European Communities (Electronic Communicationsnetworks and Services)(Universal Service and Users' Rights) Regulations, 2003

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 308/2003
• Year: 2003

Corrigendum
S.I. No. 308 of 2003
On page 2, Regulation 1(1),, should read as follows:
“These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Universal Service and Users' Rights) Regulations 2003.”
S.I. No. 308 of 2003
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS AND SERVICES)(UNIVERSAL SERVICE AND USERS' RIGHTS) REGULATIONS 2003
I, Dermot Ahern, Minister for Communications, Marine, and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Directive No. 2002/22/EC1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002, hereby make the following regulations:
	Citation and commencement	1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Electronic Communications)(Universal Service and Users' Rights) Regulations 2003.
(2) These Regulations, other than Regulations 7 and 29, come into operation on 25 July 2003.
(3) Regulations 7 and 29 come into operation on the making of these Regulations.
	Interpretation	2. (1) For the purposes of these Regulations, the definitions as set out in Regulation 2(1) of the Framework Regulations apply.
(2) In these Regulations, except where the context otherwise requires:
“Act of 2002” means the Communications Regulation Act 2002 (No. 20 of 2002;
“designated undertaking” means an undertaking designated under Regulation 7;
“Framework Regulations” means the European Communities (Electronic Communications)(Framework) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 307 of 2003 );
“geographic number” means a number from the national numbering scheme where part of its digit structure contains geographic significance used for routing calls to the physical location of the network termination point;
“Minister” means the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources;
“network termination point” means the physical point at which a subscriber is provided with access to a public communications network; in the case of networks involving switching or routing, the network termination point is identified by means of a specific network address, which may be linked to a subscriber number or name;
“non-geographic number” means a number from the national numbering scheme that is not a geographic number and includes a mobile, freephone and premium rate number;
“publicly available telephone service” means a service available to the public for originating and receiving national and international calls and access to emergency services through a number or numbers in a national or international telephone numbering plan, and in addition may, where relevant, include one or more of the following services: the provision of operator assistance, directory inquiry services, directories provision of public pay phones, provision of service under special terms, provision of special facilities for customers with disabilities or special social needs or the provision of non-geographic services or both;
“public pay telephone” means a telephone available to the general public for the use of which the means of payment may include coins credit cards, debit cards or pre-payment cards, including cards for use with dialling codes;
“public telephone network” means an electronic communications network which is used to provide publicly available telephone services;it supports the transfer between network termination points of speech communications, and also other forms for communication, such as facsimile and data;
“Regulations of 1999” means the European Communities (Voice Telephony and Universal Service) Regulations 1999 ( S.I. No. 71 of 1999 );
“Regulator” means the Commission for Communications Regulation;
“retail market” means a relevant market involving the provision of products or services to end-users;
“Universal Service Directive” means Directive No. 2002/22/EC1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March, 2002, on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services;
“universal service obligation” means an obligation imposed on an undertaking under Regulation 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 or 9.
(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Universal Service Directive or in the Framework Directive has unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations that it has in those Directives.
(3) In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears —
(a) a reference to a Regulation or Schedule is a reference to a Regulation of or Schedule to these Regulations; and
(b) a reference to a paragraph or subparagraph is reference to a paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs.
(4) In these Regulations a reference to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to the enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment including these Regulations.
	Provision of access at a fixed location	3. (1) A designated undertaking shall satisfy any reasonable request to provide at a fixed location—
(a) connections to the public telephone network, and
(b) access to publicly available telephone services.
(2) Any connection provided by a designated undertaking shall be capable of allowing end-users to make and receive —
(a) local, national and international telephone calls,
(b) facsimile communications, and
(c) data communications at data rates that are sufficient to permit functional Internet access,
taking into account prevailing technologies used by the majority of subscribers and technological feasibility.
(3) Where a designated undertaking denies any reasonable request made under paragraph (1) it shall inform the person making the request of his or her right to pursue the dispute resolution procedures in accordance with Regulation 28.
(4) The Regulator may, with the consent of the Minister, for the purposes of the services referred to in this Regulation, specify requirements to be complied with by a designated undertaking in relation to —
(a) functional Internet access, having regard to prevailing technologies used by the majority of subscribers and to technological feasibility,
(b) the reasonableness of requests for connection at a fixed location to the public telephone network and for access to publicly available telephone services at a fixed location pursuant to paragraph (1),
(c) the provision of operator assistance for the purpose of handling calls to the emergency services using the single European emergency call number “112” or any national emergency call number that may be specified by the Regulator, and
(d) the terms and conditions upon which connection and access referred to in paragraph (1) shall be provided.
(5) The Minister may by notification require the Regulator to make such arrangements as may be specified in the requirement for the purposes of paragraph (4)(c). The Regulator shall comply with the requirement.
	Directory inquiry services and directories	4. (1) A designated undertaking shall ensure, based on data provided to it in accordance with paragraph (3) —
(a) that a comprehensive directory of subscribers is made available to all end-users in a form approved of by the Regulator, whether printed or electronic or both, and is updated at least once in each year, or
(b) that a comprehensive telephone directory inquiry service is made available to all end-users, including users of public pay telephones.
(2) A directory or directory inquiry service referred to in paragraph (1 shall comprise, subject to Regulation 8 of the European Communities (Data Protection and Privacy in Telecommunications) Regulations 2002 ( S.I. No. 192 of 2002 ) all subscribers of publicly available telephone services in the State including those with fixed, mobile and personal numbers, who have not refused to be included in such directories.
(3) A designated undertaking shall, subject to Regulation 10 of the European Communities (Data Protection and Privacy in Telecommunications) Regulations 2002 ( S.I. No. 192 of 2002 ) keep a record (to be known as the National Directory Database) of all subscribers of publicly available telephone services in the State including those with fixed, personal and mobile numbers, who have not refused to be included in that record, and allow access to any information contained in such record to any other such undertaking or any person in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be specified by it and approved by the Regulator.
(4) A designated undertaking shall for the purposes of this Regulation apply the principle of non-discrimination to the treatment of information that has been provided to it by other undertakings or which it has in its possession or under its control.
(5) A reference in the European Communities (Data Protection and Privacy in Telecommunications) Regulations 2002 ( S.I. No. 192 of 2002 ) to Regulation 10(2) of the Regulations of 1999 shall be read as a reference to paragraph (4).
	Public pay telephones	5. (1) A designated undertaking shall ensure that public pay telephones are provided to meet the reasonable needs of end-users in terms of the geographical coverage, the number of telephones, the accessibility of such telephones to disabled users and the quality of services.
(2) The Regulator may, with the consent of the Minister, specify terms and conditions applicable to the provision of public pay telephones, for the purpose of ensuring that the requirements specified in paragraph (1) are met.
(3) Where the Regulator determines, after consultation with the Minister and having regard to views expressed to it pursuant to a public consultation carried out in accordance with Regulation 27, that there exists a sufficient number of public pay telephones in any geographic area to satisfy the reasonable needs for such service in that area...