Electronic Communications Law, Article 40(8), access to emergency services for end users with disabilities

Article 40(8) requires all providers of public electronic communications networks and of public number-based interpersonal communications services, under the conditions and procedure the Authority sets, to ensure free of charge that their end users, end users with disabilities included, can use the services of the bodies that handle emergency calls.

Article 40(8) also requires the providers, in line with the EU acts that harmonize accessibility requirements for products and services and the national provisions that implement them, to ensure that end users with disabilities can use those services on terms equivalent to those of other end users.

Article 40(8) implements Article 109(5) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, which has Member States ensure that access for end users with disabilities to emergency services is available through emergency communications and is equivalent to that enjoyed by other end users.

The first sentence of Article 40(8) corresponds to Article 109(1) of the Directive, which has Member States ensure that all end users of the services it covers can access the emergency services through emergency communications free of charge and without having to use any means of payment. The Authority's Council decision No. TN-178 states that it is made under Article 40(8) and Article 80(2) of the Law.

Act No. XIV-635 of 11 November 2021 restated the Law and brought it into force on 1 December 2021. 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 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 1 December 2021 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 16 April 2026 amended Articles 83 and 90 of the Law, among others, from 1 July 2026. Act No. XV-920 of 12 May 2026 amended Articles 83, 90, 91 and 95 of the Law from 30 June 2026.

Under Article 5(2) of Act No. XV-920, decisions imposing an economic pecuniary sanction that the Authority adopted and that became final by 29 June 2026 are executed under the provisions of the Law in force until that day.