Czech RepublicElectronic Communications Act, section 69b, equivalent access and choice conditions and special prices for end-users with disabilities
§ 69b zákona č. 127/2005 Sb., o elektronických komunikacích
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- Where the Office has set conditions in the general authorisation under section 69b(1), give persons with disabilities access to publicly available electronic communications services equivalent to the access of other end-users and the same choice among services that other end-users have (s. 69b(1); Directive (EU) 2018/1972, Art. 111(1)).
- If the Office has decided under section 69b(2) that you provide a publicly available electronic communications service to consumers with special social needs at a price different from the normal market price, or under section 69b(3) that a uniform national price applies, provide the service at that price with a sufficient period of number availability and prevent unjustified disconnection (s. 69b(2), (3) and (6); Directive (EU) 2018/1972, Art. 85(2)).
- If you provide special rates or packages to consumers with special social needs, inform the Office without undue delay of the details of your offers at every change, and change or withdraw an offer when the Office imposes that to ensure transparency or non-discrimination (s. 69b(7) and (8); Directive (EU) 2018/1972, Art. 85(3)).
- A condition set in the general authorisation under section 69b(1) does not reach a provider of number-independent interpersonal communications services, which the general authorisation does not cover (s. 9(3)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
A breach of a condition set in a general authorisation under section 69b(1) is an offence under section 118(1)(l) (failing to meet a condition of a measure of general nature issued under section 9(2)) and carries the highest tier of section 118(26)(c). An offence under section 118(12)(q) (failing to inform the Office of offers under section 69b(7)) carries the lowest tier of section 118(26)(a), a fixed ceiling of 5,000,000 koruna with no turnover alternative. The ceiling for a legal person or a natural person doing business is 50,000,000 koruna or 10 percent of the net turnover for the last completed accounting period, whichever is higher, for the section 118(1)(l) offence (Electronic Communications Act, s. 118(26)). Neither the Act nor the Act on liability for offences (250/2016) multiplies the ceiling for a legal person, and the figure is a ceiling, not a floor. Section 41(2) of Act 250/2016 lets the ceiling of the most severely punished offence be raised by up to half where two or more offences are heard together, up to the sum of the ceilings. Section 120(3) doubles the rate of a fine where the same offence is committed again within 2 years of the day the earlier fine became final. Section 118(27) allows the decision to be published where the offence affects the rights of end-users. The Czech Telecommunication Office hears the offence and collects the fine (s. 120(1) and (2)). Section 120(4) sets a limitation period of 5 years, and liability ends no later than 8 years after the offence where the period is interrupted. A breach of a general-authorisation condition also starts the section 114 procedure: the Office calls on the provider to remedy it within 1 month, failing to remedy it or to report the remedy is an offence under section 118(5)(a) capped at 5,000,000 koruna (s. 118(26)(a)), and after a serious or repeated breach that is not remedied the Office suspends or ends the service (s. 114(4)). Section 118 names no separate offence for a section 69b(2) or (3) decision or the section 69b(6) service conditions. Section 122(4) lets the Office enforce a duty imposed under section 69b by coercive fines of up to 10,000,000 koruna in total.
- Rule
- Higher of
- As of
- Currency
- CZK
- Fixed cap
- 50,000,000
- Turnover percentage cap
- 10
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Czech Telecommunication Office (Český telekomunikační úřad), which hears the offences under the Electronic Communications Act and collects and enforces the fines (s. 120(1) and (2))
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
Section 63e(1) takes the listed sections out of the Act for a microenterprise that provides number-independent interpersonal communications services unless it also provides other electronic communications services, and section 63e(2) requires such a microenterprise to tell end-users so before the contract is concluded. Section 63e does not define the term; footnote 77 to section 63(4) names Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC on the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Section 9(3) excludes number-independent interpersonal communications services from the general authorisation, so a condition set under section 69b(1) does not reach them.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- an undertaking providing a publicly available electronic communications service (section 69b(1) and (2))
- not a microenterprise providing number-independent interpersonal communications services only (section 63e(1) lists section 69b)
What this law does
Article 111(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 requires Member States to ensure that the competent authorities specify requirements to be met by providers of publicly available electronic communications services so that end-users with disabilities have equivalent access to the services and benefit from the choice of undertakings and services available to the majority of end-users.
Section 69b(1) of the Electronic Communications Act (127/2005) lets the Czech Telecommunication Office set, in the general authorisation and after public consultation, conditions requiring providers of publicly available electronic communications services to give persons with disabilities access equivalent to that of other end-users and the same choice among services.
A general authorisation is a measure of general nature of the Office that is binding on the persons carrying out the communication activities it covers. Section 9(3) provides that the general authorisation does not extend to the provision of number-independent interpersonal communications services. Section 118(1)(l) makes it an offence in carrying out communication activity not to meet a condition of a measure of general nature issued pursuant to section 9(2).
Section 118(26)(c) allows a fine of at most 50,000,000 koruna or 10 percent of the offender's net turnover for the last completed accounting period, whichever is higher, for an offence pursuant to section 118(1)(a) to (l). Section 114(1) requires the Office, where a person does not meet the conditions of the general authorisation, to call on it to remedy the shortcomings within 1 month.
Section 118(5)(a) makes it an offence not to remedy the shortcomings within the time set under section 114(1) or not to inform the Office without delay that they have been remedied. Section 114(4) requires the Office to suspend or end the provision of the service where, after a serious or repeated breach, the person has not remedied it within the time the Office set.
Article 85(2) of the Directive lets Member States require providers to offer consumers with a low income or special social needs tariff options or packages different from those provided under normal commercial conditions.
Section 69b(2) lets the Office decide that a provider of a publicly available electronic communications service gives consumers with special social needs the service at a price different from the price in normal market conditions, and the State pays the provider's resulting loss through the Office. Section 69b(3) lets the Office decide, on the conditions of section 69b(2), that a uniform price applies across the whole country, set for example by the average price in normal market conditions.
Section 69b(4) lets the Office impose the section 69b(2) and (3) duties on only some providers where imposing them on all providers would clearly lead to an excessive administrative or financial burden. Section 69b(6) requires a service provided pursuant to section 69b(2) to have a sufficient period of number availability and to prevent unjustified disconnection of the service.
Section 69b(7) requires providers that offer special rates or packages to consumers with special social needs to inform the Office without undue delay of the details of their offers at every change. Article 85(3) of the Directive requires undertakings that provide such tariff options or packages to keep the national regulatory and other competent authorities informed of the details of such offers.
Section 69b(8) lets the Office impose a change or withdrawal of such an offer where transparency or non-discrimination would not be ensured. Section 118(12)(q) makes it an offence not to inform the Office of the details of offers at every change pursuant to section 69b(7). Section 118(26)(a) allows a fine of at most 5,000,000 koruna for an offence pursuant to section 118(12)(q) and (r).
Section 122(4) lets the Office enforce a duty imposed pursuant to the sections it lists, among them sections 38(2), 38(3), 69b and 71(1), by coercive fines of up to 10,000,000 koruna in total. Section 120(4) sets a limitation period of 5 years for an offence against the Act, and where the period is interrupted liability ends no later than 8 years after the offence.
Section 41(2) of the Act on liability for offences (250/2016) lets the authority raise the ceiling of the most severely punished offence by up to half where two or more offences are heard together, up to the sum of the ceilings for those offences.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app provides telecom services.
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