LithuaniaElectronic Communications Law, Article 40(2), (3), (11) and (13), equivalent access and choice for end users with disabilities, and accessibility information for end users
40 str. 2 3, 11 ir 13 d., Elektroninių ryšių įstatymas Nr. IX-2135 (neįgalių galutinių paslaugų gavėjų lygiavertės galimybės ir informacija)
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you provide a public electronic communications service in Lithuania, ensure that end users with disabilities can use the electronic communications services that most end users use (Art. 40(11)); the provision has applied since .
- Ensure that end users with disabilities can use the benefits that the choice of providers and services made by most end users offers (Art. 40(11)).
- Follow any requirement the Communications Regulatory Authority sets on access to electronic communications services for end users with disabilities, real-time total conversation services included, and the standards and technical specifications it sets or recommends (Art. 40(11)).
- Publish and provide, under the Authority's Electronic Communications Service Provision Rules, information on the electronic communications services you provide and on the measures you have taken to ensure equivalent access for end users with disabilities, in the scope, content, form and by the means and terms the Authority sets (Art. 40(2)).
- Before the service contract is made, give the service recipient, and state in the contract, the information of the content and form that the Authority's Electronic Communications Service Provision Rules set (Art. 40(3)).
- If you are a very small enterprise, as the Law on the Development of Small and Medium-sized Business defines it, that provides only number-independent interpersonal communications services, Article 40 does not bind you except paragraphs 5, 7 and 13 (Art. 40(13)); tell end users, before you conclude a contract with them, that the exception applies to that contract (Art. 40(13)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Communications Regulatory Authority (Lietuvos Respublikos ryšių reguliavimo tarnyba, RRT), which examines infringements and imposes the economic sanctions under Articles 83 to 91 of the Electronic Communications Law
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
Article 40(13) of the Electronic Communications Law: "Šis straipsnis, išskyrus 5, 7 ir šią dalis, netaikomas ūkio subjektams, kurie pagal Smulkiojo ir vidutinio verslo plėtros įstatymą yra labai mažos įmonės ir kurie teikia tik su numeriu nesiejamas asmenų tarpusavio ryšio paslaugas." (Article 40, except paragraphs 5, 7 and 13, does not apply to economic operators that are very small enterprises under the Law on the Development of Small and Medium-sized Business and provide only number-independent interpersonal communications services). Article 3(3) of the Law on the Development of Small and Medium-sized Business (No. VIII-935) reads: "Labai maža įmonė – įmonė, kurioje dirba mažiau kaip 10 darbuotojų ir kurios finansiniai duomenys atitinka bent vieną iš šių sąlygų: 1 ) įmonės metinės pajamos neviršija 2 mln. eurų; 2 ) įmonės balanse nurodyto turto vertė neviršija 2 mln. eurų." (a very small enterprise is an enterprise with fewer than 10 employees whose financial data meet at least one of two conditions: annual revenue not above EUR 2 million; balance-sheet assets not above EUR 2 million). Article 2(7) of the same Law defines an enterprise as a legal person ("Įmonė – ekonominę veiklą vykdantis juridinis asmuo."), and Article 4(6) equates a natural person who carries on economic activity (verslininkas) to a very small, small or medium-sized enterprise by the same headcount and financial data ("Pagal šio straipsnio 1 dalyje nurodytą darbuotojų skaičių ir finansinius duomenis verslininkas prilyginamas labai mažai, mažai arba vidutinei įmonei."). Article 3(13) does not treat as a very small enterprise one in which the State or a municipality holds 25 percent or more of the capital or of the votes, save for the investors it names.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- a provider of public electronic communications services (viešųjų elektroninių ryšių paslaugų teikėjas)
- the provider is not a very small enterprise (labai maža įmonė), as the Law on the Development of Small and Medium-sized Business defines it, that provides only number-independent interpersonal communications services (Art. 40(13))
What this law does
Article 1(7) of the Electronic Communications Law states that the Law implements the European Union acts listed in its Annex 2. Point 14 of Annex 2 lists Directive (EU) 2018/1972, the European Electronic Communications Code. Article 3(34) defines a real-time total conversation service as a multimedia conversation service that carries two-way live video, text and voice between end users at separate locations.
Article 40(11) requires public electronic communications providers to ensure that end users with disabilities can use the electronic communications services that most end users use. Article 40(11) also requires them to ensure that end users with disabilities can use the benefits that the choice of providers and services made by most end users offers.
Article 40(11) lets the Authority set requirements for public electronic communications providers on access for end users with disabilities, real-time total conversation services included, with the standards or technical specifications to be followed or recommended.
Article 40(11) implements Article 111(1) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, which has Member States ensure that the competent authorities specify requirements for providers of publicly available electronic communications services so that end users with disabilities have access equivalent to that enjoyed by most end users and benefit from the choice of undertakings and services available to most end users.
Article 40(2) requires public electronic communications providers to publish and provide, under the Authority's Electronic Communications Service Provision Rules, information on the electronic communications services and on the measures taken to ensure equivalent access for end users with disabilities. Article 40(2) has the Authority set the scope, content, timing, form and means of the information to be published and provided.
Article 40(2) corresponds to the information that point 2.6 of Annex IX to Directive (EU) 2018/1972 describes as details of products and services specifically designed for end users with disabilities.
Article 40(2) also corresponds to Article 104(1) of the Directive: national regulatory authorities may require providers of internet access services and of publicly available interpersonal communications services to publish information on measures taken to ensure equivalence in access for end users with disabilities.
Article 40(3) requires public electronic communications providers to give the service recipient before the contract is made, and to state in the contract, the information of the content and form that the Authority's Electronic Communications Service Provision Rules set.
Article 40(13) disapplies Article 40, except paragraphs 5, 7 and 13, to a very small enterprise, as the Law on the Development of Small and Medium-sized Business defines it, that provides only number-independent interpersonal communications services. Article 40(13) requires such a very small enterprise to inform end users, before it concludes an electronic communications service contract with them, that the exception applies to that contract.
Act No. XIV-635 of restated the Law and brought it into force on . Article 41(1) of the Electronic Communications Law lets an end user bring a dispute with a provider to the Communications Regulatory Authority for out-of-court examination, and also go directly to court. Article 41(3) requires the end user first to apply to the provider in writing and state its claims, and the Authority refuses to examine a dispute brought to it without that step.
Article 41(5) has disputes between consumers and electronic communications providers examined by the procedure the Law on Consumer Rights Protection sets. Article 35(1) lets operators engage in electronic communications activity without a separate prior authorization from State institutions, provided they comply with the Law and the other legal acts that regulate their activity.
Article 36(2), point 7 lets the provisions of the Authority's legal acts setting the general conditions for engaging in electronic communications activity concern sector-specific consumer protection rules, including the access of end users with disabilities to public electronic communications services.
Article 83(1) has the Authority, when it finds that an operator does not comply with the legal acts setting the conditions for engaging in electronic communications activity or does not carry out the Authority's requirements given in the cases the Law sets, among the other failures it lists, notify the operator of the infringement in writing and give it at least 14 calendar days to state its view.
Article 83(2) allows the Authority to require that an infringement stop at once or within a period of at most one month. Article 83(3) allows the Authority to take other appropriate and proportionate measures to secure compliance with the legal acts, including the economic sanctions in Article 90. Article 83(3) also lets the Authority impose effective, proportionate and dissuasive economic sanctions even where the infringement has stopped.
Where an infringement is minor, in that the operator caused no material harm, stopped the infringement and removed its effects, and compliance can be secured by other means, Article 83(3) lets the Authority give a warning instead of an economic pecuniary sanction.
Article 83(10) applies the Law's enforcement chapter to operators insofar as it concerns their electronic communications activity, and leaves natural persons who do not engage in that activity, and the managers or other responsible persons of legal persons that do not, to the Code of Administrative Offences.
Article 90(1) sets a fine with a ceiling of 3 percent of the operator's total annual proceeds from electronic communications activity, or EUR 86,900 where those proceeds are hard or impossible to compute, for an operator that does not comply with the legal acts setting the conditions for engaging in electronic communications activity and for the other failures the paragraph lists.
Article 90(2) sets a fine with a ceiling of 5 percent of those proceeds, or EUR 144,800 where they are hard or impossible to compute, for a repeat of that infringement within a year of the earlier sanction. Article 90(3) sets a fine with a ceiling of EUR 2,900, or EUR 5,800 for a repeat within a year, where the annual proceeds fall short of EUR 86,900.
Article 90(4) sets a fine with a ceiling of EUR 14,500, and a ceiling of EUR 1,500 for each day of a continuing violation, for an operator that does not carry out the Authority's requirements and for the other failures the paragraph lists.
Article 90(5) has the Authority bar an operator from providing electronic communications networks or services for a period of at most three years, or suspend for at most three years or revoke the right to use electronic communications resources, for a gross or systematic breach of the obligations the paragraph lists.
Article 90(6) treats as gross an infringement under Article 90(5) that caused damage above EUR 86,900 or serious consequences, an interruption of public electronic communications networks or services to other operators or to end users, and as systematic one committed three or more times within a year.
Article 90(7) has the Authority, together with the sanctions in Article 90(1) to (5), order the confiscation of the items that were the instrument or direct object of the infringement, or order the operator to make good the damage its unlawful act caused, or both. Article 91(2) sets the base amount of a fine at 50 percent of the maximum, lowered where only mitigating circumstances are found and raised where only aggravating circumstances are found.
Article 91(3) takes the total annual revenue for Article 90(1) and (2) from the operator's revenue from electronic communications activity in the previous reporting year. Article 87(2) bars economic sanctions for an infringement committed more than 5 years earlier or, for a continuing infringement, more than 3 years after it was detected.
The edition of the Law that applied from already set the fines in Article 90(1) with a ceiling of 3 percent of the operator's total annual proceeds from electronic communications activity, or EUR 86,900 where those proceeds are hard or impossible to compute. Act No. XV-815 of amended Articles 83 and 90 of the Law, among others, from . Act No. XV-920 of amended Articles 83, 90, 91 and 95 of the Law from .
Under Article 5(2) of Act No. XV-920, decisions imposing an economic pecuniary sanction that the Authority adopted and that became final by are executed under the provisions of the Law in force until that day.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface or provides telecom services.
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