SpainReal Decreto 899/2009 (charter of rights of users of electronic communications services), Articles 26(4), 28 and 29, and Real Decreto 424/2005, Articles 30(2), 32(4) and 33, accessibility duties of operators and of the universal service operator
Real Decreto 899/2009 de 22 de mayo, carta de derechos del usuario de los servicios de comunicaciones electrónicas, arts. 26.4, 28 y 29, y Real Decreto 424/2005, de 15 de abril, arts. 30.2, 32.4 y 33
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- a regulation made under an act
What it requires
- Make your customer service accessible to users with disabilities as Article 3 of Real Decreto 1494/2007 provides (Real Decreto 899/2009, Art. 26(4)).
- On request, give subscribers with a visual disability, in accessible conditions and formats, the contracts, bills and other information you supply to all subscribers (Real Decreto 899/2009, Art. 28(2)).
- If you are the operator designated for the universal service, guarantee that end users with disabilities have access to the fixed-location telephone service on terms comparable to those offered to other end users (Real Decreto 899/2009, Art. 28(1); Real Decreto 424/2005, Art. 33(1)).
- If you are the operator designated for the telephone service, guarantee a sufficient and technologically up-to-date offer of special terminals adapted to the different types of disability, such as text telephones, videophones or amplified telephones for persons with hearing disabilities, or solutions that let persons with visual disabilities reach the contents of terminal screens, and publicize that offer sufficiently (Real Decreto 899/2009, Art. 28(1); Real Decreto 424/2005, Art. 33(2)).
- If you are the operator designated for the telephone service, on request give your blind or visually disabled subscribers the bills and the advertising and information given to other fixed-telephony subscribers in Braille, large print or an accessible electronic format, and give users who are blind or severely visually impaired, and subscribers whose household includes such a person, a franchise of 10 free monthly calls to the directory enquiry service (Real Decreto 424/2005, Art. 33(2)).
- If you are designated for the payphone service or the directory services under Real Decreto 424/2005, submit to the Ministry for approval plans to adapt payphones so that users with disabilities, in particular blind users, users in wheelchairs and users of short stature, can use them, and offer access to the telephone directories on the internet in a format accessible to users with disabilities (Real Decreto 899/2009, Art. 28(1); Real Decreto 424/2005, Arts. 30(2) and 32(4)); Article 37(1) of Ley 11/2022 no longer lists payphones or directories among the services of the universal service.
- If you are the operator designated for the universal service, offer your subscribers the price plans for users who are blind or severely visually impaired and for users who are deaf or severely hearing-impaired, the latter applying to calls to or from a text telephone made through the text-telephone relay service (Real Decreto 899/2009, Art. 29(b) and (c)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Under Ley 11/2022 a serious infringement is fined up to EUR 2,000,000 and a minor infringement up to EUR 100,000 (Article 109(1)(c) and (d)). The two ceilings are total caps per infringement, not daily amounts. Repeating a serious infringement, meaning a final administrative penalty for two or more infringements of the same type within three years, is a very serious infringement (Articles 106(16) and 109(6)) that carries a fine of up to EUR 20,000,000 and can bring disqualification from supplying networks or providing electronic communications services for up to five years (Article 109(1)(a) and (b)); repeating a minor infringement in the same way is a serious infringement (Article 107(44)). Where the offender is a legal person, its legal representatives and the members of its governing bodies who took part in the decision can also be fined up to EUR 5,000 for a minor, EUR 30,000 for a serious and EUR 60,000 for a very serious infringement (Article 109(5)). Article 110(1) grades the amount by factors that include the seriousness of earlier infringements, the damage caused, voluntary compliance with interim measures, obstruction of the inspection, cessation of the infringing activity, harm to users' rights and active cooperation with the authority. To enforce its decisions and information requests the Ministry or the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia can also impose coercive fines of EUR 125 to EUR 30,000 per day (additional provision 6), independent of and compatible with the penalties.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 2,000,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The head of the Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones e Infraestructuras Digitales imposes the sanctions in the cases not reserved to the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia or, for the data protection and privacy rights of Article 66, to the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (Ley 11/2022, Article 114(1)). The Ministry and the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia may require operators to supply the information needed to check compliance with the obligations that ensure equivalent access for end users with disabilities (Article 9(1)).
What this law does
Real Decreto 899/2009 was made at Madrid on . Under its fifth final provision, Real Decreto 899/2009 entered into force three months after its publication in the Boletín Oficial del Estado. Article 28(1) requires the operators designated for the universal service to guarantee that end users with disabilities have access to the fixed-location telephone service on terms comparable to those offered to other end users.
Article 28(1) requires the designated operator to guarantee a sufficient and technologically up-to-date offer of special terminals adapted to the different types of disability. Article 28(1) requires the designated operator to submit payphone adaptation plans to the Ministry for approval and to offer access to the telephone directories on the internet in a format accessible to users with disabilities.
Article 28(2) requires operators to give subscribers with a visual disability who ask, in accessible conditions and formats, the contracts, bills and other information supplied to all subscribers. Article 29 requires the designated operator to offer its subscribers price plans for the access to and use of the services included in the universal service.
Article 29(b) sets the plan for users who are blind or severely visually impaired as a franchise on calls to the directory enquiry service and the free receipt of bills and information in Braille or enlarged characters. Article 29(c) applies the plan for deaf or severely hearing-impaired users to calls to or from a text telephone that are made through the text-telephone relay service.
Article 26(4) requires the customer service of operators to be accessible to users with disabilities as Article 3 of Real Decreto 1494/2007 provides. Article 33 of Real Decreto 424/2005 binds the operators designated for the telephone service, the directory services or the payphone service to guarantee that end users with disabilities have access to those services at a level equivalent to that of other end users.
Article 33(2) of Real Decreto 424/2005 requires the designated operator to give blind or visually disabled subscribers who ask the bills and the advertising and information given to other fixed-telephony subscribers in Braille, large print or an accessible electronic format.
Article 33(2) of Real Decreto 424/2005 requires the designated operator to apply to users who are blind or severely visually impaired, and to subscribers whose household includes such a person, a franchise of 10 free monthly calls to the directory enquiry service. Real Decreto 1494/2007 gave Articles 30(2), 32(4) and 33(2) of Real Decreto 424/2005 their accessibility wording.
Transitional provision 1 of Ley 11/2022 keeps the regulations made under the earlier telecommunications laws in force in so far as they do not conflict with Ley 11/2022, until its implementing rules are approved. Article 37(1) of Ley 11/2022 lists as the services of the universal service an adequate broadband internet access service and voice communications services, both through an underlying connection at a fixed location, and no longer lists payphones or directories.
Article 111(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 requires competent authorities to specify the requirements that providers must meet so that end-users with disabilities have equivalent access and the same choice of undertakings and services. Article 107 classes as a serious infringement the breach of the public service obligations set out in Title III. Article 109(1)(c) sets the fine for a serious infringement at up to EUR 2,000,000.
Article 114(1)(c) gives the sanctioning power to the head of the Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones e Infraestructuras Digitales in the cases not reserved to the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia or the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app provides telecom services or ships a consumer interface.
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