely or primarily to make electronic communications services accessible to the public;
11° "operator": any person who has introduced a notification in accordance with Article 9;
12° "user": a natural or legal person who uses or requests an electronic communications service accessible to the public;
13° End User: a user who does not provide a public network of electronic communications or electronic communications services accessible to the public;
14° "consumer": any natural person who uses or requests an electronic communications service accessible to the public for non-professional purposes;
15° "subscribed": any natural or legal person holding a number assigned by an operator for the provision of electronic communications services and who uses an electronic communications service in accordance with a contract with an operator;
16° "network termination point": physical point by which a end user obtains access to a public electronic communications network; in the case of networks using switching and delivery, the network termination point is determined by a specific network address;
17° "associated resources": resources associated with an electronic communications network and/or an electronic communications service that allow or support the provision of services through that network or service;
18° "access": the provision of network elements, associated resources or electronic communications services to an operator for the provision of electronic communications networks or services by the operator;
19° "interconnection": a particular form of access consisting of the physical and logical connection of public electronic communications networks used by the same operator or a different operator, in order to allow users to communicate with each other, or to access the services provided by another operator;
20° "interface": a network termination point and/or a radio interface, and related technical specifications;
21° "public telephone network": electronic communications network used to provide accessible telephone services to the public; it allows the transmission, between network termination points, of speech, but also other forms of electronic communications services such as faxing and data transmission;
22° "accessible telephone service to the public": service made available to the public to provide and receive national and international calls, and to access emergency services by dialing one or more numbers of the national or international numbering plan; In addition, it may include, where appropriate, one or more of the following services: the provision of assistance by operator/operator, telephone or directory services, the provision of public telephone stations, the provision of a service on special conditions, the provision of special services for persons with disabilities or persons with specific social needs and/or the provision of non-geographical services;
23° "local loop": physical circuit that connects the network termination point to the main divider or any other equivalent installation of the public telephone network in a specified position;
24° "partial local loop": part of a local loop that connects a termination point of an electronic communications network to a concentration point or to another specified termination point between the termination point and the main divider or any other equivalent installation in a public telephone network in a specified position;
25° "Totally unbundled access to the local loop": provision of access to the local loop or partial local loop of an operator, authorizing the use of the entire spectrum available;
26° "access to a binary flow": access consisting of the provision of a digital transmission capacity (bilateral flow) to a user for which the user interface is defined by the access provider;
27° "Shared access to the local loop": provision of access to the local loop or to the partial local loop of an operator, authorizing the use of non-voice frequencies of the spectrum available;
28° "unbundled access to the local loop": the provision of completely unbundled access or shared access to the local loop does not imply any change in ownership of the local loop;
29° "colocation": the provision of a space and technical resources necessary for the accommodation and connection, under reasonable conditions, of the relevant equipment of an operator as part of a reference offer;
30° "leased line": electronic communications service consisting of the provision of a communications system with a transparent transmission capacity between network termination points, excluding switching on request;
31° "radioelectric waves" or "hertzian waves": electromagnetic waves propagating into space without artificial guide, and whose frequency is less than 3000 GHz;
32° "radiation frequencies": radio wave frequencies;
33° Radio spectrum: all radio frequencies;
34° "radiocommunication": any transmission by means of radio waves, information of any kind, in particular sounds, texts, images, conventional signs, digital or analog expressions, remote control signals, signals intended for the identification or determination of the position or movement of objects;
35° "radiocommunication transmitter device": any electromagnetic oscillation generator designed for the radiocommunication program;
36° "radio-receptor device": any generator and receiver of electromagnetic oscillations designed for the issuance and reception of radiocommunications;
37° "radiocommunication receptor apparatus": any electromagnetic oscillation receptor designed for the reception of radiocommunications, with the exception of apparatus intended exclusively for the reception of sound or television broadcasts;
38° "radiocommunication station": the set consisting of a transmitter device, a transmitter-receptor device or a radiocommunication receiver and associated antennas, as well as all the components necessary for the operation of the whole;
39° "detrimental interference": the interference that jeopardizes the operation of a radio-navigation service or other security services or that is severely, repeatedly hinders or interrupts the operation of a radiocommunication service or an electronic communications service used in accordance with applicable regulations;
40° Cryptography: all services implementing the principles, means and methods of data processing in order to hide their semantic content, establish their authenticity, prevent unnoticed change, prevent their repudiation and prevent their unauthorized use;
41° "terminal equipment": a relevant product or component of a product, enabling electronic communications to be connected directly or indirectly to the interfaces of a public electronic communications network;
42° "hertzian equipment": a relevant product or component of a product that allows electronic communications to be carried out by the issuance and/or reception of radio waves using the radio spectrum assigned to earth/space communications, with the exception of devices intended exclusively for the reception of sound and television broadcasts;
43° "equipment": any product that is either a hertzian equipment or a terminal equipment or both;
44° "technical specification": the definition of the characteristics of all electronic communications services provided via the network termination point or radio interface;
45° "numbering space": all the numbers, addresses and names used to identify operators or users;
46° "geographic number": number of the national numbering plan, part of the digital structure contains a geographical meaning used to route calls to the physical location of the network termination point;
47° "non-geographical number": number of the national numbering plan that is not a geographical number; include mobile phone numbers, free call numbers for callers and higher rate numbers;
48° "portability of the numbers": ease allowing subscribers of a service available to the public to keep their number, regardless of the operator, in a geographical area determined in the case of a geographic number and whatever location, in the case of non-geographical numbers; the facility does not maintain the number between a telephone service operator accessible to the public in a specified position and a telephone operator accessible to the public on a mobile electronic communications network;
49° "annuary": book, list or file containing mainly or exclusively data relating to subscribers of a public telephone service and made available to the public for the purpose of allowing exclusively or principally the identification of the call number of end users;
50° "public telephone station": telephone station available to the public;
51° "antenna": a component of an apparatus or radio station intended for radiation and/or radio wave capture;
52° "basic station": a radiocommunication station of a network of electronic communications installed and used in a specified location and intended to ensure the radio coverage of a given geographic area;
53° "support": a structure on which base station antennas can be placed;
54° "antenna site": all constructions, including at least one support, antenna and premises for electrical and electronic equipment, allowing the installation and operation of one or more base stations;
55° "national roaming": the ability of an operator to allow customers to access the basic services offered by another mobile network operator in the same country;
56° "line identification": number, sign or set of signs attributed to a subscriber, a end user, a user or terminal that allows the subscriber to be joined by other subscribers, end users or users of public electronic communications networks or electronic communications services accessible to the public;
57° "calling identification": any data, available directly or indirectly, in the networks and services of an operator, which determines the call number of the terminal, the name of the subscriber and the location where the terminal is located at the time of the call;
58° "emergency service": a public service or public service, recognized by the State in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 107, § 1^er1°;
59° "emergency number": call number of an emergency service established in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 107, § 1^er2° of this Act;
60° "emergency call": call to an emergency number as part of the provision of assistance or assistance;
61° "emergency call management centre": where emergency calls are handled to an emergency service in an activity area; also known as the "Management Centre";
62° "Management Centre Activity Area": geographic area for which the Management Station manages all calls to the emergency service, referred to as "Activity Area" below;
63° "approved reviewer": a company reviewer listed in the table of the Institute of Business Reviewers;
64° "hospitals": health care facilities referred to in section 2 of the Hospitals Act, coordinated on August 7, 1987;
65° "schools": any secondary or higher educational institution belonging to the network of a Community, a province, a municipality or a free subsidized network;
66° "public libraries": any public library recognized by the federal state or by a Community.
Art. 3. The provision of electronic communications networks and services is free, subject to conditions established by or under the law.
Art. 4. § 1^er. When public safety, public health, public order or the defence of the Kingdom require it, the King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, prohibit in whole or in part during the period fixed by him:
1° to provide electronic communications networks or services;
2° to hold or use equipment.
For this purpose, the King may prescribe all the measures that He considers useful, including the sequestration of equipment or their deposit at a specified location.
The measures referred to in this section shall not result in any award of compensation.
§ 2. In the event of an exceptional situation resulting either the out-of-service or a congestion of civilian or military electronic communications that prevent the normal operation of such communications, the King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, take, as a matter of urgency, any measures that He considers necessary, including the total or partial requisition of the transmission capabilities of the operators to affect them for the use of national priority services or calls. If this requisition exceeds a period defined by Himself, the King may define the terms of any damages to be brought for these requisitions.
CHAPTER II. - Institute General Missions in Electronic Communications
Art. 5. As part of the exercise of its skills, the Institute takes all appropriate measures to achieve the objectives set out in sections 6 to 8. These measures are based on the nature of the problems identified, are applied proportionally and justified. They must be proportional to these objectives and respect the principles of objectivity, transparency, non-discrimination and technological neutrality.
Art. 6. In carrying out its tasks under this Act, the Institute promotes competition in the provision of electronic communications networks, electronic communications services and associated resources:
1° ensuring that users withdraw maximum benefit in terms of choice, price and quality;
2° ensuring that competition is not distorted or hindered in the electronic communications sector;
3rd by promoting effective infrastructure investments and supporting innovation;
4° by promoting the effective use and management of radio frequencies and numbering resources.
Art. 7. In carrying out its tasks under this Act, the Institute contributes to the development of an internal market for electronic communications networks and services:
1° by encouraging the provision of electronic communications networks and services at the European level;
2° by encouraging the establishment and development of trans-European networks and the interoperability of pan-European services and end-to-end connectivity;
3° ensuring that there is no discrimination in the treatment of operators providing electronic communications networks and services in similar circumstances;
4° cooperating with other national regulatory authorities and with the European Commission in a transparent manner to ensure the development of consistent regulatory practices at the European level.
Art. 8. In carrying out its duties under this Act, the Institute shall ensure the interests of users:
1° by monitoring compliance with universal service obligations as provided for in this Act;
2° ensuring a high level of consumer protection in their relationships with suppliers;
3° by contributing to a high level of protection of personal data and privacy;
4° by promoting the provision of clear information, including by requiring transparency of rates and conditions of use of electronic communications services accessible to the public;
5° taking into account the needs of specific social groups, including end users with disabilities;
6° ensuring the integrity and security of public electronic communications networks.
PART II
Establishment of electronic communications
CHAPTER I^er. - Networks and services
Art. 9. § 1^er. The provision or resale in its own name and for its own account of electronic communications services or networks shall not commence, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 39, until after notification to the Institute containing the following elements:
1° the name, address, VAT and trade register number of the supplier or a similar identification number validly comprising these data;
2° the contact person with the Institute;
3° a brief and precise description of its service or network;
4° the date the activities should probably begin.
The notification is made by registered mail.
§ 2. Following the notification, the operator in question may provide electronic communications services or networks and may apply for the installation of resources in accordance with sections 25 to 28.
§ 3. Each operator informs the Institute of:
1° any modification to the elements referred to in § 1^er except where an identification number, validly consolidating the data, has been communicated;
2° the planned stop of its activities.
§ 4. Upon receipt of the notification, the Institute shall give the operator a standardized statement confirming that it has made a notification regarding the provision of electronic communications services or networks and that the operator may, if any:
1° to apply for the installation of resources;
2° negotiate access;
3° get access.
Art. 10. Operators who meet obligations to provide public electronic communications services or networks may:
1° to negotiate in the entire European Union access with authorized public service providers or networks of electronic communications;
2° be designated to pretest various components of the universal service in all or part of the territory.
Any operator who receives an access request may not refuse it for the simple reason that the applicant has not yet made a notification in Belgium, when the applicant has already been authorized in another EU Member State to provide electronic communications services or networks. An authorization in another Member State does not, however, exempt the applicant from a notification in accordance with Article 9 when it is intended to provide electronic communications networks or services.
When the applicant of another Member State, who does not provide services and does not operate a network, requests access or interconnection, it must not necessarily have an authorization to carry out activities in Belgium. The applicant must have a point of contact.
CHAPTER II. - Use of numbers and radio frequencies
Section I^re. - Numbers
Art. 11. § 1^er. In accordance with the terms laid down by the King after the Institute's advice, the Institute is responsible for:
1° the management of the national numbering space, as well as the fixation and modification of the national numbering plans;
2° the attribution and withdrawal of the rights to use numbers and the execution of the procedures in question;
3° to publish national numbering plans as well as additions or modifications that concern them unless this publication compromises national security.
§ 2. The Institute ensures that an operator to whom a series of numbers has been assigned does not discriminate against other electronic communications service providers with respect to the sequences of numbers used to provide access to their services.
§ 3. The conditions for obtaining and exercising the rights to use numbers are set by the Minister and may relate only to:
1° the designation of the service for which the number is used and all the requirements for the provision of that service;
2° the efficient and efficient use of assigned numbers;
3° compliance with the portability requirements of the number;
4° the provision of information to subscribers in directory and telephone information services;
5° compliance with the maximum duration subject to changes in the national numbering plan;
6° the payment of user fees in accordance with Article 30;
7° compliance with all commitments made during the selection procedure by the operator who obtained the right of use;
8° compliance with all relevant international agreements relating to the use of numbers.
When the Institute grants user rights for a specified period, their duration is appropriate to the service concerned.
§ 4. The allocation of user fees for numbers does not last more than three weeks from the date of receipt of a full application. The Institute publishes on its website the elements of a complete application.
§ 5. After a public consultation, in accordance with section 139, the Institute may decide to grant user fees for numbers with a particular economic value through comparative or competitive selection procedures. In this case, the Institute may extend the period referred to in § 4.
§ 6. The King fixes, after the Institute's opinion, the terms of portability of the number blocks between operators.
§ 7. Public telephone operators offer their subscribers the ease of portability of numbers.
The King, after the Institute's advice, specifies the terms and conditions of portability of the number, the methodology for determining the costs for the application of this facility and the allocation of these costs among the parties concerned.
Section 2. - Radiofrequency
Sub-section I^re. - Principles applicable to all radio frequencies
Art. 12. Sections 18 to 24 are not applicable to broadcasting-specific radio frequencies, including television.
Art. 13. The Institute is responsible for:
1° of radio frequency spectrum management;
2° of the review of applications for the use of radio frequency spectrum with the exception of applications for audio and television broadcasting;
3° of the coordination of radio frequencies at both national and international levels;
4° control of the use of radio frequencies.
For the assignment and coordination of radio frequencies, the Institute takes into account, inter alia, the relevant international, regional or particular agreements and the European provisions concerning the harmonization of radio frequencies.
Art. 14. The King shall determine, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute and after consultation with the Communities, the technical requirements concerning the use of radio frequencies provided that they are not intended solely for broadcasting signals. The Institute guarantees respect for these.
The King shall determine, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after notice of the Institute and after consultation with the Communities, the technical requirements for the allocation of radio frequencies intended exclusively for broadcasting signals, which shall remain common to all broadcasting, regardless of their destination. The Institute guarantees respect for these.
Art. 15. The Institute examines detrimental interference on its own initiative or following a complaint and imposes appropriate measures to stop them. When equipment or installations are causing harmful interference, the costs to remove and prevent them are borne by the user responsible for the equipment or facilities in question.
Art. 16. The King determines, after the advice of the Institute and the Communities, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, the general police orders for radio waves.
Art. 17. The coordination of radio frequencies in broadcasting is the subject of a cooperation agreement with the Communities pursuant to section 92 bis of the special law of 8 August 1980 of institutional reforms.
Sub-section 2. - The rules applicable to frequencies used entirely or partially for services to the public
Art. 18. § 1^er. The conditions for obtaining and exercising the rights to use radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public are set by the King, by an order made after the Institute's opinion and after deliberation in the Council of Ministers, and may only include:
1° the service, network or technology concerned, for which the rights to use radio frequency are granted, including, where applicable, the exclusive use of a radio frequency for the transmission of specific content or services;
2° the effective and efficient use of radio frequencies in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory provisions;
3° the technical and operational conditions necessary to avoid harmful interference and to limit public exposure to electromagnetic fields;
4° the maximum duration subject to changes in the national frequency plan;
5° the transfer of rights to the initiative of the rights holder, and the conditions applicable to the transfer;
6° royalties of use in accordance with Article 30;
7° the commitments made by the operator having obtained the right of use in radio frequencies during the selection procedure;
8° the obligations resulting from relevant international agreements relating to the use of radio frequencies.
§ 2. When the Institute grants radio frequency rights for a specified period of time, their duration is appropriate to the service concerned.
§ 3. Where a frequency, which has been the subject of a right of use, is not put into service within a reasonable period of time, the Institute may withdraw the right of use after hearing the person concerned.
§ 4. If it appears from the Institute's view that the danger of harmful interference is negligible and is consistent with the requirements of effective and efficient management of the radio frequency spectrum, the King may decide not to impose certain of the provisions set out in § 1^er.
Art. 19. When an operator wishes to transfer its rights of use for radio frequencies that are used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public, the operator shall inform the Institute. The Institute marks its agreement on frequency transfer provided:
1° that it is not at the origin of unfair competition, and
2° that it complies with the requirements of effective and efficient radio frequency spectrum management.
The transfer of a frequency whose use is harmonized does not result in any change in the use of this frequency.
The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, establish by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, the terms under which the assignment of radio frequency rights used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public may take place.
Art. 20. § 1^er. The Institute does not limit the number of rights of use to be granted for radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public, except for:
1° avoiding harmful interference when these are the result of a lack of space available in the spectrum, provided that the restriction is proportionate;
2° ensure effective and efficient use of radio frequencies.
The King, after the Institute's advice, sets out the procedure to limit the number of user rights to be granted for radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public.
§ 2. During the course of the procedure to limit the number of rights of use for radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public, the Institute ensures that:
1° all interested parties, including users and consumers, may express themselves on the proposed restriction in a public consultation, in accordance with section 139;
2° the motivation of each decision to limit the granting of user rights is communicated;
3° once the selection procedure is set, interested parties are invited to apply for user rights;
4° the limitation shall be reviewed with reasonable regularity or following a reasonable request from the operators concerned.
Art. 21. § 1^er Where the allocation of the number of radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public must be limited, the Institute grants these rights on the basis of objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate selection criteria.
§ 2. Without prejudice to Article 18, § 1^er, the procedure for assigning the rights of use of radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public and assigned for specific purposes under the national frequency plan shall not last more than six weeks from receipt of the full application.
The time limit referred to in the previous paragraph may be extended by the Institute, in accordance with existing international agreements, if necessary in the context of international frequency coordination. The Institute immediately informs the applicant.
§ 3. Where comparative or competitive selection procedures are applied for the allocation of the rights of use of radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public, the period referred to in § 2 may be extended by the Institute for a maximum of eight months. The procedure referred to in Article 20, § 2, is applied to comparative or competitive selection procedures.
Art. 22. If an operator requests to obtain a right of use for a part of the spectrum of radio frequencies for which no allocation procedure is provided, the Institute shall determine within six weeks of receiving a full application, the provisional conditions under which the applicant may commence its activities or reject such a request by reason of its refusal.
The time limit referred to in the previous paragraph may be extended by the Institute, in accordance with existing international agreements, if necessary in the context of international frequency coordination. The Institute immediately informs the applicant.
If the Institute has authorized, on the basis of provisional conditions, the use of a specified radio frequency used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public, the Royal Decree referred to in Article 18, § 1^er, is adapted unless the King considers, after the Institute's opinion, that the right of use in question must be subject to other conditions. The conditions of the provisional right of use are, if any, amended to be made in accordance with the provisions of the above-mentioned order.
Art. 23. When the Institute decides that additional rights of use of radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public may be granted, it shall make this decision public and appeal for applications for the granting of these rights in accordance with the terms fixed by the King by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute.
Art. 24. When the use of radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public has been harmonized, access conditions and procedures have been set and operators to whom radio frequencies will be issued have been selected in accordance with international agreements and community requirements, the Institute grants the right to use radio frequencies used entirely or partially for electronic communications services offered to the public in accordance with these provisions.
Where all conditions relating to the right of use of the radio frequencies concerned are met in the case of a common selection procedure, there are no additional conditions, criteria or procedures that may restrict, modify or delay the proper implementation of the common procedure for the attribution of the radio frequencies.
CHAPTER III. - Shared use of sites
Section I^re. - Shared use of antenna sites
Art. 25. § 1^er. The operator makes every effort to install, to the extent possible, its antennas on pre-existing supports, such as building roofs, towers, facades, without limiting this list.
§ 2. An operator who has ownership support, reasonably and non-discriminatoryly authorizes the shared use of the antenna site.
§ 3. If the support of an antenna site is the ownership of an operator, the operator authorizes another operator to install its antenna on the medium in question. If the adjoining premises are the property of an operator and allow the installation of the equipment of the different operators in separate premises, it authorizes the operator who requests it to use them also to install its base station.
§ 4. The fee for the shared use of a site includes the overall cost, i.e. the direct costs of acquiring the land as well as the actual costs of construction and maintenance, increased by a percentage equal to the average weighted cost of the operator granting the shared use of the site. This fee is previously approved by the Institute.
The fee is distributed among all operators proportionally to their actual use or to their booking of the antenna site.
If the shared use of the site requires strengthening work, the costs associated with this work are borne by the original operators.
§ 5. Any agreement with respect to the shared use of a site must be reasonable, proportionate and non-discriminatory.
§ 6. The provisions of §§ 1^er 5 are extended to antenna sites whose support is the property:
1° of a person who manages the antenna site for the benefit of an operator;
2° of a person on whom the operator can directly or indirectly exert a dominant influence;
3° of a person who can exert a dominant influence on the operator;
4° of a person who, like the operator, is subject to the dominant influence of one third.
The dominant influence is presumed when a person, directly or indirectly:
1° holds the majority of the share capital of the corporation;
2° has the majority of the votes attached to the shares issued by the legal person, or
3° may designate more than half of the members of the body of administration, direction or supervision of the legal person.
§ 7. In the event that an antenna site is the property of a third party, operators operating this site or using it in a shared manner, do not object in any way to the conclusion of an agreement between the owner and an operator, allowing the owner to use the site in question in a shared manner.
Art. 26. § 1^er. At least a month before introducing to the competent authorities a request for a urban planning permit for a specific antenna site or for a part of a site, each operator is required to notify the other operators of their intention.
They have a period of one month to ask the first operator for the shared use of the site.
Where applicable, the first operator authorizes the shared use of the site in a reasonable and non-discriminatory manner. The application for urban planning permits in question is adapted if necessary for shared use and introduced by the operators who will use the site.
§ 2. After a reasoned request from an operator, the Institute may grant an exemption to the deadlines mentioned in § 1^er.
Art. 27. § 1^er. A database of antenna sites is created, containing any relevant information to facilitate the assessment of sites for the shared use of them.
§ 2. The collaboration of operators in the development and use of the antenna sites database is mandatory.
§ 3. The King, after the Institute's advice, regulates the database of antenna sites.
§ 4. The costs associated with the database of the antenna sites are borne by all the operators concerned on the basis of an agreement negotiated between them.
If this agreement is not adapted within three months of the application by a new operator, the costs associated with the antenna database and the distribution by operator are determined by the Institute.
§ 5. The Institute ensures that the antenna site database is managed in the general interest. To this end, the Institute has access to the database.
The Institute may impose the measures it considers necessary for the preservation of the general interest and to promote a rapid system for the exchange of information on sites and their shared use.
Section 2. - Shared use of other sites
Art. 28. The King determines, after the Institute's opinion, the rules that are applicable to the shared use of other sites than those mentioned in section 1. The Institute precedes its opinion of a public consultation.
CHAPTER IV. - Administrative claims
Art. 29. § 1^er. Administrative fees imposed on operators, without prejudice to the provisions mentioned in sections 43, 45, 46 and 47, are used to cover costs related to:
1° to the establishment, management, control and enforcement of legislation and rights of use;
2° to the Institute's specific access and universal service missions;
3° to international cooperation, harmonization and standardization, market analysis, conformity control and other market controls;
4° to advice and application of secondary legislation as well as to administrative decision-making.
The Institute recovers administrative fees.
§ 2. The King, following the advice of the Institute, sets the amount and terms of administrative royalty for an objective, transparent and proportional distribution.
Art. 30. § 1^er. The user rights referred to in sections 11 and 18 may be subject to royalties in order to ensure the optimal use of these means. Royalties are recovered by the Institute.
§ 2. The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, determine the amount and terms for royalties referred to in § 1^er.
Art. 31. The Institute publishes and updates on its website all relevant information concerning rights, conditions, procedures, royalties and decisions relating to notifications and rights of use.
CHAPTER V. - Equipment
Art. 32. § 1^er. Equipment can only be held or marketed if they meet the basic conditions.
The basic conditions are as follows:
1° the equipment does not represent any risk to the health and safety of the user and any other person and meets the objectives of the safety guarantees regulations to be introduced by the electrical equipment intended to be used within certain voltage limits, but without application of the voltage limit;
2° equipment meets the purpose of the protection regulations with regard to electromagnetic compatibility;
3° equipment is constructed so that they effectively use the spectrum allocated to terrestrial or spatial radiocommunications as well as orbital resources to avoid harmful interference.
§ 2. The King may, after the Institute's opinion, impose additional basic requirements for certain equipment that may relate to:
1° interaction through networks with other equipment and the possibility of connecting to interfaces of the same type;
2° the prevention of possible damage to the network, the abuse of the network's means and the actions resulting in an unacceptable deterioration of the service;
3° the protection of personal data and the privacy of users and subscribers;
4° the fight against fraud;
5° access to emergency services;
6° easier use for disabled users.
§ 3. Without prejudice to the provisions of §§ 1^er and 2, equipment can only be held and marketed if they meet the following conditions:
1° the equipment is subject to an adequate procedure to assess the conformity of the equipment to the applicable basic requirements referred to in §§ 1^er and 2;
2° the equipment is equipped with a CE mark of conformity and other applicable marks;
3° the necessary information regarding the conditions for the commissioning and operation of the equipment is attached to the equipment.
The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, establish the terms of the above-mentioned conditions.
§ 4. Hertzian equipment using frequency bands whose use is not harmonized in the European Union is notified to the Institute prior to their market launch.
The King, after the Institute's opinion, sets out the terms.
Art. 33. § 1^er. It is prohibited to hold, market or use the following equipment:
1° equipment whose use is inconsistent with one or more of the following:
(a) Articles 41 and 124;
(b) articles 259 bis and 314 bis of the Criminal Code;
(c) Article 1^er, § 6, of the Law of 21 June 1985 on the technical conditions to which any vehicle on the ground, its elements and the safety accessories must be met;
2° of hertzian equipment, including types of hertzian equipment, which cause harmful interference.
If the Institute may reasonably consider that some hertzian equipment may cause harmful interference on existing or planned services, it shall take all necessary measures to avoid such harmful interference, including a prohibition or withdrawal of the relevant hertzian equipment from the market.
§ 2. The provision of § 1^er, 2° does not apply when:
1° it is a radiocommunication transmitter exclusively controlled, installed and used to prevent radiocommunications in penal institutions. Such a transmitter device can only be used when public order or the fight against crime requires it, and
2° it is a radio communi-cations transmitter authorized in accordance with Article 39, § 1^er;
3° the commissioning of the transmitter device referred to in 1° has been notified at least 90 days before to the operators whose service delivery will be prevented, and
4° the precise date of commissioning of the transmitter device referred to in 1° has been notified before the Institute, and
5° during the commissioning, the Institute examined whether the issuer in question can cause harmful interference outside the prison. In this case, the commissioning is immediately stopped.
Operators' rights to use frequencies are limited in the event of the use of transmitter devices meeting the conditions set out in this paragraph.
After commissioning in accordance with Part 5, the Institute regularly examines, on its own initiative or not, and in an advertised or unannounced manner, whether the transmitter in question results in harmful interference outside the prison. If this is the case, he has immediate access to the prison facility in question and the transmitter is arrested under his supervision. The handover shall be carried out under the provisions of § 2, 1°, 2°, 4° and 5° of this article.
Art. 34. Section 40 is not applicable to:
1° equipment used exclusively by public authorities for activities related to the defence, public security and security of the State;
2° Hertzian equipment used by radio amateurs if these are:
(a) conforming to the equipment referred to in Article 1^er, definition 1.56 of the International Telecommunication Union Radio Regulations;
(b) are not available in trade, in that they can be assembled by radio amateurs from spare parts kits or equipment available in the trade and processed by radio amateurs for their own use;
3° equipment designated by the King which are used exclusively for the arming of ships;
4° products, materials and elements within the meaning of Article 2 of the Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 of the Council of 16 December 1991 concerning the harmonization of technical rules and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation;
5° equipment and systems for the management of air traffic designated by the King;
6° equipment exposed to similar scholarships and exhibitions provided that it is clearly indicated that these equipment cannot be marketed or used;
7° equipment intended exclusively for export, provided that they are subject to prior authorization from the Institute.
Art. 35. The user of the equipment uses them in accordance with the information contained in article 32, § 3, 3°.
Art. 36. § 1^er. Equipment that meet legal requirements can be connected to the appropriate interfaces.
A public electronic communications network operator may not refuse such a connection for technical reasons.
§ 2. The use and marketing of equipment that meets the legal requirements, but which in spite of any damage to the network or impairs its operation or causes a harmful interference, may be limited or prohibited in accordance with the terms fixed by the King after the advice of the Institute.
Art. 37. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 32 the commercialization and use of equipment is permitted if the equipment:
1° satisfies the provisions of the Royal Decree of 10 November 1996 relating to the accreditation of telecommunications terminal equipment, as amended by the Royal Decree of 20 September 1998, or the provisions of the Ministerial Order of 19 October 1979 concerning private radiocommunications as amended by the Royal Decree of 10 November 1996 and by the Ministerial Orders of 24 December 1982, 19 December 1986, 7 July 1989, 22 June 1992, 27 November 1992 and 19 October 1999,
2° were marketed before 8 April 2001, and
3° conform to the original type approved.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph do not apply to the terminal equipment referred to in Article 3, § 4, 2°, of the Royal Decree of 10 November 1996 relating to the accreditation of telecommunications terminal equipment.
Art. 38. Service operators offered on public electronic communications networks publish the exact and appropriate technical specifications of their interfaces before the services provided via these interfaces are available to the public. The specifications are communicated on request to any interested person and are sufficiently detailed to be able to design terminal equipment that meets the relevant conditions of section 32, §§ 1^er and 2, which allow all services that can be provided via the interfaces in question.
Public electronic communications service operators regularly update these specifications so that they remain current. Before the publication, they hand over a copy to the Institute.
CHAPTER VI. - Provisions concerning the use of hertzian equipment
Art. 39. § 1^er. No one may, in the Kingdom or on board a ship, ship, aircraft or other support subject to Belgian law, hold a radiocommunication transmitter and/or receiver, or establish and operate a non-public radiocommunication station or network without having obtained the written authorization of the Institute. This authorization is personal and revocable.
§ 2. The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, establish the general rules for the granting, suspension and revocation of the authorizations referred to in § 1^er. It may determine cases where such authorizations are not required.
§ 3. The Institute sets out the obligations of licensees and the conditions to be met by licensed radio stations and networks.
§ 4. Authorizations referred to in § 1^er are not required for radiocommunication stations established and used for military or public safety purposes by the services of the Minister of National Defence, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Allied Forces.
Art. 40. The Institute is competent for the prohibition of technical requirements concerning the use of hertzian equipment.
Art. 41. With the exception of judicial police officers referred to in Article 24 of the Act of 17 January 2003 relating to the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors with respect to Point 2°, no one may, in the Kingdom or on board a ship, aircraft or any other support subject to Belgian law:
1° emit or attempt to emit alarm, emergency or distress signals or false or misleading distress calls;
2° capture or attempt to capture radiocommunications other than those referred to in Article 314bis of the Criminal Code and not intended for it. If such communications are involuntaryly received, they may not be reproduced, communicated to third parties, or used for any purpose, and their very existence may not be disclosed except in cases imposed or authorized by law.
Art. 42. § 1^er. It is prohibited to sell, give for rent, lend or give a private radiocommunication transmitter and/or receiver to anyone who has not obtained the permission to hold such a device, provided for in Article 39, § 1^er. The Institute can lift this ban for devices intended exclusively for export.
§ 2. Manufacturers, sellers or leasing of private radiocommunication transmitters or transmitter-receptor devices and any person who, even occasionally, sells, leases, lends or gives a device or set of spare parts for the construction of such a device, must make a statement to the Institute.
§ 3. The statement includes:
1° the nature and date of the operation;
2° the name and name or social reason and address of the purchaser;
3° the authorisation number.
§ 4. The registrant must ensure the accuracy of this information. For this purpose, it may require the presentation of the identity card of the purchaser or any other evidence.
§ 5. The installer shall ensure that the equipment is installed in accordance with the conditions of authorization. If the installation is not carried out in a manner consistent, the Institute can charge the costs of the correct control and installation to the installer.
§ 6. The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, determine the terms and conditions of application of this Article and determine the appropriate control measures.
§ 7. This section is not applicable to radio equipment that has been ordered for military or public security purposes by the services of the Minister of National Defence, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Allied Forces.
Art. 43. The King shall, after the Institute's notice, establish the amount and method of payment of royalties due to the Institute by the licensees, to cover the expenses resulting from the monitoring of their obligations and the conditions imposed on their radio stations and networks, as well as for the provision of one or more frequencies and the right to use them.
The King shall determine, after notice by the Institute, the conditions under which the licensee of an authorization is compensated for its costs when a technical amendment of its transmitters or radiocommunication receivers is imposed on him for public interest reasons.
Art. 44. § 1^er. Where public security or the defence of the Kingdom require it, the King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, prohibit in whole or in part and during the time it determines, the detention or use of radiocommunication transmitters or receivers.
It may prescribe any measures that may be useful for this purpose, including sequestration or deposition of aircraft in a specified place.
§ 2. These measures do not result in any compensation.
CHAPTER VII. - Yearbooks, information services and use of communications systems made available to the public
Art. 45. § 1^er. Persons wishing to make, sell or distribute a directory are required to make a statement to the Institute.
The King, after the Institute's advice, determines the conditions under which the directories, the contents and the form of the aforementioned declaration are made, sold or distributed.
§ 2. Those who offer public telephone services to subscribers make the necessary subscriber data available to persons who made a declaration in accordance with § 1^erin fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory technical, financial and commercial conditions.
§ 3. Without cost to subscribers, those who offer public telephone services to subscribers isolate data relating to subscribers who have asked not to appear in a directory so that subscribers can receive the directory without their data.
§ 4. Persons who made a declaration in accordance with § 1^er may only use the data provided under § 2 for the provision of a directory.
§ 5. People who provide telephone directories and public telephone services respect the principle of non-discrimination in the processing of information provided to them by other companies.
Art. 46. § 1^er. Persons wishing to provide an information service are required to make a statement to the Institute.
The King, after the Institute's notice, determines the conditions under which the intelligence service is provided, as well as the content and form of the above-mentioned declaration.
§ 2. Persons who offer public telephone services to subscribers make available to persons who have made a declaration in accordance with § 1^erdata relating to such subscribers under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory technical, financial and commercial conditions.
§ 3. Without cost to subscribers, those who offer public telephone services to subscribers omit data relating to subscribers who have asked not to appear in an information service.
§ 4. Persons who made a declaration in accordance with § 1^er may only use the data provided under § 2 for the provision of an information service.
Art. 47. The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, establish the categories of persons to which the operators entrusted the marketing of their services, which are required to make a declaration in accordance with Article 9, as well as the terms and conditions of that declaration and the royalties due to cover the costs of the Institute in this regard.
The King also sets out the conditions under which these persons can market the services in question.
CHAPTER VIII. - Cryptography
Art. 48. The use of cryptography is free.
The provision to the public of cryptographic services that the King determines, after the Institute's opinion, is subject to a prior declaration to the Institute.
The King, after the Institute's opinion, stops the content and form of this statement.
CHAPTER IX Other electronic communications activities
Art. 49. § 1^er. The King sets out, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute, the conditions that are applied to the offer of other electronic communications activities.
§ 2. The draft decree referred to in § 1^er is subject to the opinion of the Legislative Section of the Council of State. This notice is published at the same time as the report to the King and the royal decree relating thereto.
§ 3. The Royal Decree taken in execution of § 1^er of this article is repealed when it has not been confirmed by law within fifteen months of its publication in the Belgian Monitor.
PART III Provisions to ensure fair competition
CHAPTER I^er. - General provisions
Art. 50. Any information provided from an operator to another operator in the process of negotiating an access agreement is confidential, without prejudice to the right of any interested person to disclose this confidential information to the Institute or any other administrative or judicial proceeding. It is treated exclusively for the purposes of the conclusion of the agreement.
Art. 51. § 1. If the parties fail to agree during the access negotiations, the Institute may intervene, either on its own initiative or at the request of one of the parties, after hearing them, to ensure that the fundamental objectives set out in sections 6 to 8.
§ 2. Without prejudice to the measures provided for in Article 55, § 3, the Institute may impose on operators who control the access to end-users the obligations necessary to guarantee end-to-end connectivity.
To this end, the Institute may impose the obligations it considers necessary with respect to access to provide, which in the cases also warrants the obligation to ensure the interconnection of their networks where it is not yet implemented.
Art. 52. Any operator providing a public electronic communications network has a duty to negotiate in good faith, with any operator who makes the request, an interconnection agreement for the provision of electronic communications services accessible to the public.
When the Institute, in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 51, § 1^er imposes interconnection obligations, it may determine conditions for access to be conferred, which it considers appropriate.
Art. 53. The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, establish the elements that must at least be settled in an interconnection agreement.
Any interconnection agreement is communicated to the Institute in its entirety.
CHAPTER II. - Procedure for analysis of relevant markets and determination of operators with significant power in these markets
Art. 54. After each publication by the European Commission of its "Recommendation on Relevant Markets of Products and Services in the Electronic Communications Sector", also known as the "Recommendation", and at regular intervals, the Institute determines the relevant markets for electronic communications networks and services, as well as their respective geographical scope.
Art. 55. § 1^er. In accordance with § 4, the Institute shall conduct at least as soon as possible after the adoption of the Recommendation or a revision thereof, an analysis of these relevant markets in order to determine whether they are actually competitive. The exchange of information necessary for this analysis is done in accordance with Article 137, § 2.
§ 2. If the Institute in accordance with § 4 concludes that a relevant market is actually competitive, it does not impose or maintain any of the obligations referred to in Articles 58 to 65.
When the Institute decides not to maintain an obligation under paragraph 1^erthe Committee shall inform the parties concerned within one month of its decision.
§ 3. If the Institute concludes that a relevant market is not effectively competitive, it identifies in accordance with § 4 any operator with significant power in this market and imposes on it those obligations under Articles 58 to 65 that it considers appropriate.
An operator is considered to have significant power in a relevant market if, individually or jointly with others, it is in a position equivalent to a dominant position, that is, it is able to behave, to a significant extent, independently of its competitors, customers or consumers.
When an operator is considered to have significant power in a relevant market, it can also be considered to have significant power in a closely linked market, where the links between the two markets are such that they allow the operator to use on one of the two markets, by leverage, the power held on the other market.
In this case, the Institute imposes on the market that or those of the obligations referred to in articles 58 to 65 that it considers appropriate.
For each relevant market, the Institute publishes to the Belgian Monitor and on its website the list of operators with significant power and, where applicable, operators with significant power on a closely linked market, as well as the list of obligations imposed on each of these operators.
§ 4. The Institute submits its decisions referring to this paragraph to prior consultation with the Conseil de la concurrence. The Conseil de la concurrence issues its opinion within 30 calendar days of the submission of the draft decision by the Institute. After this period, the silence of the Conseil de la concurrence is equivalent to approval of the above-mentioned draft decision.
§ 5. The Institute sends its decisions forwarding to this paragraph in advance to the Conseil de la concurrence, which within 30 calendar days issue a binding opinion on whether the Institute's decisions are consistent with the objectives of competition law. After this period, the silence of the Conseil de la concurrence is equivalent to an approval of the above-mentioned decision.
Art. 56. § 1^er. Without prejudice to the need:
1° to comply with international commitments;
2° ensure compliance with co-location and resource sharing provisions;
3° to ensure compliance with provisions regarding access to non-geographical numbers, portability of numbers and European access codes, the processing of calls for the European telephone space;
4° to ensure compliance with the provisions of Article 66;
5° to ensure end-to-end connectivity;
6° to enforce commitments made by operators who have obtained the right to use radio frequencies during a comparative or competitive selection procedure;
7° to enforce the provisions relating to the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy, as set out in Part IV, the Institute does not impose any of the obligations set out in sections 58 to 62 on operators who have not been designated as having significant power in a relevant market.
§ 2. If exceptional circumstances warrant this, the King may, after the Institute's opinion, impose on operators who have significant power on a relevant market access obligations other than those set out in sections 58 to 62.
In this case, the authorization of the European Commission is required.
CHAPTER III. - Provisions applicable to operators with significant power in a relevant market
Art. 57. In order to ensure compliance with the obligations imposed under Article 55, § 3, the Institute may impose the amendment of the access agreements already entered into.
Art. 58. With regard to access, the Institute may, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 4, impose non-discrimination obligations.
Art. 59. § 1^er. The Institute may, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 4, define the transparency obligations regarding access, under which operators must make public certain information, defined by the Institute.
The Institute specifies the information to be provided, the level of detail required and the terms of publication.
§ 2. When an operator is subject to non-discrimination obligations, the Institute may require the operator to issue a reference offer, which is sufficiently detailed to ensure that operators are not required to pay for resources that are not necessary for the requested service. It includes a description of the relevant offers distributed in various elements as required by the market, along with the corresponding terms and conditions, including rates.
§ 3. Notwithstanding § 1^erwhere an operator is subject to one of the obligations under Article 61, § 1^er, s. 2, 1°, the Institute may impose on it the obligation to publish a reference offer as described in § 2, concerning interconnection, unbundled access or shared access to the local loop or sub-coal, access to a binary rate, or other form of access, depending on the type of access that must be authorized by the operator concerned.
If the Institute imposes the obligation to publish a reference offer as described in § 2, concerning the total unbundled access or shared access to the local loop or local sub-coal, this reference offer must at least contain the elements fixed by the King, after the Institute's opinion.
§ 4. The Institute may require that the reference offer be subject to the amendments it considers necessary to impose the measures provided for in this Act.
§ 5. Any reference offer is, prior to its publication, approved by the Institute, and is available free of charge, in electronic form, on a freely accessible website.
The issuance of a reference offer does not impede reasonable access requests not provided for in this offer.
§ 6. If the Institute has not imposed obligations on an operator, as provided for in §§ 1, 2 and/or 3 of this article, it may impose on the operator who has a significant power on a relevant market to submit to its prior approval the reference rates for access that it operates on the said market.
For this purpose, the operator concerned shall communicate to the Institute any proposed tariffs, as referred to in paragraph 1^eras well as all relevant elements to assess compliance with the applicable legal and regulatory provisions.
The Institute's decision is notified to the operator concerned within twenty working days after the receipt of the proposed tariffs and all the elements that the Institute considers useful. After this period, the Institute's silence is approved by this project.
Art. 60. § 1^er. The Institute may, in accordance with the terms laid down by the King, and in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 4, impose obligations of accounting separation in respect of any activity in the field of access for which the operator has a significant power in the market.
The King specifies, after the Institute's opinion, the accounting model and methodology to be used by the Institute.
The Institute may, among other things, require a vertically integrated operator to make its wholesale prices and its transparent internal transfer prices, among other things, to ensure compliance with the non-discrimination obligation provided for in article 58, or, if necessary, to prevent cross-subsidization.
A registered company reviewer designated by the operator shall, at the operator's expense, verify compliance with the decision referred to in the preceding paragraph. The Institute publishes an annual statement on system compliance based on the findings of the corporate reviewer's report.
§ 2. Where the Institute deems it necessary, it may request, in a reasoned manner, to submit all accounting documents, including data on third-party revenue. The Institute sets the time limit for the documents to be provided.
The Institute may publish this information to the extent that it contributes to the establishment of an open and competitive market, in accordance with the privacy rules of business data.
Art. 61. § 1^er. The Institute may, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 4, impose the obligation to meet reasonable requests for access to network elements and associated resources specified by the Institute.
In particular, operators may be required to:
1° grant third parties access to certain network elements and/or resources, including unbundled access to the local loop;
2° to negotiate in good faith with operators who request access;
3° not to withdraw access to resources when it has already been granted;
4° to offer wholesale services specified for resale to third parties;
5° to provide open access to technical interfaces, protocols or other key technologies that are critical to the interoperability of virtual network services or services;
6° without prejudice to the application of sections 25 to 28 to provide a possibility of co-location or other forms of resource sharing, including the shared use of cable paths, buildings or pylons;
7° to provide the specific services necessary to guarantee users the interoperability of end-to-end services, especially with regard to resources for intelligent network services or allowing roaming on mobile networks;
8° to provide access to operational assistance systems or similar software systems necessary to ensure fair competition in the provision of services;
9° to interconnect networks or network resources.
The Institute may set the conditions and terms and conditions for fairness, reasonability and deadlines for the fulfilment of obligations under this Article.
§ 2. When the Institute examines whether the obligations referred to in § 1 should be imposed^erincluding:
1° the technical and economic viability of the use or establishment of competing resources, taking into account the pace at which the market is evolving and the type of interconnection and access concerned;
2° the degree of feasibility of the proposed access supply, taking into account the available capacity;
3° the initial investment made by the resource owner, without neglecting the risks inherent in the investment;
4° the need to preserve long-term competition;
5°, if applicable, any intellectual property rights;
6° the provision of pan-European services.
§ 3. As long as it is necessary to implement the Institute's obligations, the operators negotiate with each other appropriate access agreements.
If the parties fail to reach agreement during the access negotiations, the Institute sets, either on its own initiative or at the request of one of the parties, after hearing the parties concerned, the access obligations to be provided.
Art. 62. § 1^er. In terms of access, the Institute may, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 4 and, in addition to a market analysis, that the operator concerned may, because of the lack of real competition, maintain prices at an exaggerated level or reduce margins to the detriment of end-users, impose obligations related to cost recovery, including obligations relating to the orientation of costs based on costs and
In terms of access, the Institute may also, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 5, impose price control obligations.
§ 2. Any operator subject to the obligation to direct its tariffs on a cost basis shall provide the Institute, at the request of the Institute, with proof of compliance with that obligation.
When an obligation to focus on costs is imposed on an operator, the costs taken into account are the costs associated with the provision of an effective benefit, including a reasonable return on investment.
In order to determine the costs associated with the provision of an effective benefit, the Institute may use accounting and cost calculation methods distinct from those applied by the operator.
§ 3. When the introduction of a cost-accounting system is made mandatory, the Institute publishes a description of the cost-accounting system that includes at least the main categories of costs and rules applied in the cost-accounting system.
§ 4. When the cost accounting system applied by the Institute makes it necessary, compliance with the cost accounting system is verified, at the operator's expense, by an approved company reviewer designated by that operator. The Institute publishes an annual statement on system compliance based on the findings of the corporate reviewer's report.
Art. 63. Operators designated by the Institute, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 4, as operators with significant market power in the provision of access to public telephone networks in a specified position and the use of them offer to their subscribers the selection functions of the operator by call and the operator's pre-selection with the possibility of a call-off.
If the interests of users justify it, the Institute may impose, in accordance with Article 55, § 3, obligations relating to the provision of the functions referred to in paragraph 1^er on other networks or other routes to operators designated as operators with significant market power in the provision of access and use of electronic communications networks.
The access rates that operators referred to in this section may charge for the provision of the functions referred to in this section are cost-oriented.
Art. 64. § 1^er. If the Institute finds that the obligations imposed under articles 58 to 63 would not allow to achieve the objectives set out in articles 6 to 8, it may impose, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 5, one or more of the obligations referred to in the second paragraph to the operators designated as operators with significant power in a given retail market.
The Institute's obligations relate to the prohibition:
1° to use abnormally high prices;
2° to obstruct market access;
3° to use awards restricting competition;
4° to apply unwarranted preferences for certain end-users;
5° to unjustify services.
§ 2. If the Institute wishes to control the rates of end users in accordance with § 1^er, it can determine the necessary and appropriate cost accounting systems that the target operator applies.
In no case, the competencies that are assigned to the Institute in the preceding paragraph cannot imply the obligation for a powerful operator on a specified market, to submit its retail tariffs to the prior approval of the Institute.
A registered company reviewer designated by the operator shall verify, at the expense of the operator, compliance with cost accounting systems. The Institute publishes an annual certificate of compliance with these systems.
Art. 65. If the Institute finds that there is no real competition in the supply market of a part or all of the minimum package of leased lines, as specified in the list of the minimum package of leased lines with harmonized European characteristics published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, it designates, in accordance with Article 55, §§ 3 and 4, operators with a significant power in the whole question or part of the specific territory
The rates of the designated operator in accordance with the preceding paragraph are cost-oriented.
The operator designated in accordance with paragraph 1^er :
1° applies to fixing its rates for the designated elements of the minimum set, a cost accounting system that meets the conditions determined by the Institute;
2° publishes, in the form and according to the conditions determined by the Institute, information on the technical characteristics, rates and conditions of delivery of the type in question of leased lines.
The operator designated in accordance with paragraph 1^er does not discriminate in connection with the provision of leased lines.
The operator designated in accordance with paragraph 1^er which, following a specified request, considers it unreasonable to offer a leased line in the minimum package at the rates and conditions of delivery it has published, can only change them with the Institute's agreement.
If necessary to ensure the interoperability of services and the freedom of choice of users, the King may, after the Institute's opinion, set complementary technical standards, which are applied to the supply of certain elements of the minimum package of leased lines.
CHAPTER IV. - Provisions applicable to operators who have exclusive or special rights in other sectors than electronic communications
Art. 66. § 1^er. Any operator who offers public electronic communications networks or services and has exclusive or special rights for other activities is obliged to:
1° to maintain a separate accounting for the provision of public electronic communications networks or services, in the same way as if these activities were carried out by legally independent companies, in order to identify, on the basis of their calculations and the details of applied imputation methods, all the expenses and revenues related to their activities in the provision of public electronic communications networks or services, including a breakdown by post of capital assets;
2° to establish a structural separation for activities related to the provision of public electronic communications networks or services.
§ 2. Transfers of resources, including transfers of capital and equipment from activities subject to exclusive or special rights to public electronic communications networks or services, are based on market conditions.
§ 3. The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, set out the model and accounting methodologies to be used to meet the obligations of this section.
Separate accounting, referred to in § 1^er, 1°, is subject to a control carried out by a registered company reviewer designated by and at the operator's expense.
The Institute determines how the financial report on separate accounting is published.
Art. 67. In order to ensure compliance with section 66, the Institute or its delegates may hear any person whom the Institute wishes.
The Institute or its delegates may consult all documents and request any information they consider necessary to verify whether section 66 is being complied with.
PART IV
Protection of the interests of society and users
CHAPTER I^er. - The Universal Service
Section I^re. - Scope of the Universal Service
Art. 68. Universal service services are:
1° the fixed geographic component of the universal service as defined in Article 70;
2° the social component of the universal service as defined in Article 74;
3° provision of public telephone stations as defined in section 75;
4° the universal intelligence service as defined in Article 79;
5° the provision of the universal directory as defined in Article 86.
Art. 69. § 1^er. Universal service services as listed in section 68 are provided, throughout the national territory, at a level of quality and prices specified in the annex.
§ 2. Where technological change or market conditions warrant it, the King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, repeal, supplement, modify or replace the provisions of the Schedule.
§ 3. The draft decree referred to in § 2 is subject to the reasoned opinion of the Law Section of the Council of State. This notice is published at the same time as the report to the King and the royal decree relating thereto.
§ 4. The Royal Decree taken pursuant to § 2 of this article is repealed when it has not been confirmed by law within fifteen months of its publication to the Belgian Monitor.
Section 2. - From the fixed geographic component of the universal service
Sub-section I^re. - Definition
Art. 70. § 1^er. The fixed geographic component of the universal service consists of the provision on the entire territory, to any person who requests it, regardless of its geographical location:
1° of the basic public telephone service in a specified position, as defined in the annex;
2° of a connection to a public telephone network in a specified position allowing end users:
(a) to provide and receive local, national and international telephone calls;
(b) to exchange communications by fax and data transmission;
(c) have functional Internet access;
(d) having the opportunity, in the event of non-payment of the telephone bill, to be called by another subscriber, excluding calls payable on arrival and to call emergency services;
(e) have a technical assistance service that meets the specifications of section 116, paragraph 2.
§ 2. The fixed geographic component of the universal service is considered to be provided when the end user already has a basic public telephone service via a connection referred to in § 1^er, 2°, either from the universal service provider or from another operator, whether or not via unbundled access to the local loop.
§ 3. The fixed geographic component of the universal service is considered to be provided when, at the request of the end user, it was met through a more cost-effective solution.
§ 4. The fixed geographic component of the universal service should be provided only to the main residence of end-users.
Sub-section 2. - Designation of service providers
Art. 71. § 1^er. The King, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute, determines the period of benefits referred to in Article 70, expressed in full calendar years.
§ 2. For the designation of the provider, an open mechanism is used, the terms of which are fixed by the King, on the proposal of the Institute.
§ 3. If, at the end of the open mechanism referred to in § 2, no offer has been retained, the King shall, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, make an ex officio designation in the context of which the King designates the service provider.
Art. 72. In the event of a failure of the service provider, as noted by the Institute, the King shall, on the proposal of the Institute, appoint another service provider to replace the failing service provider, in accordance with Article 71 § 2 or § 3.
Subsection 3. - Retribution of service providers
Art. 73. The benefits are paid:
1° according to the conditions and procedure set out in Articles 100 to 102 for any provider designated under Article 71, § 3;
2° to the amount determined at the end of the open designation procedure for any supplier designated under Article 71, § 2.
Section 3. - The social component of the universal service
Art. 74. The social component of the universal service consists of the provision by each operator of certain categories of beneficiaries, of specific tariff conditions.
Recipient categories and tariff conditions referred to in paragraph 1^eras well as procedures for obtaining such tariff conditions are set out in the annex.
The Institute reports annually to the Minister on the relative shares of operators in the total number of social subscribers compared to their market share on the basis of revenue on the public telephone market.
It is created a fund for the universal service on social tariffs to compensate social rate providers. This fund has legal personality and is managed by the Institute.
The King shall determine, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute, the modalities for the operation of this mechanism.
If it turns out that the number of tariff reductions granted by the operator is less than the number of tariff reductions corresponding to its share of the overall turnover of the public telephone market, this operator must compensate for this difference.
If it turns out that the number of fare reductions granted by the operator is greater than the number of fare reductions corresponding to its share of the total turnover of the public telephone market, the operator will receive an amount equal to that difference.
The compensation referred to in the preceding paragraphs is due immediately. Effective compensation through the fund will take place as soon as the fund becomes operational and no later than the year following the coming into force of this section.
Section 4. - Provision of public telephone stations
Sub-section I^re. - Definition
Art. 75. The provision of public telephone stations is to ensure the establishment, maintenance and operation of public telephone stations according to the conditions set out in the annex.
Sub-section 2. - Designation of service providers
Art. 76. § 1^er. The King determines, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the Institute's opinion, the period of service referred to in Article 75, expressed in full calendar years.
§ 2. For the designation of the provider, an open mechanism is used, the terms of which are fixed by the King, on the proposal of the Institute.
§ 3. If, at the end of the open mechanism referred to in § 2, no offer has been retained, the King shall, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, make an ex officio designation in the context of which the King designates the service provider.
Art. 77. In the event of a failure of the service provider, as noted by the Institute, the King, on the proposal of the Institute, shall appoint another service provider to replace the failing service provider, in accordance with Article 76, § 2 or § 3.
Subsection 3. - Retribution of service providers
Art. 78. The benefits are paid:
1° according to the conditions and procedure set out in Articles 100 to 102 for any provider designated under Article 76, § 3;
2° to the amount determined at the end of the open designation procedure for any supplier designated under Article 76, § 2.
Section 5. - Universal Intelligence Service
Sub-section I^re. - Definition
Art. 79. The universal intelligence service consists of the provision of a telephone information service throughout the national territory under the conditions set out in the annex.
Sub-section 2. - Service provider designation
Art. 80. § 1^er. The King determines, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the Institute's opinion, the period during which the universal intelligence service must be provided, expressed in full calendar years.
§ 2. The King shall designate, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute, a provider responsible for the provision of the universal intelligence service.
For this purpose, the King shall organize an open selection procedure of the provider and shall designate it at the end of the procedure.
§ 3. If, at the end of the open selection procedure referred to in paragraph 2, paragraph 2, no nominations have been filed or retained, the King shall make the appointment of the service provider.
Art. 81. In the event of a failure of the provider, noted by the Institute, the King shall, on the proposal of the Institute, appoint another service provider to replace the failing service provider in accordance with Article 80, § 2 or § 3.
Subsection 3. - Calling and data communication to the provider
Art. 82. Those who offer a telephone service accessible to the public ensure the delivery of calls on their network to the universal information service to the service provider's network, at a cost-oriented rate.
Art. 83. People who offer a telephone service accessible to the public make available to the provider of the universal information service, at a cost-oriented price, data relating to subscribers according to the conditions set by the King on the proposal of the Institute.
Without cost to subscribers, persons referred to in paragraph 1^er do not disclose subscriber data that have requested that their data be not provided to the universal telephone information service.
Persons referred to in paragraph 1^er are responsible for the accuracy of the data they disclose under paragraph 1^er. The subscriber is responsible for the accuracy of the information it discloses to those who offer a telephone service accessible to the public.
Sub-section 4. - Use and availability of subscriber data by the provider
Art. 84. The provider may only use the data provided under section 83 for the provision of the universal intelligence service.
Subsection 5. - Retribution of the provider
Art. 85. The benefits are paid:
1° according to the conditions and procedure set out in Articles 100 to 102 for any provider designated under Article 80, § 3;
2° to the amount determined at the end of the open designation procedure for any supplier designated under Article 80, § 2.
Section 6. - From the universal directory
Sub-section I^re. - Definition
Art. 86. The universal directory is the directory that meets the requirements for content, clothing, distribution and advertising publication, as set out in the annex.
Sub-section 2. - Designation of service providers
Art. 87. § 1^er. The King shall designate, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute, a provider responsible for the provision of the universal directory.
§ 2. For this purpose, the King shall organize an open selection procedure of the provider and shall designate it at the end of the procedure.
§ 3. If, at the end of the open selection procedure referred to in § 2, no application has been filed or retained, the King shall make the appointment of the service provider.
Art. 88. In the event of a failure of the service provider identified by the Institute, the King shall proceed in accordance with section 87, and on the proposal of the Institute, to appoint another service provider to replace the service provider whose failure has been found.
Subsection 3. - Reporting data to service providers
Art. 89. People who offer a telephone service accessible to the public make available to persons designated under section 87, at a cost-oriented price, data relating to subscribers according to the conditions fixed by the King on the proposal of the Institute.
When transmitting the data pursuant to paragraph 1^er, people who offer a telephone service accessible to the public to subscribers isolate data relating to subscribers who have asked not to appear in a universal directory, so that these subscribers can receive the universal directory without their data.
Persons referred to in paragraph 1^er are responsible for the accuracy of the data they disclose under paragraph 1^er. The subscriber is responsible for the accuracy of the information it discloses to those who offer a telephone service accessible to the public.
Sub-section 4. - Use and availability of subscriber data by service providers
Art. 90. Persons designated under section 87 may only use the data provided under section 89 for the purpose of providing a universal directory.
Sub-Section 5. - Retribution of service providers
Art. 91. The benefits are paid:
1° according to the conditions and procedure set out in Articles 100 to 102 for any provider designated under Article 87, § 3;
2° to the amount determined at the end of the open designation procedure for any supplier designated under Article 87, § 2.
Section 7. - From the universal service fund
Sub-section I^re. - General
Art. 92. § 1^er. The King, after the Institute's advice, sets out by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers the status and organization of the fund for the universal service of electronic communications, below called "funds".
The fund has legal personality and is managed by the Institute.
§ 2. The fund is earmarked for the retribution of service providers under universal service.
§ 3. The annual accounts, annual report and fund management report are published at the same time as those of the Institute.
§ 4. The fund's management costs are comprised of all costs associated with the operation of the fund. This amount is set by the Institute and is broken down between the management costs associated with the financing of the activities under section 68 of the Act and other management costs. The King shall, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, establish the maximum amount of the fund management costs.
The management costs of the fund of the year under review are funded by the operators referred to in section 96, prorated to their net revenue of weighted expenses of the year prior to the year under review.
Each year, the Institute sets out the amount of participation in the fund management costs owed by each of the operators referred to in paragraph 1^er.
Participation in the fund's management costs is paid no later than September 30 of the year under review at the Institute's account number.
Invoices that are not paid at the fixed maturity date will produce an interest in the legal rate increased by 2% in full and unpaid terms. This interest is calculated on the basis of the number of calendar days delay.
No later than one month before the due date, the Institute shall communicate to the companies referred to in paragraph 2 the amount of the royalty due.
§ 5. The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, establish the terms and conditions for the payment of contributions to the fund and the payment to the providers.
Art. 93. For the purposes of the following provisions:
1st year, the calendar year in which a universal service delivery is performed;
2° provider, any person who takes at least one component of the universal service during the year under review.
Sub-section 2. - Fund supply
Art. 94. The fund is financed by contributions made by the operators, based on their turnover, in accordance with the provisions of this section.
Art. 95. § 1^er. The turnover taken into account is the retail revenue before taxes realized on the provision of telephony accessible to the public in the national territory.
§ 2. Activities on national territory are considered to result in the collection of the value-added tax within the meaning of the Act of July 3, 1969 creating the Value-Added Tax Code.
Section 8. - Financing of the universal service
Sub-section I^re- Contribution
Art. 96. Any operator who has introduced a notification in accordance with Article 9 to 1^er September of the calendar year before the year in question communicates to the Institute, in accordance with the ministerial order under Article 137, § 2, its turnover, for the year in question, in accordance with the terms and conditions established by the Institute.
Art. 97. The King may determine, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the Institute's opinion, the turnover slices as well as a weighting coefficient on the basis of which the turnover that falls into a specified tranche must be multiplied to determine the weighted turnover of the operator referred to in section 98.
Art. 98. By 15 November of the calendar year following the year under review, the Institute calculates and publishes the tax rate for the year under review in accordance with paragraph 2.
The tax rate is the relationship between:
1 the sum of the retributions of the service providers for the year in question, as referred to in section 102;
2° and the sum of the weighted business figures as referred to in section 96.
For the purposes of paragraph 2, 2°, where an operator does not provide the information referred to in section 96 within the time limits prescribed by the Institute or provides it in an incomplete manner, the weighted turnover of that operator is determined by the Institute on the basis of any information it considers relevant.
Art. 99. The contribution is the proceeds of the tax rate by the weighted turnover as calculated under section 97 or if applicable under section 98, paragraph 3.
Sub-section 2. - Retribution
Art. 100. Each designated service provider shall communicate to the Institute, in accordance with the terms and conditions established in accordance with Article 137, § 2, not later than 1^er September of the calendar year following the year in question, the indexed amount of the net cost for the year in question, calculated according to the calculation methodology defined in the annex.
At the latest.^er November of the calendar year following the year under review, the Institute checks The net cost of each provider concerned, in accordance with the calculation methodology defined in the annex. For this purpose, it may designate an independent auditor at the expense of the fund.
For each of these providers, the Institute publishes the details of the net cost of each of the components, with the exception of the social component, as approved by the Institute. The index used for this purpose is the health index.
Art. 101. For each of the components of the universal service, with the exception of the social component, the fund is indebted to the relevant providers.
The amount of the indexed retribution is:
1° to the net cost calculated in accordance with the methodology set out in the Appendix, as approved by the Institute, for designated service providers, and indexed by applying the health index;
2° to the amount determined at the end of the open designation procedure, indexed by applying the health index, for any provider designated under an open designation mechanism.
Art. 102. No later than 30 November of the calendar year following the year under review, the Institute shall calculate and publish, for each provider concerned, the amount corresponding to the sum of the retributions that are indebted to the Institute for the year under review by that date.
Section 9. - Control
Art. 103. The Institute is responsible for monitoring the implementation of universal service obligations under the technical and tariff conditions set out in the annex. For this purpose, it may designate an independent auditor, at the expense of the provider concerned, unless the provider has been appointed ex officio, in which case the costs are borne by the fund.
The institute shall report annually to the Minister on possible adaptations of the universal service obligations by 31 December.
Art. 104. In the event of a failure of the provider, noted by the Institute, in the performance of the universal service obligations under the technical and tariff conditions set out in the annex, the Minister may impose an administrative fine on the supplier concerned, the amount of which may not exceed 1% of the turnover of the provider concerned for the year in question, calculated in accordance with section 95.
CHAPTER II. - Additional services
Art. 105. In the conditions and in the technical and financial terms fixed by the King after the advice of the Institute, one or more operators designated by the King after the advice of the Institute meet all reasonable requests:
1° access to data switching services;
2° access to digital networks in a specific position, including the digital network for service integration, as well as a set of services based on these networks;
3° access to a telex and telegraph service.
These requests remain valid until a date fixed by the King, after the Institute's opinion.
Art. 106. § 1^er. The King establishes, after the Institute's opinion, the list of operators who collaborate in civil defence, as well as the conditions and modalities of this collaboration.
The King establishes, after the Institute's opinion, the list of operators who collaborate with the Joint Telecommunications Commission, as well as the conditions and modalities of this collaboration.
The King shall, after the advice of the Institute, establish the list of operators and the terms and conditions for the provision of the leased lines requested by the services referred to in Article 151.
§ 2. In the conditions and in the terms and conditions fixed by the King after the advice of the Institute, the designated operators shall take the necessary measures, including preventive measures, in order to maintain in the event of an exceptional situation the continuity of services, including the transport of traffic that He defines as a priority.
§ 3. A line that provides access to the internet and meets the special needs of schools, public libraries and hospitals is available throughout the Kingdom at an affordable price for connection and subscription.
The tariff conditions referred to in paragraph 1^eras well as procedures for obtaining such tariff conditions, are set out in the annex.
The King shall determine the technical and financial conditions for the offer of the tariff conditions referred to in paragraph 1^er. A cooperation agreement may be reached for this purpose.
§ 4. One or more operators may be charged by the King, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Institute, other missions aimed at satisfying the general interest.
§ 5. Under the technical and financial conditions established by the King after the Institute's advice, one or more operators provide a special telephone rate for political and weekly newspapers and general information and press agencies established in Belgium and with which the majority of newspapers with national or broad-based broadcasting in Belgium have signed a subscription contract.
Art. 107. § 1^er. The King fixes, after the Institute's opinion:
1° a list of public services or services of public interest, recognized as such by the competent authority, which for the purposes of this Act are considered emergency services;
2° the list of emergency call numbers to which users access free of charge and without the need to have a means of payment;
3° emergency calls whose operators bear the costs for accessing their end-users to their networks and services, transportation through these same networks and the use of these same networks and services for the delivery of these emergency calls.
§ 2. Emergency Medical Service and Police Service Management Stations are free to obtain the caller's identification data from the operators concerned, provided they are available.
The King sets out, after the Institute's advice and after the Commission's opinion on privacy, the list of other emergency services to which operators provide free identification data of the calling line as long as they are available, for calls to emergency service numbers.
This obligation is also enforceable when emergency medical service management stations or police services are operated by an organization that is responsible for this task by the public authorities.
§ 3. The King sets out, after the Institute's opinion, the modalities of the collaboration of operators with emergency services.
CHAPTER III. - Protection of end-users
Section I^re. - General
Sub-section I^re. - End-user information
Art. 108. § 1^er. Any contract between a subscriber and an operator, with the purpose of providing a connection and/or access to a public telephone network, is materially made available to the subscriber and contains at least the following information:
(a) the identity and address of the operator;
(b) the services provided, the quality of the services offered, and the time required for the initial connection,
(c) the types of maintenance services offered;
(d) the details of the rates and the means by which updated information on all applicable rates and maintenance fees may be obtained;
(e) the duration of the contract, the conditions for renewal and interruption of services and the contract;
(f) the conditions and conditions for compensation and reimbursement, if applicable in cases where the quality levels of services provided in the contract are not met;
(g) the dispute resolution procedures, including the possible introduction of an appeal or complaint to the telecommunications mediation service.
§ 2. Without prejudice to the application of Chapter V, Section 2, of the Act of 14 July 1991 on trade practices and information and consumer protection, as long as they are notified of a draft amendment to the terms of contract, subscribers have the right to terminate their contract without penalty. Subscribers must be notified individually and in due course, no later than one month before these amendments, and are informed at the same time of their right to terminate the contract without penalty no later than the last day of the month following the coming into force of the amendments, if they do not accept the new conditions.
In the event of a tariff increase, the subscriber has the right to terminate the contract without penalty no later than the last day of the month following the receipt of the first invoice after the amendments come into force, unless the general conditions provide for an increase related to the Consumer Price Index.
§ 3. The general terms and standard contracts for electronic communications services are published on the operator's website after the notice of the mediation service and the Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Art. 109. The components of the telephone service rates accessible to the public must be detailed to the consumer.
The rates of supplements to the provision of electronic communications networks or services are sufficiently unmalgamated, so that the consumer is not required to pay for supplements that are not necessary for the provision of networks or services requested.
Art. 110. § 1^er. Operators provide a basic detailed invoice to subscribers free of charge, the level of detail of which is set by the minister after the Institute's notice.
§ 2. If the basic invoice is contested, subscribers may obtain a detailed invoice on request free of charge.
§ 3. Free calls, calls to emergency numbers and calls to certain issues set by the King after the Institute's notice are not indicated during the billing.
§ 4. At least once a year, the operator indicates, on the customer's bill, the most advantageous rate plan for the operator based on its consumption profile.
Art. 111. § 1^er. Operators publish comparable, adequate and up-to-date information for consumers regarding access to their networks and services and the use of these networks and services. The Institute sets out the precise content of the information to be published and the terms and conditions of their publication.
Operators shall communicate to the Institute the information and any changes to this information no later than one month before publication.
§ 2. It facilitates the provision of information to allow consumers to conduct an independent assessment of the cost of alternative use plans.
In addition, in accordance with the terms set by ministerial order after the Institute's opinion, the Institute provides on its website current information allowing the consumer to evaluate the most advantageous offer for it in the light of its plan of use.
Art. 112. The following products and services are a set within the meaning of Article 55, 1°, of the Act of 14 July 1991 on trade practices and information and consumer protection, so that it is permitted to offer them jointly at a favourable total price: telephone services, internet, television and/or interactive intermediate products, offered by integrated technology by active vendors in the field of telecommunications technologies and These interactive services and/or intermediate products may be offered jointly with cumulative compliance with the following conditions:
1° as long as the offer is valid, each product and service must be acquired separately and at its usual price in the same establishment;
2° the consumer must be clearly informed of the selling price of each product or service as well as the relative price benefit;
3° the joint offer must allow the consumer to benefit from a benefit from the products or services offered separately. This must be a specified or determinable benefit at the time of purchase;
4° any indication of the joint offer and any title to acquire the resulting advantage must mention the possible limit of their validity, the terms and any other terms and conditions of the offer;
5° in the case of a joint offer of products and/or services, the consumer can only be bound by a contract for a period of up to one year, in accordance with any specific legal provisions and as long as the termination takes place in due course. The application of a retroactive penalty in case of consumer termination is excluded. The advantage is acquired to the consumer until the termination.
Sub-section 2. - Quality and security of networks and services
Art. 113. In accordance with Article 8, 6°, the Institute coordinates initiatives on the quality and safety of electronic communication services. It is responsible for detecting, observing and analyzing security issues, and for providing users with ongoing information.
Companies providing electronic communication services must publish on their website, for end-users, comparable, adequate and up-to-date information regarding the quality and secure access to their services. Information is also provided to the Institute prior to publication if requested.
The lnstitut may specify, among other things, the quality of service indicators, as well as the content, form and method of publishing information to ensure that end users have access to complete, comparable and easy-to-use information.
The Institute provides, on its website, up-to-date and comparable information regarding secure access to the services of different internet service providers, network security and services and software that enable end-users to prevent unwanted electronic communication in all its forms.
Art. 114. The provider of a public-accessible electronic communications service shall take appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the security of its services, if necessary jointly with the provider of the public communications network with respect to network security. Given the state of the technology and the cost of their implementation, these measures guarantee a degree of security that is appropriate to the existing risk.
The e-communication software provider also takes these steps.
Where there is a particular risk of breaching the security of its network, the operator concerned shall inform subscribers and the Institute of this risk.
Operators offer their subscribers free of charge, given the state of the technology, adequate security services, in order to allow end users to avoid any undesired form of electronic communication. Software providers for electronic communication are also obligated against their customers.
When it finds an infringement of the integrity of its network, the operator concerned shall take all necessary measures to inform the authorities, operators and subscribers concerned as soon as possible.
Art. 115. Operators give priority to the following persons in the area of disturbance lifting:
1° emergency services and priority services defined by the King after advice from the Institute;
2° hospitals, doctors, pharmacists and veterinarians providing custody services;
3) Invalid, sick who require special care as well as disabled, according to the terms fixed by the King after the Institute's advice.
Repair means repairing the line or supplying a replacement service.
Art. 116. Operators provide end-users with a telephone support service. The assistance service is accessible by a geographical number or by a non-geographic number, provided that the cost of communication per minute is not greater than that of a geographical number.
Telephone support service referred to in paragraph 1^er records requests from end-users regarding the lifting of inconveniences and difficulties in obtaining communication. It shall forward these requests to the relevant services as soon as possible.
Subsection 3. - Payment facilities
Art. 117. The Minister may designate, after the Institute's notice, service providers presumed as a universal service that must enable end-users to access public telephone networks and use telephone services accessible to the public using a prepayment system.
The Minister, after the Institute's notice, sets out the procedures for the operation of the prepayment system.
Art. 118. The Minister may designate, after the Institute's notice, service providers presumed as a universal service that must allow subscribers to access a public telephone network through phased payments.
Art. 119. § 1^er. Without prejudice to the application of Article 70, § 1^er, 2°, d), the Minister, after the Institute's opinion, sets out the list of measures that operators may take in case of unpaid invoices. The list of measures is included in the contract referred to in section 110.
§ 2. These measures ensure that the subscriber receives a prior warning of a service interruption or a disconnect resulting from this default.
Except in the event of continued fraud or default of payment in respect of which there is no dispute and, as far as technically possible, these measures ensure that the interruption to the service concerned is limited.
These measures provide that prior to the complete interruption of the service, the operator provides a reduced service free of charge in which the end user has the opportunity to be called, excluding calls payable on arrival, and to call emergency services himself.
Art. 120. Upon request from the end user, operators providing an electronic communications service block outgoing messages of a particular type free of charge or intended for certain categories of call numbers as defined by the Minister, after the Institute's advice.
Sub-section 4. - Provision of additional services
Art. 121. § 1^er. The King sets out the conditions under which the Institute may require, using international and national standards or good practices accepted and used internationally by international or national organizations at the level of standardization or harmonization in the electronic communications sector, operators who operate public telephone networks that they provide end-users with the following service supplements:
1° identification of the calling line;
2° keyboard numbering.
§ 2. The King may not require the provision of additional services referred to in § 1^er in any or part of the territory if, after the opinion of the Telecommunications Advisory Committee and the Institute, access to these additional services is sufficient.
Section 2. - Secret of communications, data processing and privacy
Art. 122. § 1^er. Operators delete traffic data concerning subscribers or end-users of their traffic data or make these data anonymous, as soon as they are no longer necessary for the transmission of the communication.
Paragraph 1^er applies without prejudice to the compliance of the obligations of cooperation, as provided by or under the law, with:
1° competent authorities for the search for or prosecution of criminal offences;
2° the telecommunications mediation service for the search for the identity of any person who has made a malicious use of a network or an electronic communications service.
§ 2. By derogation from § 1^er, and in the sole purpose of establishing subscriber invoices or making interconnection payments, operators store and process the following data:
1° identification of the calling line;
2° addresses related to the subscriber and the connection location, as well as the type of terminal equipment;
3° the total number of units to be invoiced for the billing period;
4° identification of the line called;
5° the type of call, the time at which the call began, the duration of the call or the amount of data transmitted;
6° the date of communication or service;
7° other payment information, such as advance payment, instalment payment, disconnection and reminders.
Without prejudice to the application of the Privacy Protection Act of 8 December 1992 in respect of personal data processing, the operator shall inform, before processing, the subscriber or, if any, the end user to whom the data relate:
1° of the types of traffic data processed;
2° of specific treatment objectives;
3° duration of treatment.
The processing of data listed in paragraph 1^er, is only authorized until the end of the invoice dispute period or until the end of the period in which an action can be made to obtain the payment.
§ 3. By derogation from § 1^er and for the sole purpose of ensuring the marketing of clean electronic communications services or traffic or location data services, operators cannot process the data referred to in § 1^er under the following conditions:
1° The operator shall inform the subscriber or, where applicable, the end user to whom the data relates, before obtaining the consent of the subscriber for the processing:
(a) types of traffic data processed;
(b) specific treatment objectives;
(c) duration of treatment.
2° The subscriber or, if any, the end user, has, prior to the processing, consented to the processing.
By consent for processing within the meaning of this article, the expression of free, specific and information-based will is defined by which the interested party or its legal representative agrees that traffic data relating to it be processed.
3° The operator concerned offers free subscribers or end-users the opportunity to withdraw the given consent in a simple way.
4° The processing of the data in question is limited to the actions and duration required to provide the traffic or location data service in question or for the marketing action in question.
These conditions are applied subject to additional conditions arising from the application of the Privacy Protection Act of 8 December 1992 with respect to personal data processing.
§ 4. By derogation from § 1^er, data can be processed to detect potential fraud.
The data shall be transmitted to the competent authorities in the event of an offence.
§ 5. The data listed in this section can only be processed by persons charged by the operator with the billing or traffic management, the processing of customer information requests, the detection of fraud, the marketing of clean electronic communications services or the provision of traffic data or location data services.
Treatment is limited to what is strictly necessary for the exercise of such activities.
§ 6. The Institute, the Conseil de la concurrence, the courts of the judicial order and the Conseil d'État may, within their competence, be informed of the relevant traffic and invoice data for the settlement of disputes, including disputes relating to interconnection and billing.
Art. 123. § 1^er. Without prejudice to the application of the Privacy Protection Act of 8 December 1992 with respect to personal data processing, mobile network operators may only process location data related to a subscriber or end-user when they have been made anonymous or that the processing is part of the provision of a traffic data or location data service.
§ 2. The processing of a traffic or location data service is subject to the following conditions:
1° The operator shall inform the subscriber or, where applicable, the end user to whom the data relates, before obtaining the consent of the subscriber for processing:
(a) types of location data processed;
(b) specific treatment objectives;
(c) duration of treatment;
(d) any third party to which such data will be transmitted;
(e) the possibility to withdraw at any time, definitively or temporarily, the consent given for the treatment.
2° The subscriber or, if any, the end user has prior to the processing, giving consent for the processing.
By consent for processing within the meaning of this article, the expression of free, specific and information-based will is defined by which the interested party or its legal representative agrees that location data related to it be processed.
3° The processing of the data in question is limited to the actions and duration required to provide the traffic or location data service in question.
4° The operator concerned offers free subscribers or end-users the opportunity to withdraw the given consent, easily and at any time, permanently or temporarily.
§ 4. The data referred to in this section may only be processed by persons working under the authority of the operator or third party who provides traffic and location data to the service.
The processing is limited to what is strictly necessary to provide the service concerned with traffic or location data.
§ 5. The King sets out, after the advice of the Privacy Commission and the Institute, the procedures whereby operators, at the request of emergency services who wish to respond to an emergency call, may be required to cancel the temporary refusal or lack of consent of the subscriber or end-user regarding the processing of separate line location data, with a view to responding to an emergency call.
This cancellation is free of charge.
Art. 124. If not authorized by all persons directly or indirectly concerned, no one shall:
1° to intentionally take knowledge of the existence of information of any kind transmitted by electronic communication and not intended for it personally;
2° intentionally identify the persons involved in the transmission of information and its content;
3° without prejudice to the application of sections 122 and 123, knowing intentionally of electronic communications data relating to another person;
4° modify, delete, reveal, store or make any use of the information, identification or data obtained intentionally or not.
Art. 125. § 1^er. The provisions of section 124 of this Act and articles 259bis and 314bis of the Criminal Code shall not apply:
1 where the law permits or imposes the performance of the acts referred to;
2° where the intended acts are performed with the exclusive purpose of verifying the proper operation of the network and ensuring the proper execution of an electronic communications service;
3° where the actions are carried out in order to allow the emergency and emergency services to respond to requests for assistance;
4° where the acts are performed by the Institute as part of its general monitoring and control mission;
5° where the acts are performed by the telecommunications mediation service or at the request of the telecommunications service in the context of its legal research missions;
6° where the acts are performed for the sole purpose of providing services to the end user of preventing the receipt of undesired electronic communications, provided that the end user has been authorized to do so.
§ 2. The King sets out, after the advice of the Privacy Commission and the Institute, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, the modalities and means to be implemented to enable the identification, identification, location, listening, knowledge and registration of electronic communications.
Art. 126. § 1^er. By deliberately decreed in Council of Ministers, the King fixes, on the proposal of the Minister of Justice and the Minister and after the advice of the Commission for the Protection of Privacy and the Institute, the conditions under which the operators record and retain the traffic data and data of identification of end users for the prosecution and suppression of criminal offences, in order to repress malicious calls to the services of emergency
§ 2. The data to be retained and the shelf life, which in the matter of telephone service accessible to the public cannot be less than twelve months or more than thirty-six months, shall be determined by the King in a deliberate order in the Council of Ministers, after the advice of the Commission for the Protection of Privacy and the Institute.
The operators ensure that the data taken in § 1^er be unlimitedly accessible from Belgium.
Art. 127. § 1^er. The King, after the advice of the Commission for the Protection of Privacy and the Institute, sets out the technical and administrative measures that are imposed on the operators or end-users, in order to allow:
1° identification of the calling line as part of an emergency call;
2° the identification of the appellant, the identification, the location, the listening, the knowledge and recording of private communications under the conditions provided for by articles 46bis, 88bis and 90ter to 90decies of the Code of Criminal Investigation.
The King sets out, after the Institute's opinion, the method of determining the contribution in the costs of investment, operation and maintenance of these measures which is at the expense of the operators of electronic communications networks and services, as well as the time limit in which operators or subscribers must follow the measures imposed.
§ 2. Prohibited: the provision or use of a service or equipment that makes it difficult or impossible to perform the operations referred to in § 1^er, with the exception of encryption systems that can be used to guarantee the confidentiality of communications and the security of payments.
§ 3. Until the measures referred to in § 1^er come into force, the prohibition referred to in § 2 does not apply to mobile public communications services provided on a prepaid card.
§ 4. If an operator fails to comply with the technical and administrative measures imposed by the King within the time limit, it is prohibited to provide the service for which the measures in question have not been taken.
§ 5. Operators disconnect end-users who do not comply with the technical and administrative measures imposed on them within the time limit set by the King, from networks and services to which the measures imposed apply. These end users are in no way compensated for the disconnection.
If an operator does not disconnect end-users who do not comply with the technical and administrative measures imposed on them within the time limit set by the King, it is forbidden to provide the service for which the end-user failed to comply with the measures imposed on him, until the caller's identification was made possible.
Art. 128. Without prejudice to the application of the Act of 8 December 1992 on the protection of privacy with respect to personal data processing, the registration of an electronic communication and traffic data related to it in commercial transactions lawful as evidence of a commercial transaction or other professional communication, is authorized provided that the parties involved in the communication are informed of the registration, of the specific purposes of the recording, of the specific purposes of
The data referred to in this article shall be deleted by the end of the period during which the transaction may be contested in court.
By derogation from articles 259bis and 314bis of the Criminal Code, the taking of knowledge and registration of electronic communications and traffic data, which are intended solely to control the quality of service in the call centers, provided that persons working in the call center are informed in advance and, without prejudice to the application of the law of 8 December 1992 relating to the protection of privacy, the possibility of taking of knowledge and the purpose This data can be retained for up to one month.
Art. 129. The utitization of electronic communications networks for the storage of information or to access information stored in terminal equipment of a subscriber or end user is permitted only provided that:
1° the subscriber or end-user concerned shall receive in accordance with the conditions set out in the Act of 8 December 1992 relating to the protection of privacy and the treatment of personal data, clear and precise information concerning the objectives of the treatment and its rights on the basis of the Act of 8 December 1992;
2° the controller gives, prior to processing, clearly legible and unambiguous, the possibility to the subscriber or the end user concerned to refuse the intended treatment.
Paragraph 1^er is applied without prejudice to the technical registration of the information or access to the information stored in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or end-user with the sole purpose of carrying out or facilitating the sending of a communication via an electronic communications network or providing a service of the information society specifically requested by the subscriber.
Lack of refusal within the meaning of paragraph 1^er or the application of paragraph 2, does not exempt the person responsible for the processing of the obligations of the Act of 8 December 1992 relating to the protection of privacy with respect to personal data processing that are not imposed by this section.
Art. 130. § 1^er. When the presentation of the caller line identification is offered as a service, the caller's operator offers free and on request, the possibility to the end user calling to oppose the presentation of the caller line identification for each call separately or permanently. This facility is offered by a separate line with the subscriber.
Where the facility referred to in paragraph 1^er is used, the operator of the called subscriber does not have the right to offer the presentation of the identification of the line calling to its subscriber.
§ 2. When the presentation of the caller line identification is offered as a service, the subscriber's operator called offers free and on a simple request the possibility to the subscriber called to cancel the caller line identification presentation for incoming calls.
The free of this facility disappears when the subscriber uses this facility unreasonablely.
The King shall, after notice of the Institute, fix cases that may be considered unreasonable use of the facility referred to in this paragraph and compensation that may be charged for such use.
§ 3. When the submission of the caller line identification is offered as a service and this identification is presented before the communication is established, the caller's operator offers the option to the caller to refuse incoming calls upon request when the caller line identification presentation has been cancelled by the caller user or subscriber.
§ 4. When the presentation of the identification of the connected line is offered as a service to the caller, the subscriber's operator called offers free and on a simple request the possibility to the subscriber called to prevent the presentation of the identification of the line connected to the calling end user.
§ 5. Operators are disseminating information on:
1° the facilities offered by them for the identification of the calling line and the identification of the line called;
2° all services offered on the basis of these facilities;
3° the available possibilities proposed under this article for the protection of privacy and their conditions of use.
The information referred to in this paragraph shall in all cases be provided to the subscribers on an individual basis.
§ 6. The King, after the advice of the Privacy Commission and the Institute, sets out the conditions to which and the procedures that operators may be obliged, upon justified request of a person being the victim of a malicious use of an electronic network or service, to cancel the deletion of the presentation of the identification of the calling line.
The cancellation of the deletion of the identification of the calling line for the purposes of this paragraph is limited to the actions and duration required to identify the person who makes a malicious use of a network or electronic communications service.
The King shall, after the advice of the Privacy Commission and the Institute, determine the manner in which and the conditions under which the caller's identification data obtained are recorded and made available to the applicant.
§ 7. The King, after the advice of the Privacy Commission and the Institute, sets out the procedures whereby operators, at the request of emergency services who wish to respond to an emergency call, may be required to cancel the deletion of the submission of the identification of the calling line.
The cancellation of the deletion of the calling line to respond to emergency calls is free of charge.
Art. 131. The operator offers, free of charge and upon request, the possibility to its subscribers to terminate the automatic transfer of calls by a third party to the subscriber's terminal, provided that it is technically and operationally possible for the operator.
The King may determine, after notice of the lnstitut, the modalities of cooperation between the different operators, if the third party responsible for the return is not a customer with the same operator as the subscriber who requests to terminate the reference.
Art. 132. For subscriber lines connected to analog centrals, operators may be exempted by the Institute from one or more obligations in sections 130 and 131, provided that they prove that it is technically impossible to offer the facility in question or that it requires a disproportionate economic effort.
The exemption decision within the meaning of this article is limited in time. In any case, it ceases to exist when the subscriber's line is connected to a digital central.
The exemption decision is published in the Belgian Monitor and on the Institute's website.
The exemption decision is communicated to the European Commission.
Art. 133. § 1^er. Providers of a telephone service accessible to the public inform their subscribers free of charge and before registering them in a directory or telephone information service:
1° the function of the directory or telephone information service;
2° the free registration in the directory or telephone information service;
3° where applicable, applications of the directory or telephone information service that deviate from the search for personal data on the basis of the name and, where applicable, the domicile, residence or location of the subscriber.
Only personal data that are relevant to the function as communicated in accordance with paragraph 1^er, and the subscriber in question indicated that they could be included in the directory or telephone information service in question, may be included in the directory or telephone information service.
To this end, two separate questions are asked by the operator to the subscriber:
1° if he wishes his contact information to be included in the universal directory and in the universal information service;
2° if he wishes his contact information to be found in other directories or other information services.
For the registration or non-registration of minimum personal data of a subscriber in the directory or telephone information service, no charge may be charged.
If the directory or telephone information service may be used for other applications than the search for personal data on the basis of the name, and if applicable, the domicile, residence or place of establishment of the subscriber, the directory or telephone information service may only offer such applications if the subscriber in question gives its separate consent to this effect.
Consent within the meaning of this Article means the manifestation of free, specific and information-based will by which the individual or his or her legal representative agrees that personal data concerning him or her be processed for the application referred to in the preceding paragraph.
§ 2. Any subscriber has the right to consult the personal data in accordance with the conditions established by or under the Privacy Protection Act of 8 December 1992 with respect to personal data processing.
Any subscriber also has the right to have the telephone directory or service removed free of charge, personal data concerning him according to the procedures and conditions established by the King after notice of the Privacy Commission and the Institute.
Section 3. - Protection of end-users with respect to the use of certain special numbers
Art. 134. § 1^er. It is created a Commission of Ethics for the Provision of Pay Services via Electronic Communications Networks, referred to as "the Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications". The King, after the Institute's advice, sets out the composition and duration of the term of office of the members of the Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications and the procedure and practical rules relating to the operation of the Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications.
The Telecommunications Ethics Commission is composed of at least two representatives of family interests, a representative of the Minister of Economy, a representative of the Minister of Consumer Protection, a representative of the Minister of Justice, a representative of the Minister and a chair, appointed by the Minister. Members are appointed for a period of five years.
The rules of procedure provide for at least the notification of a complaint or the finding of an offence under the Code of Ethics for Telecommunications to the alleged offender, a reasonable period in which the offender may prepare his defence and the right to adopt a written and oral view of the alleged offence.
The institute provides the secretariat of the Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications.
§ 2. On the proposal of the Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications, the King sets a Code of Ethics for Telecommunications.
The Code of Ethics for Telecommunications refers to the series of numbers for which it is authorized to charge, in addition to the cost of communication, also a content allowance and describes the conditions for which pay services can be offered to end users via electronic communications networks.
Persons who offer pay services via electronic communications networks are required to comply with the provisions of the Code of Ethics for Telecommunications.
The Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications decides on compliance with the Code of Ethics for Telecommunications following a complaint from the concerned, directly or after the intervention of the telecommunications mediation service.
The decisions of the Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications are motivated and published.
§ 3. Offences to the Code of Ethics for Telecommunications are punishable by an administrative fine of EUR 125 to EUR 12,500 or a suspension of activities from 1 to 30 days.
In the event of a serious or repeated offence, the Telecommunications Ethics Board may order the delisting of the services concerned, as well as the prohibition of entering new services.
In order to impose sanctions, the Telecommunications Ethics Commission takes into account the seriousness of the offence and whether or not it is deliberate.
When the Commission of Ethics for Telecommunications makes an effective sanction, the offender pays to the injured party, through the operators concerned and within thirty days after the notice of the verdict, the amount obtained from the injured person following the offence found.
Art. 135. The activation of a pre-selection service or the transfer of a number by an operator without the express written consent of the end user, and without clear information about the pre-selection service is prohibited.
The deactivation of a pre-selection service by the service provider in question is possible:
1° with the express and prior agreement of the end user;
2° when the end user does not comply with the material obligations of the contract with the pre-selection service provider, and after the pre-selection service provider has clearly informed the end user of the consequences of the deactivation of its pre-selection service.
The deactivation of a preselection by the access operator is possible:
1° after request by the pre-selection service provider for the cases referred to in paragraph 2, 1°;
2° with the written express consent of the end user, and after giving clear information about the effects of the deactivation of the pre-selection service;
3° because of the existence of technical limitations defined and recognized by the Institute, after prior authorization from the Minister.
A person who mistakenly asks an operator to transfer a number or to activate or disable a pre-selection or pre-selection service of the operator or a person who wrongly disables a pre-selection of the rightly activated operator may not claim to the end user for payment of communications made during the last four months prior to the introduction of the complaint and, where applicable, the amounts already reimbursed. In addition, it is required to pay a flat-rate intervention of 750 euros to the company which thus temporarily loses a final user.
A complaint regarding the application of this section may be filed with the telecommunications mediation service.
The telecommunications mediation service may refuse to process a complaint if it turns out that the facts that gave rise to the complaint occurred more than a year before the complaint was filed.
Section 4. - Collaboration with the Telecommunications Mediation Service
Art. 136. § 1^er. Persons referred to in Article 43 bis, § 1^er1° to 6° of the Act of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises designate a person validly authorized to represent them in their relations with the telecommunications mediation service.
§ 2. Providers inform users of the possibilities of recourse to the telecommunications mediation service. This information is carried out in accordance with the mediation service.
§ 3. In order to ensure effective handling of disputes submitted to the mediation service, a protocol is concluded between the providers referred to in section 43bis, § 1^er, 1° to 6°, of the Act of 21 March 1991 reforming certain economic public enterprises and the said mediation service. This protocol determines the procedure for handling complaints and includes, in particular, the arbitration agreement referred to in Article 43 bis, § 3, 4°, of the same law
PART V. - Procedural and criminal provisions
CHAPTER I^er. - Exchange of information
Art. 137. § 1^er. As part of its competence, the Institute may require, by reason of request, any person concerned with any relevant information. The Institute sets the deadline for providing the requested information.
Pre-release of information to the Institute cannot constitute one of the market access conditions mentioned.
The information requested by the Institute must be proportional to the execution of the jurisdiction in question. The Institute gives reasons for its request for information.
§ 2. The Minister shall, after notice of the Institute, establish, after consultation with the relevant market actors, the terms and conditions for the exchange of information set out in this Act.
Art. 138. § 1^er. The Institute is obliged to respond favourably to any reasoned request from the European Commission or a national regulatory authority to obtain information, provided that they are necessary and proportionate to the fulfilment of their missions. The Institute tells their recipients the degree of confidentiality of the information transmitted.
The Institute can match the communication of this information to the European Commission with a reasoned opposition that it is provided to another authority.
§ 2. The Institute informs operators of the possibility of communication to the European Commission or to a national regulatory authority or to an international organization with which the Institute maintains relations within the framework of the exercise of its information skills obtained from them.
§ 3. Without prejudice to other legal provisions, the Institute shall ensure the information obtained from other authorities at least the same degree of confidentiality as the authority that provided it.
CHAPTER II. - Consultations
Art. 139. The Institute may organize for the purposes of this Act a public consultation in accordance with Article 14 of the Act of 17 January 2003 relating to the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors.
Art. 140. As long as a draft decision of the Institute is likely to have significant impacts on a relevant market, the Institute organizes a pre-public consultation of up to two months, in accordance with the rules of confidentiality of business data.
All information on current public consultations is centralized at the Institute.
The results of the public consultation are made public, in accordance with the rules of confidentiality of business data.
The King, after the Institute's advice, specifies the terms of public consultation and publicity of his results.
Art. 141. As long as a draft decision of the Institute may have an impact on the exchanges between the Member States and tends to:
1° define a relevant market pursuant to Article 54, or
2° conclude that a relevant market is competitive or not, pursuant to Article 55, §§ 2 and 3, or
3° imposing or modifying obligations to an operator with significant power on a relevant market, pursuant to Article 55, § 3, or
4° impose obligations on operators who have not been designated as having significant power on a relevant market, pursuant to Article 56, 1° and 5°, or
5° impose the amendment of access agreements already entered into pursuant to section 57, or
6° imposing the amendment of the reference offer, pursuant to Article 59, § 4, or
7° determine the conditions of access to be provided, pursuant to Articles 51 and 61, § 3, paragraph 2, the Institute shall consult without delay the European Commission and the national regulatory authorities of the Member States.
The Institute takes into consideration the comments made by the European Commission and the regulatory authorities of the Member States within the time limit set by the King.
Final decisions, whose projects are referred to in paragraph 1^erare notified to the European Commission and the national regulatory authorities of the Member States.
The King shall specify, after notice of the Institute, the terms and conditions of the consultation referred to in paragraph 1^er and notification of the final decision referred to in paragraph 3.
Art. 142. The interim measures within the meaning of Article 20 of the Act of 17 January 2003 relating to the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors taken to ensure compliance with this Act are exempted from the consultations provided for in Articles 140 and 141. However, they are notified promptly to the European Commission and the national regulatory authorities of the Member States.
CHAPTER III. - Decisions of the Institute submitted to the agreement of the European Commission
Art. 143. When its draft decision referred to in section 141, paragraph 1^er tends to:
1° define a relevant market that differs from those identified by the European Commission, or
2° to designate or not an operator as having, individually or jointly with others, significant power in a relevant market;
the Institute, by a decision of the European Commission made within the period referred to in Article 141, paragraph 2, extends the latter two additional months.
In the period as extended in paragraph 1^er, the European Commission may, by decision reasoned in a narrow and objective manner by formulating specific proposals for amendments, require the Institute to withdraw the draft decision referred to in paragraph 1^er.
Art. 144. The Institute shall make public, in accordance with the terms established by the King, after the advice of the Institute, the decisions rendered by the European Commission under Article 143, paragraphs 2 and 3.
CHAPTER IV. - Penal provisions
Art. 145. § 1^er. A fine of EUR 50 to EUR 50,000 is imposed, the person who contravenes articles 32, 33, 35, 39 § 3, 41, 42, 47, 114, 124 and 127, and the orders made under articles 32, 47 and 127.
§ 2. A fine of EUR 200 to EUR 2,000 and a sentence of imprisonment of eight days to one year or one of these penalties is punished only, the person who contravenes Article 39, § 1^er, and the orders taken pursuant to Article 16.
§ 3. A fine of EUR 500 to EUR 50,000 and a penalty of imprisonment for one to four years or only one of these penalties is imposed:
1° the person who fraudulently conducts electronic communications through an electronic communications network to obtain or provide an illicit advantage to others;
2° the person who uses an electronic communications network or service or other electronic means of communication to import or cause damage;
3° the person who installs any device intended to commit any of the above-mentioned offences and the attempt to commit them.
§ 4. Forfeiture of devices that do not meet the requirements of sections 32, 33, 35 and 37 is always pronounced.
Art. 146. The confiscation of devices used to break Article 47 is always pronounced.
Art. 147. The confiscation of the recordings of unlawful conversations, communications or data and of the objects used to break articles 35 and 145, § 3, is always pronounced, even if they do not belong to the convicted person.
Forfeiture of transmitters, transmitters and receivers or radiocommunication receivers, as well as any accessories specifically intended for its use, which were used to break down articles 39, § 1^er and 41, and the decrees taken pursuant to Article 16 are still pronounced, even if they do not belong to the convict.
Article 8, § 1^er, of the Suspension, Suspension and Probation Act of 29 June 1964, is not applicable to confiscation imposed on the basis of this section.
Art. 148. The verbalizing judicial police officer sends the minutes which determines the offence, which is criminalized by this law, to the King's prosecutor and a copy to the officer designated by the King.
The King's Attorney has a period of two months from the date of receipt of the minutes to notify the Institute of its decision to initiate or not prosecute.
In the event that the King's prosecutor waives criminal proceedings or fails to notify his decision within the specified time limit, only the provisions of Article 21 of the Law relating to the Status of the Regulator of the Belgian Post and Telecommunications Sectors may still be imposed.
Art. 149. Sections 269 to 274 of the Criminal Code are applicable to Institute officers acting in the performance of their duties.
Art. 150. The provisions of Book I^er the Criminal Code, including Chapter VII and Article 85, shall apply to offences under this Act and to orders made pursuant to it.
PART VI. - Various amendments, transitional and final provisions
CHAPTER I^er. - Miscellaneous provisions
Art. 151. Sections 25 to 27 and 38 are not applicable to special facilities established and operated exclusively for military or public security or emergency assistance purposes, by services under the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Public Health or the Minister of the Interior, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Allied Forces.
The list of facilities is set by the King, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, on a joint proposal by the Minister and the competent minister.
Art. 152. § 1^er. The King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, by 31 December 2005, repeal, supplement, amend or replace the provisions of this Act, in order to take all necessary measures to fulfil the obligations arising from the directives in force of the European Union.
§ 2. The draft decree referred to in § 1^er is subject to the opinion of the Legislative Section of the Council of State. This notice is published at the same time as the report to the King and the royal decree relating thereto.
§ 3. The Royal Decree taken in execution of § 1^er of this article is repealed when it has not been confirmed by law within fifteen months of its publication in the Belgian Monitor.
Art. 153. The King may determine the terms and conditions of competence assigned to the Institute by this Act.
CHAPTER II. - Amendments and abrogations
Art. 154. § 1^er. Article 43bis, § 1^erof the Act of 21 March 1991 on reform of certain economic public enterprises is replaced by the following:
"It is established, with the Belgian Institute of Postal Services and Telecommunications, a mediation service for telecommunications competent for the relations between the end user, within the meaning of the legislation in force for electronic communications, and the following persons:
1° any operator within the meaning of this Act;
(2) any person making, selling or distributing an annuary within the meaning of this Act;
3° any person providing a telephone information service within the meaning of this Act;
(4) any person operating electronic communications systems within the meaning of this Act;
5° any person providing the public with cryptographic services within the meaning of this Act;
6° any person offering other electronic communications activities within the meaning of this Act. »
§ 2. Article 43bis, § 3, 7°, of the same law is replaced by the following text:
"to examine the request of any person claiming to be a victim of a malicious use of a network or electronic communications service to obtain communication of the identity and address of users of electronic communications networks or services having imported it, provided that such data are available. The mediation service is granted upon request if the following conditions are met:
(a) the facts appear to be established;
(b) the application refers to specific dates and times."
Art. 155. In the Act of 21 March 1991 on reform of certain economic public enterprises, the following provisions are repealed:
1° articles 68 to 70bis, with the exception of article 68, 5° and 5°bis and 68, 19°;
2° Articles 82 to 96, with the exception of Article 86ter;
3° articles 105bis to 109ter F;
4° Articles 113 and 114, with the exception of Article 114, § 1^er1° and 2° and 114 §§ 3 to 6;
Articles 117 to 119;
Articles 121 to 125;
7° Articles 128 and 128bis.
Art. 156. The Radiocommunication Act of 30 July 1979 is repealed.
Art. 157. In the Act of 17 January 2003 on the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors, Article 14, § 1^er, 3° is replaced by the following provision:
"3° the monitoring of compliance with the law of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications and title I, chapter X and title IV of the law of 21 March 1991 and its enforcement orders; »
In article 14, § 2, 1°, of the same law, the words "undiscriminatoryly" are inserted between the words "may organize" and the words "any form of investigations".
Art. 158. In section 24 of the Act of 17 January 2003 on the status of the regulator of the Belgian postal and telecommunications sectors, the following amendments are made:
1° the words "the law of 30 July 1979" are replaced by "the law of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications";
2° the article is supplemented by the following paragraph: "These staff members are also responsible for finding offences under the Act of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications, the Criminal Code and special laws where they are committed by means of electronic communications equipment, networks or services within the meaning of the above-mentioned Electronic Communications Act. »
Art. 159. Article 3, § 1^er, paragraph 2 of the Act of 8 June 1998 on radiocommunication of emergency and security services is replaced by the following provision:
"A.S.T.R.I.D. may, under the conditions established by the King, cooperate with the missions of general interest that are entrusted to one or more operators by or under section 106 of the law of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications. »
Art. 160. Section 12 of the Act of 8 June 1998 on radio-communication of emergency and security services is replaced by the following provision:
"A.S.T.R.I.D. is required to provide a semaphony service to the services, institutions, societies and associations referred to in Article 3, § 1^er of the Act of 8 June 1998 on radiocommunications of emergency and security services, which apply in accordance with the terms and conditions established by the King and where other operators do not provide this service. »
CHAPTER III. - Transitional provisions
Art. 161. Persons who, no later than the day on which this Act comes into force, hold an individual authorization pursuant to section 3 of the Radiocommunication Act of 30 July 1979 or sections 89 to 92 bis of the Act of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises, are deemed to have made the notification referred to in section 9.
Art. 162. The obligations imposed on operators with significant market power by or under the Act of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises and the obligations imposed by or under section 105bis, paragraphs 7 and 9 of the Act, are maintained until the final conclusion of the first process of determination and analysis of the relevant markets by the Institute, in accordance with sections 54 to 56.
Art. 163. The universal service obligations of Belgacom under the Act of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises are maintained until 1^er January of the year following the King's designation of the supplier(s) for each of the components of the universal service referred to in Part IV.
Art. 164. Section 133 does not apply to directory editions or telephone information services that have already been established or marketed in paper or offline electronic versions prior to the coming into force of this Act.
Personal data concerning subscribers to public telephone services in a specified position or mobile voice services inserted in a directory or telephone information service prior to the coming into force of this Act, in accordance with the legal requirements at that time, may continue to be included in the directory or telephone information service in question, unless the subscribers in question, after receiving in accordance with section 133, § 1^er, comprehensive information on the purposes and possibilities of using the directory or telephone information service in question, indicated that they did not want to.
The use of other applications of the directory or telephone information service that the search for personal data on the basis of the name and, where applicable, the residence, domicile or location of the subscriber, based on personal data that have been collected prior to the coming into force of this Act in accordance with the legal requirements at that time of application, is permitted unless the subscribers in question, after having received, in accordance with 1 §^er, comprehensive information on the purposes and possibilities of using the directory or telephone information service in question, indicated that they did not want to.
CHAPTER IV. - Final provision
Art. 165. The provisions of this Act come into force ten days after the publication of this Act to the Belgian Monitor. The King may postpone the entry into force of certain provisions to allow a certain period of transition or consultation.
Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1^er, Article 106, § 3, of this Act comes into force only when the Royal Decree referred to in § 3 of this Article comes into force. At that time, Article 86ter, § 2, of the Act of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises, will be repealed.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 13 June 2005.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
The Minister of Employment,
Ms. F. VAN DEN BOSSCHE
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Notes
2004-2005
Room
Doc 51 1425:
001: Bill
002 : Farde
003 to 013: Amendments
014: Opinion of the State Council
015 to 017: Amendments
018: Report
019: Text adopted by the Commission
020: Amendments
See also: Full transcript: April 21, 2005.
Senate
3-1133/1: Project not referred to in the Senate

Annex
CHAPTER I^er. - Definitions
Article 1^er. For the purposes of this annex, the following means:
1st Service Provider: any person designated under sections 71, 76, 80 and 87 of the Act to provide one or more of the services referred to in section 68 of the Act;
2° public telephone service in a specified position: public telephone service in a specified position referred to in Article 70, § 1^er, 1°, of the law offered to the public via a public telephone network in a specified position that allows end users to give and receive local, national and international telephone calls;
3° Basic fixed public telephone network: fixed public telephone network referred to in Article 70, § 1^er2°, of the law used for the provision of the fixed geographic component of the universal service;
4° time to provide the connection to the basic fixed public telephone network: the period between when a valid contract is entered into between the provider of the fixed geographic component of the universal service and the subscriber and the time when the connection to the basic fixed public telephone network is put into service. This period is expressed in working days;
5° valid inconvenience call: the warning that a service is interrupted or that the quality of this service is diminished. This call comes from a final user or is eventually generated by network-specific control equipment. This is a network fault. Defects attributable to terminal equipment or lines and equipment beyond the network termination point are not included in the definition;
6° access line: a circuit capable of ensuring a simple connection in the 300-3400Hz band between a public network termination point and the local switch; this connection allows the provision of the public telephone service in a specified position;
7° delay in repairing an inconvenience: the delay between the time when an inconvenience is validly reported to the provider of the fixed geographic component of the universal service or is recognized by itself, and the time when the service is repaired and operated again normally. For public telephone stations the short period from the time when a default is found by the provider of the provision of public telephone stations or is reported to it, until the public telephone station operates again. Repair time is expressed in clock hours;
8° national deflection: a call to a correctly formed number, for which neither the occupancy tone, nor the call tone, nor a response signal are recognized on the caller's access line within 30 seconds. This period runs from the time the contact information for the linking is received by the network;
9° international failing call: either a call to a valid correctly formed number, for which neither the occupancy tone, nor the call tone, nor a response signal are recognized on the outgoing international circuit, within 30 seconds, or a call to a properly formed but erroneous number and that the provider of the fixed geographic component of the universal service is not able to verify as being wrong. This period runs from the time the contact information for the linking is received by the network;
10° rate of inconvenience of appeals: percentage of deficient calls compared to the total number of appeal attempts during the reporting period;
11° delay in establishing a national link: the delay between the time when the contact information required to establish the link is received by the network and the time when an occupancy or call key or response signal is recognized on the caller's access line. This period is expressed in seconds;
12° time to establish a link at the international level: the delay between the time when the international switch receives the call from the national network and the time when an occupancy or call key or response signal is returned to the national network. This period is expressed in seconds;
13° service with intervention of a standardist: international manual call service with intervention of a human operator for connections where an automatic call is impossible;
14° response time for services with intervention of a standardist: the delay between the time when the last number of addresses (addressing number) for services with intervention of a standardist is sent correctly and the time when the standardist responds to the calling subscriber to provide the requested service. This response time is expressed in seconds;
15° indirect benefit: the set of benefits, which can be financially evaluated, obtained by an operator because of its provision of one of the services presumed under the universal service referred to in section 68 of the Act, of which it would not benefit if it did not provide this service, more precisely the effects of notoriety on the brand of the company, the impact of advertising, the omnipresence cycle, the
16° response time for the telephone information service: the delay between the time when the last address number (addressing number) for the information services is sent correctly and the time when the operator or an equivalent automatic voice system responds to the caller to provide the requested information. This response time is expressed in seconds;
17° active penetration rate of mobile phone service accessible to the public: the relationship between the total number of users of a mobile phone service accessible to the public, which in the last three months have used one or more basic services of this mobile network, and the number of inhabitants of the Kingdom.
CHAPTER II. - Technical conditions for the provision of universal service services referred to in section 68 of the Act
Section I^re. - General
Art. 2. The basic quality requirements mentioned in this chapter are valid for a calendar year.
Section 2. - From the fixed geographic component of the universal service
Art. 3. Unless there is a force majeure or explicit agreement between the person and a provider of the fixed geographic component of the universal service, the person is required to apply its published terms and conditions of supply.
If a provider of the fixed geographic component of the universal service, in response to a specific request, unilaterally considers that it is not reasonable to maintain its terms and conditions of supply as published, it must in this case obtain the Institute's agreement prior to their modification.
Art. 4. The fixed geographic component of the universal service must meet the quality requirements set out in the following sections of this section for a time-frame year observation period, for the first time the calendar year following the date of entry into force of this Act. Quality requirements do not relate to communications using other services than the fixed geographic component of the universal service.
Without prejudice to section 69, § 2, of the Act, the King may, after the Institute's opinion, amend the technical conditions for the provision of the fixed geographic component referred to in paragraph 1^er if it determines that these services or comparable services are widely available, following a public consultation procedure referred to in section 140 of the Act.
Art. 5. With respect to the delivery time for the connection, at least 95% of the valid connection contracts entered into during the observation period and for which the subscriber did not request to be connected at a suitable time, must be executed within five working days.
If the delivery time exceeds the eight working days, from the ninth day after the establishment of a valid contract for which the subscriber did not request to be connected at a suitable time, the provider of the geographic area concerned provides an alternative solution until the connection is effectively implemented. This alternative solution is provided without additional cost to the provision of the fixed geographic component of the universal service to which the subscriber has subscribed.
The provider distinguishes the costs of commissioning the connection charges, it cannot require a second time of connection charges when the connection requested by the subscriber is actually carried out.
In at least 95% of cases of valid connecting contracts, the subscriber must be able to obtain a date for the provision of the connection no later than the first day after the registration of the application by the provider.
Art. 6. In order to establish its statistics, the provider uses the total number of valid contracts and connections during the reporting period for each category.
The following statistics will be provided:
- percentage of valid connection contracts for which another period was not agreed with the subscriber that was completed within five days;
- percentage of valid connection contracts for which another period was not agreed with the subscriber that was completed within eight days;
- time to achieve 95% of the connections in cases where the subscriber did not request to be connected at a suitable time;
- time to complete 99% of the connections in cases where the subscriber did not request to be connected at a suitable time;
- time to complete all connections for which the subscriber did not agree on a date with the provider;
- percentage of connections made on the agreed day with the subscriber.
With respect to the measurement, the provider uses the total number of connecting controls during the reporting period. In practice, the X^e working day (where X = number of days fixed in the quality objective) following the end of the month, the provider records all requests completed the previous month. For each application, the delivery time is calculated and this data allows to determine when 95 and 99 per cent of the connections were made.
The measurements only take into account the connections. Cases in which the subscriber requests a period exceeding the target set are not taken into account.
Art. 7. § 1^er. The rate of inconvenience per access line or the percentage of inconvenience on the total number of access lines cannot exceed 7.5% per observation period.
The counting of the inconvenience calls is based on valid inconvenience calls from users. For a call for more than one access line between a subscriber and a local switch, each of these access lines is taken into account. The inconvenience rate is measured by dividing the number of valid inconvenience calls made during the observation period by the average number of access lines during the same observation period.
§ 2. At least 80% of the access lines reported validly during the observation period must be lifted within 35 clock hours.
At least 95% of the access lines reported validly during the observation period must be lifted within 40 clock hours.
At least 99% of the access lines reported validly during the observation period must be lifted within 60 clock hours.
These percentages are calculated on the basis of all valid inconvenience calls and all repairs made during the observation period. Cases where the repair depends on an agreement between the provider and the subscriber are not taken into account. Cases that required access to the subscriber's facilities and for which access was not made possible by the subscriber at the scheduled time are also excluded.
§ 3. Separate statistics are provided for inconveniences on access lines and other disturbances.
Access lines:
- the maximum number of clock hours to lift 80% of the disturbances to the validly reported access lines;
- the maximum number of clock hours to lift 95% of the disturbances to the validly reported access lines;
- the maximum number of clock hours to lift 99% of the disturbances to the validly reported access lines;
- the maximum number of clock hours to lift 100% of the disturbances to the validly reported access lines.
Other disturbances:
- the maximum number of clock hours to lift 80% of other validly reported inconveniences;
- the maximum number of clock hours to lift 95% of other validly reported inconveniences;
- the maximum number of clock hours to lift 99% of other validly reported inconveniences;
- The maximum number of clock hours to lift 100% of other validly reported inconveniences.
Art. 8. By derogation from Article 7 of this Annex, the service providers shall ensure that the time for the removal of an inconvenience does not exceed 24 hours for the persons mentioned in 1° and 2° of paragraph 1^er section 115 of the Act, including Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
These specific requirements are met without cost supplement for beneficiaries.
The specific supply modalities applied to persons mentioned in 1° and 2° of paragraph 1^er section 115 of the Act is also subject to the assessment and advice of the Institute referred to in section 103 of the Act.
Art. 9. § 1^er. The inconvenience rate for the observation period on a geographical area of calls at the national level cannot exceed 1.5 per cent.
§ 2. To determine the rate of inconvenience on a geographic area of calls at the national level, the provider concerned calculates the percentage of inaccurate calls by observation period based on one of the following methods:
1° based on actual outgoing traffic data in a representative sample of local exchanges defined in agreement with the Institute;
2° based on test calls generated in a representative sample of local exchanges to a representative sample of terminal centrals defined in accordance with the Institute;
3° based on a combination of 1° and 2°.
Call monitoring shall be carried out for each Nth call where N is defined as the ratio between the total number of calls expected in the relevant time intervals and the number of observations required.
Only calls from and to PSTN/ISDN are taken into account.
In the event of trial calls, the choice of terminals must be weighted according to traffic.
The following accuracy must be achieved:
- for test calls, the number of observations made must be sufficient to provide an absolute accuracy rate of 0.1% or at least a relative accuracy rate of 10% with 95% reliability. The two digits requiring the smallest number of observations can be selected;
- for observations made at the local central processor level, the number of observations made must be sufficient to provide an absolute accuracy rate of 0.05% or at least a relative accuracy rate of 5% with 95% reliability. The provider can choose the accuracy rate for which the least observations are required.
The parameter measurement only applies to the provider's direct services.
Measurements must be planned so as to accurately reflect traffic variations during the different hours of a day, the days of a week and the months of a year.
§ 3. The following statistics are provided:
- percentage of nationally deficient calls;
- number of observations.
Art. 10. § 1^er. Linking time for 95% of national calls may not exceed 5 seconds.
§ 2. To determine the time frame for establishing a link at the national level, providers calculate the values of 95 per observation period^e percentile according to the measurement method prescribed in this paragraph.
The statistics are defined on the basis of one of the following measurement methods:
1° based on actual outgoing traffic data in a representative sample of local exchanges defined in agreement with the Institute;
2° based on test calls generated in a representative sample of local exchanges to a representative sample of terminal centrals defined in accordance with the Institute;
3° based on a combination of 1° and 2°.
Measurements must be planned so as to accurately reflect traffic variations at different times of one day, days of one week and month of a year. The number of observations must be at least 10,000 for a one-year observation period and 2500 for a three-month observation period, for each destination category. This applies to both monitoring and testing calls. Call monitoring can be performed for each Nth call, where N must be defined as the ratio between the total number of calls expected in the relevant time intervals and the total number of observations required. Missed calls are not included in the statistics. Only calls from and to PSTN/ISDN are taken into account.
§ 3. The following statistics are provided:
- the values of the 95th percentile for the time limit for establishing links at the national traffic level;
- the average time limit for establishing national links;
- the number of observations.
Art. 11. § 1^er. The inconvenience rate for the reporting period at the international level due to the provider's international direct links cannot exceed 5%.
§ 2. To determine the rate of international call inconvenience, the provider concerned calculates by observation period the percentage of deficient calls based on one of the following methods of measurement:
1° based on actual outgoing traffic data in a representative sample of local exchanges defined in agreement with the Institute;
2° based on test calls generated in a representative sample of local exchanges to a representative sample of terminal centrals defined in accordance with the Institute;
3° based on a combination of 1° and 2°.
Call monitoring shall be carried out for each Nth call where N is defined as the ratio between the total number of calls expected in the relevant time intervals and the number of observations required.
In the event of trial calls, the choice of terminals must be weighted according to traffic.
The following accuracy must be achieved:
- for test calls, the number of observations made must be sufficient to provide an absolute accuracy rate of 0.1% or at least a relative accuracy rate of 10% with 95% reliability. The two digits requiring the smallest number of observations can be selected;
- for observations made at the local central processor level, the number of observations made must be sufficient to provide an absolute accuracy rate of 0.05% or at least a relative accuracy rate of 5% with 95% reliability. The provider can choose the accuracy rate for which the least observations are required.
The parameter measurement only applies to the provider's direct services.
Measurements must be planned so as to accurately reflect traffic variations during the different hours of a day, the days of a week and the months of a year.
§ 3. The following statistics are provided:
1. the percentage of inconvenience of international calls;
2. the percentage of inconvenience of international appeals due to the direct international liaison of the provider;
3. the percentage of inconvenience of international appeals not attributable to the direct international liaison of the provider.
Art. 12. § 1^er. The average time limit for international calls must be less than 10 seconds.
§ 2. To determine the time frame for establishing an international link, providers calculate the values of 95 per observation period^e percentile according to the measurement method prescribed in this paragraph.
The statistics are defined on the basis of one of the following measurement methods:
1° based on actual outgoing traffic data in a representative sample of local exchanges defined in agreement with the Institute;
2° based on test calls generated in a representative sample of local exchanges to a representative sample of terminal centrals defined in accordance with the Institute;
3° based on a combination of 1° and 2°.
Measurements must be planned so as to accurately reflect traffic variations at different times of one day, days of one week and month of a year. The number of observations must be at least 10,000 for a one-year observation period and 2500 for a three-month observation period for each destination category. This applies to both monitoring and testing calls. Call monitoring can be performed for each Nth call, where N must be defined as the ratio between the total number of calls expected in the relevant time intervals and the total number of observations required. Missed calls are not included in the statistics.
§ 3. The following statistics are provided:
- values of 95^e percentile for the time limit for establishing international traffic links;
- average time limit for establishing international links;
- the number of observations.
Art. 13. § 1^er. The response time for services with the intervention of a standardist may not exceed 20 seconds on average.
§ 2. The measure will be carried out on the basis of all calls to services through the registered standardist during the reporting period.
§ 3. The following statistics will be provided:
- the average response time for services by standardist;
- the sum of the time limit for the establishment of the communication, the duration of the ringtone tone and the welcome message;
- the period between the end of the greeting and the time when the standardist answers the caller.
Art. 14. The general terms and conditions of the providers specify the terms and conditions for the award of compensation, the possible compensation and/or reimbursement policy. These terms and conditions are subject to the reasoned opinion of the telecommunications mediation service and to the advice of the Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Art. 15. With respect to fax communications referred to in Article 70, § 1, 2°, (b) of the Act, a fax terminal device of Group 3 (G3) must at least be able to synchronize with another fax terminal device of Group 3 (G3), and issue and receive a fax for any national communication.
With regard to communications by data transmission referred to in Article 70, § 1 2°, b) of the law, a terminal modem device of ITU V90 standard must be able to synchronize with another terminal modem device of ITU V90 standard, and to issue and receive digital data for any national communication.
Art. 16. By functional access to the Internet referred to in Article 70, § 1, 2°, c) of the law, it is understood that, through a specific contract with an Internet service provider, Internet access operates according to the transmission possibilities such as those defined for data transmission communications.
Art. 17. § 1. The service referred to in section 70, § 1, 2°, (d) of the law is granted to the subscriber late in payment, without interruption of the line, after the sending of a notice of reminder, by the ordinary postal channel, which remained without effect for a period of 14 days from the date of delivery. It is maintained for a minimum period of nonante calendar days and can only be granted to natural persons who use it for private domestic purposes.
During this period of non-ante days, the universal service provider offers the subscriber a reasonable fit.
In the event of an agreement, the nonante-day period is extended for the duration of the affixing plan. If there is no agreement, the provider must inform the subscriber of the opportunity to address the telecommunications mediation service.
The general terms and conditions of the service provider specify the general rules applicable to the development of suiting plans, the terms and conditions under which it may suspend the connection in the event of the customer's refusal of the posting plan, non-compliance with that plan or non-compliance with a posting plan under specific legislation. These terms and conditions are subject to the reasoned opinion of the telecommunications mediation service and to the advice of the Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
The provider is bound to respect the confidential nature of the information provided on the occasion of the application for a suit sheet.
In case of recourse to the collective debt settlement implemented by specific legislation, the service referred to in paragraph 1^er is maintained free of charge throughout the proceedings.
Without prejudice to Article 69, § 2 of the Act, the Institute may amend the technical conditions for the provision of the fixed geographic component referred to in paragraphs 1^er and 2 if it determines that these services or comparable services are widely available, following a public consultation procedure referred to in section 140 of the Act.
§ 2. The requirement for free maintenance for a minimum period of time is not applicable when it is a new subscriber who does not follow up within the time limit provided for in the recall of the first invoice, or who systematically pays its invoices too late, i.e. when the subscriber has already benefited from the minimum service plan for a period of 12 months.
Art. 18. The percentage of complex billing disputes and questions cannot exceed 1% of the total number of invoices sent.
In complex billing issues and challenges, questions and challenges cannot be resolved in a single telephone conversation.
Art. 19. In addition to the publication of the information provided in section 46 of this annex, the provider also calculates the actual values for each quarter according to the methods prescribed in sections 4 to 13 of this annex. These values shall be communicated to the Institute no later than one month after the expiry of the quarter in question, in accordance with the form set out in section 46 of this annex.
Art. 20. For the purposes of Article 5 and Article 7, § 2, of this Annex, the provider shall, in the event of force majeure, indicate to the interested users the time limit in which their application will likely be satisfied.
Art. 21. The provider provides subscribers with a support service. The support service is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The assistance service records subscribers' requests for the lifting of telephone inconvenience and the difficulties of obtaining a communication. It shall forward these requests to the relevant services as soon as possible. The assistance service referred to in Article 70, § 1, 2°, e), of the law is available free of charge.
Section 3. - The social component of the universal service
Art. 22. § 1^er. The operators apply, at least, the following detailed tariff reductions:
1. Social telephone rate
1.1. The social rate recipient can only have one telephone connection at a social rate and there can be only one beneficiary per household
1.2. The benefit of the social telephone rate may be granted upon request to any person:
1° is 65 years old:
- living alone;
- cohabiting with one or more persons aged 60 without prejudice to 1.3.
Can also cohabit with the recipient, his children and grandchildren. In addition, grandchildren must be orphaned as a father and mother or be entrusted to grandparents by judicial decision.
The age limit for children and grandchildren does not apply to descendants who are at least 66% of insufficiency or decrease in physical or mental capacity of the head of one or more conditions.
The gross income of the beneficiary, accumulated with the gross income of the persons who may cohabit with him under the above-mentioned 1st, shall not exceed the amounts fixed in accordance with Article 1^er§ 1^er of the Royal Decree of 1^er April 1981 fixing the annual amount of income referred to in Article 37, §§ 1^er2 and 4, and carrying out Article 49, § 5, paragraph 3, of the Compulsory Insurance, Health Care and Allowance Act, coordinated on 14 July 1994;
2° having a disability of at least 66% and 18 years of age completed:
- living alone;
- cohabiting either with two or more persons, or with parents or allies of the first or second degree.
The gross income of the beneficiary, accumulated with the gross income of the persons who may cohabit with him under the 2° above, shall not exceed the amounts fixed in accordance with Article 1^er§ 1^er of the Royal Decree of 1^er April 1981 fixing the annual amount of income referred to in Article 37, §§ 1^er2 and 4, and carrying out Article 49, § 5, paragraph 3, of the Compulsory Insurance, Health Care and Allowance Act, coordinated on 14 July 1994;
3° that is personally the subject of one of the following decisions:
(a) Decision to grant integration income under the Act of 26 May 2002 on the right to social integration;
(b) any other decision determined by the King, on the proposal of the Institute.
1.3. Living in a hotel, a rest home or in another form of community life does not open any rights to the benefit of the social telephone rate unless the recipient has a subscription in his or her own name and exclusive use.
1.4. Is considered to have a disability of at least 66%:
1° that has been declared by an administrative or judicial decision to be physically or mentally handicapped or permanently incapacitated for at least 66%;
2° for which, after the period of primary disability provided for in section 87 of the Compulsory Insurance, Health Care and Allowance Act, coordinated on July 14, 1994, a reduction in the capacity of gain at a rate equal to or less than a third party is recognized, as provided for in section 100 of the Act;
3° for which, as part of the income replacement allowance, a reduction in the gain capacity to a third party or less, as provided for in section 2 of the Act of 27 February 1987 on Disability Allowances, was found;
4° for which a reduction in the degree of autonomy of at least 9 points was found in accordance with the medico-social guide and scale applicable under the Act of 27 February 1987 on disability benefits.
1.5. Those already connected to the telephone who meet the conditions set are entitled to the social telephone rate at the expiry of the first maturity of their subscription following the introduction of the application.
1.6. The recipient of the social telephone rate:
1° immediately informs the operator that it no longer meets one of the conditions set to benefit from the tariff in question;
2° immediately completes the disbursements to which it would have escaped by unduly benefiting from the social telephone rate following, in particular, an incomplete or false statement about the conditions set.
1.7. The benefit of the social telephone rate is withdrawn at the first maturity of the subscription that follows the date on which it is no longer satisfied with the conditions set.
2. Social telephone rate for certain hearing impaired and laryngectomy
2.1. A social tariff is granted by the operators to certain hearing impaired persons and persons who have undergone laryngectomy. The applicant's installation must be equipped with a registered deaf telephone. If the said position is not provided by the operator, proof of purchase must be presented to the operator.
2.2. The reduction is only granted for one connection per beneficiary.
2.3. The benefit of the social telephone rate for certain hearing impaired persons and persons who have undergone laryngectomy may be granted, upon request, to any person who has a telephone network connection having:
1° is a minimum hearing loss of 70dB for the best ear according to the classification of the International Bureau of Audiophonology (BIAP);
2° has a laryngectomy.
Parents or grandparents, who have a telephone connection, may benefit from the rate in question if their child or grandchild, who lives at home, meets one of the above-mentioned conditions of disability.
2.4. The disability that opens the right to the aforementioned social telephone rate must be certified by an administrative or judicial decision.
2.5. Those already connected to the telephone who meet the conditions set are entitled to the above-mentioned social telephone rate on the expiry of the first maturity of their subscription following the introduction of the application.
2.6. The recipient of the social telephone rate in question:
1° immediately informs the operator that it no longer meets one of the conditions set to benefit from the tariff in question;
2° immediately completes the disbursements to which it would have escaped by unduly taking advantage of the said tariff following, in particular, an incomplete or false statement about the conditions set.
2.7. The benefit of the social telephone rate in favour of certain hearing impaired persons and persons with laryngectomy is withdrawn at the first maturity of the subscription that follows the date on which it is no longer satisfied with the conditions set.
3. Social telephone rate for the military blind of the war.
A social telephone rate is granted by the operators to the military blind of the war.
§ 2. A database is created at the Institute on the categories of beneficiaries of the social telephone rate.
As long as this is necessary for the application of the social telephone rate the database has:
1° access to the National Register of Physical Persons, established by the Act of 8 August 1983, which organizes a national register of natural persons;
2° the right to use the National Register ID number.
The operator who is requested by a beneficiary to grant the social rate, informs the database of this application. This checks whether the beneficiary has not already taken advantage of this right from another operator.
The Institute determines the evidence that it is satisfied with the conditions for granting the social telephone rate.
The Institute is empowered to verify, in collaboration with social tariff providers, whether the recipient is still entitled to the social rate. The Institute can only exercise this right once every two years.
Section 4. - Provision of public telephone stations
Art. 23. The provider ensures that each municipality is equipped with at least one public telephone station.
In addition, the provider ensures that:
1° 10,000 public telephone stations as long as the active penetration rate of the mobile public telephone service did not reach 80%;
2° 8,000 public telephone stations as long as the active penetration rate of the mobile public telephone service did not reach 85%;
3° 6,000 public telephone stations as long as the active penetration rate of the mobile public telephone service did not reach 90%;
4° 4,000 public telephone stations as long as the active penetration rate of the mobile public telephone service did not reach 95%;
5° 2,000 public telephone stations when the active penetration rate of the mobile public telephone service reached 95%.
The active penetration rate of the mobile public telephone service is set by the Institute.
Art. 24. The King, after the Institute's opinion, sets out the modalities for the distribution of the number of public telephone stations among the municipalities, taking into account the following criteria:
1° the density of the population;
2° the area;
3° coverage of mobile public telephone service.
Art. 25. § 1^er. At least 96% of public telephone disruptions must be lifted within 48 hours of the service provider's finding of inconvenience. Except as special circumstances allowed by the Institute, the remaining 4% must be lifted within 72 hours after the Universal Service Provider's notice of inconvenience.
These percentages must be calculated on the basis of all findings and repairs of inconvenience during the observation period.
§ 2. The proportion of public telephones in a state of operation must be at least 90%.
This percentage is calculated by measuring each day during the observation period the percentage of telephone stations in a state of operation compared to all the positions installed. A quarterly average of these percentages is then calculated.
The measure is carried out on the basis of all public telephone stations of the provider.
§ 3. The following statistics will be provided:
1. percentage of inconveniences raised within 48 hours after they were found by the provider;
2. percentage of inconveniences raised within 72 hours of the supplier ' s finding;
3. average percentage of telephone stations made available to the public by the service provider.
Art. 26. The advertising of information on public telephone stations is ensured annually by the provider by posting on or next to public telephone stations, in the visual field of them.
Information on public telephone stations includes:
- description of the service;
- rates, including differentiated rates and free access;
- technical conditions of use.
This information is, prior to publication, provided for information to the Telecommunications Mediation Service and the Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Art. 27. The King, after the Institute's advice and after consultation with the parties concerned, sets out the basic requirements to be met by the new public telephone stations that have just been installed to facilitate their use for disabled users. The above-mentioned Order will determine what to hear by public telephone stations that have just been installed.
Section 5. - Universal Intelligence Service
Art. 28. The universal information service orally provides to any person who requests it either the telephone number of another subscriber to the public telephone service for which the applicant has sufficient information to identify it, or the name and address of connection on the basis of the telephone number. The telephone information service does not provide any information relating to a subscriber with a private number, except for the confirmation of the existence of a private number at the address requested.
Art. 29. The response time for the universal intelligence service may not exceed 20 seconds on average.
The measure is based on all calls to the telephone information service registered during the reporting period.
The following statistics are provided:
- the average response time for the telephone information service;
- the percentage of calls that receive an answer within 20 seconds;
- the sum of the time limit for the establishment of the communication, the duration of the ringtone tone and the welcome message;
- the delay between the end of the greeting and the time at which the operator or an equivalent automatic voice system meets the caller.
Section 6. - From the layout of the universal directory
Art. 30. Except as otherwise granted by the Minister, on the proposal of the Institute, the provider shall distribute annually to each subscriber of a public telephone service, without the request of such subscribers to the address indicated on the contract, an updated copy of the universal directory, without prejudice to section 31 of this annex.
If there are several access lines on the same home address, the subscriber may request the provider of the geographic area concerned to receive as many copies as there are access lines.
A single universal directory is provided to the subscriber both to a public telephone service operator in a specific position and to a mobile public telephone operator.
The provider provides the Institute with three copies of the updated universal directory.
The provider also provides one or more copies of the universal directory to any person who makes the request.
Art. 31. § 1^er. In addition to the subscribed data collected in alphabetical order and by common, the universal directory should include information on services with special access as well as the following information:
- numbers of emergency services, in accordance with Article 107, § 1^erthe law;
- the list of all the corresponding localities and communes of the Kingdom with their postal numbers and the area codes therein;
- numbers of telephone services of general interest to operators whose subscribers are listed in the directory;
- the general information set by the Minister and the universal service information referred to in section 46 of this annex;
- addresses and telephone numbers of operators whose subscribers are listed in the directory;
- the country code, the main international guidelines and time lags;
- the reference to the website as provided for in article 32, paragraph 2, of this annex;
- the information known in relation to the services referred to in Article 45 of this annex that are presumed under the universal service.
§ 2. And for each operator whose subscribers are listed in the directory, and as long as this information has been provided in the agreed format:
- description of the service;
- rates;
- the technical conditions for the provision of public telephone service;
- possibly the quality of the services offered as measured by the Institute;
- the date on which this information was collected;
- the terms of access and contact information, on the one hand, of the Telecommunications Mediation Service and, on the other, of the Ethics Commission;
- information on the Institute's regulatory missions that may be of interest to users;
- the date on which the operators whose end users are listed in the directory have given the data to the publisher and the date on which the different operators provided the information in the directory.
Art. 32. A universal directory is printed on paper.
The information in the universal directory must also be made available by the provider via a non-paying functional website.
This website also offers the possibility to the subscriber to make it clear in a simple way that he wishes to obtain a copy of the universal directory on paper.
Except as granted by the Minister on the proposal of the Institute, each volume of the universal directory must at least cover a telephone area of a fixed service existing on the date of publication of the Royal Decree of 14 September 1999 on the conditions for the manufacture, editing and distribution of telephone directories and the Royal Decree of 13 June 1999 having the same object, in order to contain a minimum of seventy-five thousand subscriber data.
For the purposes of this article, municipalities in the Brussels-Capital region are considered to be a single municipality.
The criteria for editing the universal directory are decided by the Minister.
Art. 33. The provider shall communicate to the Institute, by 15 January, its annual program of closing and distribution dates of its universal directory.
CHAPTER III. - Financial conditions for the provision of universal service services under section 68 of the Act
Art. 34. § 1^er. The service provider referred to in section 71 of the Act applies a price that does not exceed the affordable price as defined in section 35 of this Schedule for the same provision of the public telephone service in a specified position.
§ 2. Without prejudice to § 1^erthe provider, as referred to in section 71 of the Act, may apply different rates for the same benefit. The differences in rates for the same benefit can only be based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria.
These differentiated rates are approved by the Institute and published before application to subscribers.
§ 3. The service provider referred to in section 71 of the Act provides the service referred to in section 70, paragraph 1 free of charge^er, 2°, d), of the law and its maintenance during the minimum period of nonante calendar days provided for in Article 17, § 1^er, para. 1^er, this annex.
§ 4. The tariff conditions established by the provider referred to in section 71 of the Act are communicated for information to the Telecommunications Mediation Service and the Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Art. 35. The provider referred to in section 71 of the Act applies to all end residential users an affordable rate that corresponds to the rate of public telephone service in a specified position, in accordance with the following rule:
For the consultation of the table, see image
where
T0 = rate for all public telephone services in a position determined as of December 31, 2000;
Tn = rate for all public telephone services in a position determined on December 31 of the year n, that is, the year under section 93 of the Act;
I0 = consumer price index as at December 31, 2000;
In-1= Consumer Price Index as at December 31 of year n-1, the year preceding the year under review as defined in section 93 of the Act.
The Minister determines the correction factor (= (a) every year after the Institute's notice, taking into account technological developments and productivity in the electronic communications sector.
The Minister, after the Institute's advice, sets out the weighting factor for the following witness benefits:
- connection and transfer charges;
- basic subscription fees;
- national traffic from subscriber positions to fixed stations;
- national traffic at the departure of subscribers to mobile stations;
- international traffic from subscriber positions;
- traffic from public telephone stations.
The concrete terms and conditions for calculating these rates are set out in section 36 of this annex.
The weighting factor and correction factor are published by the Institute on its website.
Art. 36. The Public Telephone Service Rate Index in a specific position is intended to measure the change in the time of the witness benefit rates representing all of the services of the public telephone service in a specified position of the provider.
The witnesses are:
1. Connection and transfer fees: maximum fee paid for connecting or transferring a subscriber line if any weighted according to the choice of possible rate plans observed over a two-month period on a representative sample of subscribers not subject to the randomly selected VAT from subscribers to a digital central at 2 per 1000. If the connection fee is different from the transfer charge, a weighted average price shall be taken into account as follows:
- connection: 71.85 per cent;
- transfer: 28.15 per cent.
2. Basic subscription reevance: subscription royalty in effect in the most costly geographic area possibly weighted according to the choice of possible rate plans offered throughout the territory observed over a period of two months on a representative sample of subscribers not subject to the A.T. randomly selected from subscribers to a digital central at 2 per 1000.
3. Trafic (national and international) at the departure of subscribers' positions: rates in effect in the most costly geographic area weighted on the basis of the different types of communications determined by the Institute observed for a period of two months on a representative sample of subscribers not subject to the V.A. randomly selected from subscribers connected to a digital central at 2 per 1000. When determining the rates in effect, consideration is given to possible tariff plans available throughout the territory observed over a period of two months on a representative sample of subscribers not subject to the A.T. randomly selected from subscribers to a digital central at 2 per 1000.
Art. 37. Providers ensure that the following emergency services are accessible directly and free of charge:
1° emergency medical service;
2° firefighters;
3° police services;
4° poison centre;
5° suicide prevention;
6° reception centres;
7° childcare services;
8° European Centre for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children.
Art. 38. The service providers referred to in section 74 of the Act shall, at least, apply the following tariff reductions on their standard rates for beneficiaries, except for persons referred to in section 22, § 1^er, 1.2, 3° of the schedule:
1° compensation for the provision of connection to a public telephone network in a specified position: 50% of the normal rate;
2° in case the consumer is required to pay the subscription fee and the appeal fee to the same supplier or in case it is only required to pay the appeal fee:
- a reduction of EUR 8.40 per month on the subscription fee in question provided that a subscription fee is payable;
- a reduction of EUR 6.20 per two-month period on appeal costs;
3° if the consumer is required to pay a subscription fee and a call fee to different suppliers: a reduction of EUR 23 per two-month period on the call fees, to be offered by the supplier that invoices the call fees.
With respect to persons referred to in Article 22, § 1^er, 1.2, 3° of the schedule, the social telephone rate is the provision of a prepayment card valued at EUR 6.20 per two-month period under the terms set by the Institute. Communications made using this card are charged at the normal rate.
Art. 39. The service provider referred to in section 87 of the law shall provide, without cost, to subscribers the distributions of the universal directory referred to in paragraph 1^er, 2 and 4 of Article 30 of this Annex.
In addition, the provider shall distribute the universal directory referred to in paragraph 5 of section 30 of this Schedule at a reasonable price.
CHAPTER IV. - Methodology for calculating the cost of services presumed under universal service referred to in section 68 of the Act
Section I^re. - General
Art. 40. The methodology for calculating the cost of universal service described in the following sections and the modalities for contribution to the universal service fund and the operation of the funds provided for in sections 92 to 102 of the Act apply in conditions identical to any service provider.
Section 2. - From the fixed geographic component of the universal service
Art. 41. The net cost of the fixed geographic component of the universal service for a geographic area is the difference between all costs defined in paragraph 2 and all revenues defined in paragraph 3, to which indirect benefits derived from the particular benefit are added.
Costs to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are the costs that could be avoided in the long term by the provider if it was not to provide the benefit under section 70 of the Act.
Revenues to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are revenues that the operator would not receive in the long term if it was not to provide the benefit provided by section 70 of the Act. These include:
- revenues resulting from installation fees;
- income from subscriptions;
- revenue from incoming calls;
- income from outgoing calls.
Costs are assessed on the basis of real cost accounting ("CCA").
The assessment of the net cost referred to in paragraph 1 includes the remuneration of the capital used for the provision of the fixed geographic component of the universal service calculated by the method determined by the Institute.
Section 3. - Public telephone stations
Art. 42. The net cost of making public telephone stations available is the difference between all costs defined in paragraph 2 and all revenues defined in paragraph 3, to which indirect benefits derived from the benefit are added.
Costs to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are the costs that could be avoided in the long term by the provider if it was not to provide the benefit provided by section 75 of the Act.
Revenues to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are revenues that the operator would not receive in the long term if it was not to provide the benefit provided by section 75 of the Act. These revenues include all revenues from calls made at the outset of these public telephone stations.
Costs are assessed on the basis of real cost accounting ("CCA").
The assessment of the net cost referred to in paragraph 1 includes the remuneration of the capital used for the provision of public pay telephones based on the methodology determined by the Institute.
Art. 43. The provider ensures that the following emergency services are accessible directly and free of charge from public pay telephones:
1° emergency medical service;
2° firefighters;
3° police services;
4° poison centre;
5° suicide prevention;
6° reception centres;
7° childcare services;
8° European Centre for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children.
Section 4. - Universal Intelligence Service
Art. 44. The net cost of the universal intelligence service is the difference between the total costs set out in paragraph 2 and all revenues defined in paragraph 3, to which indirect benefits derived from the benefit are added.
Costs to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are the costs that could be avoided in the long term by the provider if it was not to provide the benefit provided by section 79 of the Act.
Revenues to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are revenues that the operator would not receive in the long term if it was not to provide the benefit provided by section 79 of the Act. These revenues include revenue from calls to this service.
Costs are assessed on the basis of real cost accounting ("CCA").
The assessment of the net cost referred to in paragraph 1 includes the remuneration of the capital used for the universal information service calculated by the method determined by the Institute.
Section 5. - The universal directory
Art. 45. The net cost of making available to the universal directory is the difference between all costs defined in paragraph 2 and all revenues defined in paragraph 3, to which indirect benefits derived from the benefit concerned are added.
Costs to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are the costs that could be avoided in the long term by the provider if it was not to provide the benefit provided by section 86 of the Act.
Revenues to be taken into account in the calculation referred to in paragraph 1^er are revenues that the operator would not receive in the long term if it was not to provide the benefit provided by section 86 of the Act. These revenues include advertising revenues.
Costs and revenues are assessed on the basis of real cost accounting ("CCA").
The assessment of the net cost referred to in paragraph 1 includes the remuneration of the capital used for the provision of the universal directory calculated on the method determined by the Institute.
CHAPTER V. - Information and advertising
Art. 46. § 1^er. The provider of the fixed geographic component of the universal service publishes the following information, once a year, on a date and in accordance with the modalities defined by the Institute:
1. Name and address of the main seat;
2. The description of the interfaces of the connecting points used, including, where appropriate, the reference to national and/or international standards or recommendations for analog and/or digital networks:
- the interface for a simple connection;
- interface for multiple connection;
- the interface for direct selection (DDI);
- other interfaces used.
3. Changes to specific network characteristics that affect the proper operation of terminal equipment;
4. The description of the public telephone service in a specific position offered, including emergency services, information service and other free access services, namely:
- the terms and conditions for the provision of connections, including the control procedure and the conditions for connection of terminal equipment (i.e., requirements for terminal equipment, including, where applicable, the wiring conditions of the customer's premises and the installation of the connection point);
- the normal and specific supply modalities of the trouble-shooting service and types of maintenance services offered;
- the provision of emergency services;
- the billing arrangements, including intermediate billing and detailed billing;
- the procedure in case of non-payment of invoice.
5. The rates are:
- rates, including differentiated rates;
- free access;
- special rates;
- rates of technical benefits.
6. The delivery time of the initial connection:
- the percentage expressing the share of the valid connection contracts during the observation period during which the subscriber did not request to be connected at a suitable time, to which he was satisfied within five days;
- the percentage expressing the share of the valid connection contracts during the observation period during which the subscriber did not request to be connected at a specific time, to which he was satisfied within eight days;
- the percentage expressing the share of binding contracts valid during the observation period, to which it was satisfied on the agreed day between the operator and the applicant;
- values of 95^e percentile for the delivery time of a connection to the basic fixed public telephone network in cases where the subscriber did not request to be connected at a suitable time.
7. Percentage of inconvenience by access line:
- the percentage indicating the average number of inconveniences per access line and per observation period.
8. The time to repair an inconvenience, namely:
- the percentage of the disturbances raised within 35 clock hours that follow the time they were reported;
- the percentage of the disturbances raised within 40 clock hours that follow the time they were reported;
- the percentage of the disturbances raised within 60 clock hours that follow the time they were reported.
9. The percentage of calls at the national level for the observation period;
10. The percentage of international deficient calls for the observation period attributable to the direct international liaison of the provider;
11. The percentage of international deficient calls for the observation period that are not attributable to the direct international liaison of the provider;
12. The total percentage of international deficient calls for the observation period;
13. The values of the 95th percentile for the time frame for establishing a link at the national traffic level, and the average time frame for establishing national links, as well as the method of measurement used and accuracy;
14. The values of the 95th percentile for the time frame for establishing an international traffic link and the average time frame for establishing international links, as well as the method of measurement used and accuracy;
15. The maximum response time for services with the intervention of a standardist, i.e. the average response time for services with the intervention of a standardist, with the mention of the accuracy;
16. Complex billing challenges and issues, i.e., the percentage indicating the share of complex billing disputes and issues in relation to all invoices sent;
17. The terms and conditions for the award of compensation, the possible compensation and/or reimbursement policy.
The information to be published explicitly mentions, in addition to the above points, the requirements of sections 5 to 13 of this annex, which method has been used and the accuracy of the statistics.
§ 2. The provider of the provision of public telephone stations publishes the following information, once a year, on a date and in the manner defined by the Institute:
1. Name and address of the main seat;
2. With regard to the availability of public telephone stations:
- description of the service;
- rates, including differentiated rates and free access;
- technical conditions of use;
- possible payment methods;
- the terms and conditions for the provision of the trouble-shooting service.
3. The time limit for repairing a public telephone inconvenience, i.e., the percentage indicating the share of the disturbances raised within 48 hours after their finding by the universal service provider;
4. The share of public telephones in a state of operation, i.e., the percentage indicating the average share of public telephones in a state of operation.
The information to be published explicitly mentions, in addition to the above points, the requirements of sections 23 to 26 of this annex, which method has been used and the accuracy of the statistics.
§ 3. The universal intelligence service provider publishes the following information, once a year, on a date and in the manner defined by the Institute:
1. Name and address of the main seat;
2. Concerning the universal intelligence service:
- description of the service;
- the terms and conditions for the provision of the telephone information service.
3. Rates;
4. The following statistics:
- the average response time for the telephone information service;
- the sum of the time limit for the establishment of the communication, the duration of the ringtone tone and the welcome message;
- the time between the end of the greeting message and the time when the operator or an equivalent automatic voice system meets the caller.
The information to be published explicitly mentions, in addition to the above points, the requirements of sections 28 and 29 of this annex, which method has been used and the accuracy of the statistics.
§ 4. The service provider of the universal directory publishes the following information, once a year, on a date and in the manner defined by the Institute:
1. Name and address of the main seat;
2. Concerning the availability of the universal directory:
- description of the service;
- the modalities for the provision of the universal directory.
3. The number of universal directories that have been distributed over a period of one year.
Art. 47. The provider of the fixed geographic component of the universal service makes available free of charge to the publishers of the universal directory information, kept up-to-date, referred to in Article 46, § 1^er1, 4 and 5 of this annex.
The operators shall make available to the publishers of a universal directory the information, kept up to date, referred to in Article 31, § 2, of this annex.
The provider of the provision of public telephone stations shall make available to the publishers of a universal directory the information, kept up to date, referred to in Article 46, § 2, 1 and 2 of this annex.
The provider of the universal intelligence service shall make available to the universal directory publishers the updated information referred to in Article 46, § 3, 1, 2 and 3 of this annex free of charge.
The provider of the provision of the universal directory shall make available to the publishers of a universal directory free of charge, including to themselves, the information, kept up to date, referred to in Article 46, § 4, 1 and 2, of this annex.
Art. 48. § 1^er. In accordance with Article 106, § 3, the operator offers the following rates to schools, public libraries and hospitals:
1° the provision of a line whose capacity is equal to the capacity of the lines that the majority of the Belgian population uses to access data transport networks, including the Internet, is free;
2° the subscription fee is reduced by 50% compared to the normal rate.
The special fare applies only to limited use for connection to the Internet and its use. Any other type of connection is excluded from the benefit of this tariff.
The rate provided for in this paragraph shall be granted to schools, public libraries and hospitals upon request.
The request for the benefit of the tariff referred to in this paragraph must be submitted to an operator. The Institute determines the evidence that the conditions for the award of the tariff set out in this paragraph are met. These include proof of connection to an Internet service provider.
The recipient of the tariff referred to in this paragraph shall:
1° immediately inform the operator that it no longer meets one of the conditions set to benefit from the tariff in question;
2° to immediately complete the disbursements to which it would have escaped by unduly taking advantage of the tariff provided for in this paragraph, including an incomplete or false statement regarding the conditions set out.
The benefit of the rate set out in this paragraph shall be withdrawn at the first maturity of the subscription that follows the date on which it is no longer satisfied with the conditions set.
§ 2. A database on the categories of recipients of the tariff referred to in the preceding paragraph is established with the Institute.
The operator who is requested by a recipient to grant the tariff set out in the preceding paragraph shall inform the database of that request.
This checks whether the beneficiary has not already taken advantage of this right from another operator.
(This text replaces and cancels the one issued to the Belgian Monitor on 2 June 2005, p. 25653. )