Press Releases

Your subscription to telephony, internet or television services – when do you pay delay penalties?

29.09.2016
 
 
The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications of Romania (ANCOM) reminds the subscribers of telephony, internet or television services that early termination of a contract, before the expiry of the minimum contract period provided in it will usually involve the payment of penalties.
Early termination penalties
The users that wish to terminate the contract by which they subscribe to electronic communications services (telephony, internet, television) should check whether the minimum contract period has expired (usually, 12 or 24 months), and - if it has not - what are the due amounts for contract termination before the expiry of the respective period.
This is applicable also to those who wish to port their telephone number, since the submission of a porting request involves terminating the (fixed of mobile) telephony contract with the provider of the donor network.
The amounts charged for early termination or their calculation method should be provided in the contract, along the minimum contract period and other contract termination conditions.
The provision, in the contract, of delay penalties should a user wish to terminate his/her contract before the expiry of the minimum contract period is not forbidden, but the method by which the providers can establish penalties is regulated by the legislative framework in the field of consumer protection. According to these legal provisions, imposing a fixed amount by contract, where a user unilaterally terminates the contract is an abuse. Further details are available here.   
About what, how and where to complain
If a user deems that the early termination penalties provided in his/her contract are abusive, he/she may address the National Authority for Consumer Protection(ANPC). This institution may assess the existence of an abusive clause, and the Court of Law may decide the amendment of contracts under execution or the removal of the respective clauses from standard-contracts based on which new contracts are concluded with the end-users.
The users may address ANCOM where the contract for the provision of electronic communications services does not provide any clause on its duration or where a provider charges early termination amounts that have not been provided in the contract, following the steps in section Complain to ANCOM. 
For contracts concluded with residential users, ANCOM can, as well, sanction the providers if the minimum contract period exceeds 24 months or if they do not offer the possibility to conclude contracts for maximum 12 months. Additional information is available on the InfoCentre section of the Authority’s website, www.ancom.org.ro, subsection A to Z contract issues.
 
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