Dienstequalitätsverordnung (DQV), measures for end-users with disabilities: real time text and total conversation for emergency calls, information on text-based emergency calls and on voice bandwidth, and the annual publication of the parameters

The Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH made the Dienstequalitätsverordnung (DQV) on the basis of section 46(4) of the TKG 2021, and Part II of the Federal Law Gazette for 2026 issued it as number 138 on 15 June 2026. Section 2 of the DQV applies it, except section 11, to all providers of internet access services and of publicly available interpersonal communications services that control at least some network components directly or through a service level agreement.

Section 11(1) of the DQV applies to providers of publicly available number-based interpersonal communications services and to network operators, unless they are microenterprises within the meaning of section 3, item 19 of the Barrierefreiheitsgesetz. Section 11(1) of the DQV requires them to offer real time text for emergency calls in addition to voice communication services, and total conversation services in addition to voice where video is provided.

Annex I Section IV(a) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 is the source of that duty. Section 3 of the DQV defines real time text as a form of text-based communication in which the text is sent so that the user perceives it as continuous, character by character. Section 10 of the DQV requires every provider it covers to state by which measures it provides text-based emergency calls.

Section 12 of the DQV requires every provider it covers to state the share of its end-customers to which it provides the sound transmission limit that section sets for voice telephony. Section 13(1) of the DQV requires every provider it covers to collect the data on the parameters of sections 4 to 10 and 12 each year by 31 March, to publish it by 30 April and to send it to the regulator.

Section 14 of the DQV lets the regulator verify the data of a provider, or have it verified by third parties, where the transmission is late, incomplete or implausible or the data are suspected of not matching the quality actually offered. Section 14(2) makes the provider bear the costs of the check, and section 14(3) requires the regulator to publish its results. Section 15 of the DQV sets 31 March 2027 as the first reference date under section 13.

Section 11(2) of the DQV requires the emergency call answering points to be technically equipped, from 28 June 2027 at the latest, to receive real time text and total conversation services. Section 2 of the DQV applies section 11(2) to providers of emergency services within the meaning of section 4, item 32 of the TKG 2021.

Section 4, item 32 of the TKG 2021 defines an emergency service as a service recognised as such by the State that gives immediate and rapid assistance under national law in situations of direct risk to life or limb, health, safety, property or the environment. Section 18 of the DQV provides that it takes effect on the day after its promulgation. The consolidated text of the DQV has been in force since 16 June 2026.

Item 2 of section 188(6) of the TKG 2021 lists a contravention of a Verordnung of the Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH made under the Act. Section 4, item 36 of the TKG 2021 defines a provider (Anbieter) as an enterprise that offers a communications service to the public. The Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH performs the tasks that the Act and the Verordnungen under it assign to the regulator. Fines that the Fernmeldebüro imposes under the Act fall to the federal government.

Section 188(7) of the TKG 2021 requires the authority, in setting a fine, to consider whether the offence was committed commercially or repeatedly, and to weigh the unlawful advantage gained by a commercial offence. Section 188(9) of the TKG 2021 excludes an administrative offence under section 188 where the act is a criminal offence within the jurisdiction of the courts or carries a stricter penalty under other administrative penal provisions.

Section 189 of the TKG 2021 lets the penalty decision for an offence under section 188(5) or (6) order its publication in one or more periodicals at the offender's cost, where the offender has already been punished twice for offences based on the same harmful tendency and further offences under the Act are to be feared.

Under section 9(1) of the Verwaltungsstrafgesetz 1991 (VStG), the person called to represent a legal person externally answers for its compliance with administrative provisions, unless a responsible officer has been appointed. Section 9(7) of the VStG makes the legal person jointly and severally liable for the fines imposed on that person or on a responsible officer, and for the costs of the proceedings.

Under section 184(1) of the TKG 2021, a regulator that has indications that an undertaking breaches the Act or a Verordnung made under it informs the undertaking and gives it the opportunity to comment or to remedy the defects within a reasonable time. If the defects have not been remedied when that time runs out, section 184(2) requires the regulator to establish them by decision and to order the appropriate measures that secure compliance, with a time limit.

Where those measures fail, section 184(3) lets the regulator suspend the right of an undertaking that has seriously or repeatedly breached its obligations to provide communications networks or services until the defects are remedied, or prohibit it from continuing to provide them. Item 17 of section 198 of the TKG 2021 assigns the decision under section 184(3) to the Telekom-Control-Kommission.

Section 190(1) of the TKG 2021 lets the regulator apply to the Cartel Court to fix and skim off the economic advantage that an undertaking gained by an unlawful act against the Act or a Verordnung adopted on the basis of it. The Cartel Court may set the amount at as much as 10% of the undertaking's previous-year turnover. Item 18 of section 198 of the TKG 2021 assigns the finding and the application provided for in section 190 to the Telekom-Control-Kommission.

Section 5(1) of the Verwaltungsvollstreckungsgesetz 1991 (VVG) enforces a duty to tolerate, to refrain or to act that a third party cannot carry out by coercive fines that hold the obligated party to its duty. Section 5(3) of the VVG caps each coercive fine at EUR 726. Section 5(4) of the VVG allows coercive fines against legal persons, other than public-law bodies, and against registered partnerships.