Law / Italy

Resolution 290/21/CONS of the Authority for Communications Guarantees, measures reserved for consumers with disabilities for fixed and mobile electronic communications services, as amended by Resolutions 36/23/CONS, 251/23/CONS and 281/24/CONS

Delibera AGCOM n. 290/21/CONS, artt. 2-9 e 11

In force.

An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.

What it requires

If you provide fixed or mobile electronic communications services to consumers and are not a micro, small or medium enterprise as Article 1(1)(n) to (p) defines them, Resolution 290/21/CONS applies to you; the micro enterprise has fewer than 10 persons and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not above EUR 2 million, the small enterprise fewer than 50 persons and not above EUR 10 million, and the medium enterprise fewer than 250 persons with an annual turnover not above EUR 50 million or a balance sheet total not above EUR 43 million (Articles 1(1)(n) to (p) and 2(4)).
If you are a micro, small or medium enterprise and offer facilitations to these consumers of your own accord, advertise them on your website as Article 6(1) and (2) provide (Article 2(4)).
As a fixed-network operator, give deaf, totally blind, partially blind and seriously walking-limited consumers a 50% reduction of the monthly fee on the base price of all flat and semi-flat voice and data offers and of internet-only offers, whatever the technology and speed, and carry out their tariff plan upgrades free of charge where technically possible (Article 4(1)).
As a mobile network operator or mobile virtual network operator, give those consumers a 50% discount on the base price of at least one offer in each of three bands of data allowance, below the threshold (50 gigabytes at first application, and above 20 gigabytes), above the threshold, and unlimited, chosen among the best-selling subscribable offers (Article 5(1)).
Add to those discounted mobile offers an offer, among those reserved for minors, that complies with the parental control guidelines of Resolution 9/23/CONS, and accept an application for a minor who cannot hold the SIM from the person exercising parental responsibility, with supporting documents (Article 5(1-bis) and (3-bis), added by Resolution 251/23/CONS).
Deal with an application within 30 days of receiving the medical certification or the handicap record; the facilitation runs from the date you receive the application (Articles 4(2) and 5(2)).
Give each beneficiary the facilitation for one fixed connection and one mobile number only, let a partially blind or seriously walking-limited consumer claim only one of the facilitations of Articles 4 and 5, and do not grant it to a requester who already benefits from government measures giving a similar discount on ultra-broadband offers (Articles 2(3), 2(5), 4(6) and 5(4)).
As a universal service provider, give new deaf, totally blind and partially blind customers ADSL access free of charge and without activation and deactivation costs (Article 3(2)).
Keep giving deaf consumers who had the exemption from the telephone subscription fee when the resolution was published, and deaf and blind consumers who had 180 hours of free browsing on a metered internet offer, those facilitations for the whole contract (Article 3(1)).
Publish on your website a page named Agevolazioni per utenti con disabilità with detailed information on the fixed and mobile offers and the application forms, linked from the home page, with contents that follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a form that can be completed on the website and sent through your digital channels, and the option to name a person who manages the contract, advertised on the page and indicated on the bill (Article 6).
On request of totally or partially blind consumers of Article 1(1)(j) and (k), send the bill free of charge in PDF or another format compatible with assistive reading technologies, at the e-mail address the consumer indicates (Article 7(1)).
Provide a free dedicated digital channel, open from 8 a.m. to midnight, through which the beneficiaries can report a fault or the theft of a mobile terminal, ask for technical assistance, file a complaint and receive information after identification, and give priority to their repair requests over simultaneous requests from other users within the terms of the service charter (Article 8(1) and (2)).
As a fixed-network operator, provide a global conversation service, at a price not above the base tariff of a national call and modulated to compensate for the longer duration of the call, keeping the information exchanged confidential, available in the daytime (Article 9(1)).
Report to the Authority by 30 January of each year the number of facilitations in place at 31 December of the previous year, by type of service, fixed or mobile, and by category of disability (Article 2 of Resolution 281/24/CONS).
Promote further advanced support services for persons with disabilities, based on modern digital technologies, and inform the Authority of them (Article 8(3)).
Advertise the facilitations of the resolution promptly, in the most suitable way, to all potential beneficiaries (Article 11(3)).

These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.

If you get it wrong

Penalty structure

Article 30(12) of the Code fines with EUR 240,000 to EUR 5,000,000 a person who does not comply with the orders, warnings or regulatory acts adopted under the decree, which the Ministry or the Authority imposes according to their respective competences, and orders the refund of sums wrongly charged to users within a term of not less than thirty days. Article 30(27) provides that the Authority's sanctions under Article 30 may be reduced, up to one third, having regard to the minor extent of the violation, the action taken to remove or reduce its consequences and the operator's economic size, and Article 30(24) excludes payment of those sanctions in a reduced amount under Article 16 of Law 689/1981.

Rule: Fixed only
As of: 9 November 2026
Minimum: 240,000
Currency: EUR
Fixed cap: 5,000,000

Who enforces it

Enforcement body

The Authority for Communications Guarantees (Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni, AGCOM) or the Ministry, according to their respective competences

What it reaches

Instrument type

a regulation made under an act

Applicability criteria

As of

9 November 2026

Combinator

All of

Criteria

a fixed-network operator, a mobile network operator or a mobile virtual network operator providing electronic communications services to consumers (Articles 4(1) and 5(1))
not a micro, small or medium enterprise under Article 1(1)(n) to (p), which are defined as: micro, an enterprise that employs fewer than 10 persons and has an annual turnover or an annual balance sheet total not above EUR 2 million; small, fewer than 50 persons and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not above EUR 10 million; medium, fewer than 250 persons and an annual turnover not above EUR 50 million or an annual balance sheet total not above EUR 43 million

What this law does

Drafted with AI

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page. How this site is made

Research summary

Legal information, not legal advice. This is LexLint's own research summary of a public legal source, and it creates no attorney-client relationship. For decisions that matter, consult qualified counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. About LexLint

Resolution 290/21/CONS was adopted on 23 September 2021 and published on the Authority's website on 14 October 2021. Article 2(1) states that the resolution lays down how Articles 57 and 73-bis of the earlier Code on facilitations for consumers with disabilities are applied.

The Authority's Resolution 281/24/CONS records that the recast Code substantially confirms and widens the content and purpose of the provisions on equivalent access and choice for users with disabilities that the resolution applied. Article 2(2) applies the resolution to deaf consumers, totally blind consumers, partially blind consumers and invalids with serious limitations of the capacity to walk.

Article 4(1) requires fixed-network operators to give those consumers a reduction of half of the monthly fee on the base price of all flat and semi-flat voice and data offers and of internet-only offers, whatever the technology and speed, and to carry out a request for a tariff plan upgrade free of charge where technically possible.

Article 5(1) requires mobile network operators and mobile virtual network operators to give those consumers a discount of half on the base price of at least one offer in each of three bands of data allowance, defined by a threshold set at first application, with the third band unlimited. Article 3(2) requires universal service providers to give new deaf, totally blind and partially blind customers ADSL access free of charge and without activation and deactivation costs.

Article 3(1) lets deaf consumers who had the exemption from the telephone subscription fee when the resolution was published, and deaf and blind consumers who had 180 hours of free browsing on a metered internet offer, keep those facilitations for the whole contract. Resolution 251/23/CONS added to Article 5 a paragraph 3-bis allowing the person exercising parental responsibility to apply for a minor with a disability who cannot hold the SIM for reasons of age.

Resolution 251/23/CONS added to Article 5 a paragraph 1-bis requiring operators to add to the discounted mobile offers an offer, among those reserved for minors, that complies with the parental control guidelines.

Article 6(1) requires operators to publish on their website a page named Agevolazioni per utenti con disabilità, linked from the home page, with detailed information on the fixed and mobile offers and the application forms, which can be completed on the website and sent through the digital channels the operator makes available. Article 6(3) requires the contents of that page to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, in compliance with Law 4/2004.

Article 6(2) requires the application form to let those consumers name a person who manages the contract, which is revocable at any time and is advertised on the page and indicated on the bill. Article 7(1) requires operators, on request of totally blind and partially blind consumers of Article 1(1)(j) and (k), to send the bill free of charge in PDF or another format compatible with assistive reading technologies.

Article 8(1) requires operators to provide a free dedicated digital channel, open from 8 a.m. to midnight, for assistance to those consumers, and Article 8(2) requires them to give priority to the repair of faults reported by those consumers. Article 8(3) requires operators to promote further advanced support services for persons with disabilities, based on modern digital technologies, and to inform the Authority of them.

Article 9(1) requires fixed-network operators to provide a global conversation service, at a price not above the base tariff of a national call, with confidentiality of the information exchanged, available in the daytime. Article 2(4) provides that, in the interest of proportionality, micro, small and medium enterprises are not required to apply the resolution. Article 2(4) requires such an enterprise that offers facilitations of its own accord to advertise them as Article 6(1) and (2) provide.

Article 10 applies to a violation of the resolution the sanctions of Article 98(11) of the earlier Code. Article 30 of the current Code lists Article 98 of the 2003 Code among its predecessors. Article 30(12) of the current Code fines a failure to comply with the regulatory acts adopted under the decree with EUR 240,000 to EUR 5,000,000.

Article 2 of Resolution 281/24/CONS requires operators to report to the Authority by 30 January of each year the number of facilitations in place at 31 December of the previous year, by type of service and category of disability. Resolution 281/24/CONS ended the experimental period and gave invalids with serious limitations of the capacity to walk access to the facilitations of Articles 4 to 8 without any time limit.

Article 11(1) and (2) gave operators 45 days from the resolution's publication on the Authority's website to update their web pages, and 180 days to make the facilitations and the assistance service available. Article 11(3) requires operators to advertise the resolution promptly, in the most suitable way, to all potential beneficiaries.

Article 30(14) of the Code lets the Ministry, on the Authority's report and after notice of the charge, suspend the authorised activity for up to six months or revoke the general authorisation and any rights of use where a violation under paragraph 12 or 15 is particularly serious or is repeated more than twice in five years.

When LexLint raises it

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Page updated 9 November 2026.