Statutory Instruments

2003 No. 1904

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

The Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003

Made

17th July 2003

Laid before Parliament

21st July 2003

Coming into force

25th July 2003

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on her by section 65 of the Communications Act 2003 M1, and following consultation with OFCOM and other appropriate persons in accordance with section 65(4) of that Act, hereby makes the following Order:

Marginal Citations

Citation and CommencementU.K.

1.  This Order may be cited as the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003 and shall come into force on 25th July 2003.

InterpretationU.K.

2.  In this Order—

“the Act” means the Communications Act 2003;

“disability” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 M2;

F1...

[F2“publicly available telephone service” means a service made available to the public for originating and receiving directly or indirectly national or national and international calls and access to emergency services through a telephone number or numbers in a national or international telephone numbering plan;]

“public pay telephone” means a telephone available to the general public, for the use of which the means of payment may include one or more of the following:

(a)

coins;

(b)

credit or debit cards; and

(c)

pre-payment cards, including cards for use with dialling codes;

F3...

“relay service” means a service which:

(a)

provides facilities for the receipt and translation of voice messages into text and text into voice messages, and the conveyance of that text or voice message to the textphone of subscribers of a person providing a publicly available telephone service; and

(b)

has been approved as a text relay service by OFCOM;

“subscriber” means any person who is a party to a contract with the provider of a public electronic communications service for the supply of such service; and

“textphone” means an integrated terminal incorporating an alphanumeric keyboard and means of displaying text, intended for connection to the public telephone network for the sole or primary purpose of supporting live telephone conversations between two or more individuals.

Textual Amendments

Marginal Citations

Universal service obligationsU.K.

3.  The extent to which the things falling within section 65(2) of the Act must be provided, made available or supplied throughout the United Kingdom is set out in the Schedule to this Order.

[F4Modification of universal service obligationsU.K.

3A.  Where OFCOM has made a general condition under section 51 of the Act in relation to the matters in paragraph 6 of the Schedule, then OFCOM shall not impose a universal service obligation in respect of those matters.]

Textual Amendments

Guidance on the pricing of universal service obligationsU.K.

4.  The matters set out in the Schedule should be offered at prices that are:

(a)affordable for all end-users; and

(b)uniform throughout the United Kingdom, unless OFCOM have determined that there is clear justification for not doing so.

Stephen Timms,

Minister of State for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services,

Department of Trade and Industry

Article 3

SCHEDULEU.K.

1.—(1) At least one designated universal service provider shall meet all reasonable requests by end-users for connection at a fixed location to the [F5public electronic communications network] and for access to publicly available telephone services [F6over that communications network].U.K.

(2) The connection referred to in sub-paragraph (1) shall be capable of allowing end-users to make and receive local, national and international telephone calls F7....

(3) Access to a publicly available telephone service in accordance with sub-paragraph (1) shall continue to be provided in the event of non-payment of bills for the use of that service, unless the provider of the service has first taken adequate measures regarding interruption to, or disconnection of the service.

Textual Amendments

2.—(1) At least one comprehensive directory shall be made available to end-users in a form approved by OFCOM, whether printed or electronic, or both, and it shall be updated at least once a year.U.K.

(2) This directory shall comprise, subject to the provisions of the [F8Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003], the details of all subscribers of publicly available telephone services and their telephone numbers, including fixed and mobile telephone numbers.

Textual Amendments

3.—(1) At least one comprehensive telephone directory enquiry facility shall be made available to end-users, including users of public pay telephones.U.K.

(2) This facility shall comprise, subject to the provisions of the [F9Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003], the details of all subscribers of publicly available telephone services and their telephone numbers, including fixed and mobile telephone numbers.

Textual Amendments

4.—(1) Public pay telephones [F10or other public voice telephony access points] shall be provided to meet the reasonable needs of end-users in terms of geographical coverage, the number of telephones [F11or other access points] and the quality of public electronic communication services.U.K.

(2) It shall be possible to make emergency calls from public pay telephones using the single European emergency call number “112” and the UK emergency call number “999”, free of charge and without the use of coins or cards.

Textual Amendments

5.—(1) Facilities, methods of billing and methods of accepting payment for electronic communications services that enable subscribers to monitor and control their expenditure in relation to the use of those services shall be provided to subscribers of services provided by designated universal service providers.U.K.

F12(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

6.—(1) Special measures shall be taken to ensure access to and affordability of publicly available telephone services for end-users with a disability equivalent to those enjoyed by other end-users.U.K.

(2) The measures to be taken for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) shall include:

(a)provision of access to the directory information facilities provided for the purposes of paragraph 3 in a form appropriate to meet the needs of end-users with a disability who are unable to use a telephone directory in a form in which it is generally available to other end-users;

(b)provision of priority fault repair services to end-users with a disability as is necessary to ensure access to publicly available telephone services by such end-users;

(c)provision of, and the provision of access to, relay services for end-users with a disability where required to ensure access to publicly available telephone services by such end-users;

(d)methods of billing and methods of accepting payment for publicly available telephone services in an appropriate format for subscribers with a disability, including provision for such subscribers to nominate a third party to handle their billing issues; and

(e)accessibility and functionality of the public pay telephones to be provided for the purposes of paragraph 4 for use by end-users with a disability, including the adequate provision of textphone facilities.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order satisfies the obligation of the Secretary of State, under section 65(1) of the Communications Act 2003 (“the Act”), to make an Order setting out the extent to which the things falling within section 65(2) of the Act must, for the purpose of securing compliance with Community obligations of the United Kingdom, be provided, made available or supplied throughout the United Kingdom.

The things falling within section 65(2) are:

  • electronic communications networks and electronic communications services;

  • facilities capable of being made available as part of or in connection with an electronic communications service;

  • directories capable of being used in connection with the use of an electronic communications network or electronic communications service;

  • directory enquiry facilities capable of being used for purposes connected with the use of such a network or service; and

  • particular methods of billing for electronic communications services or of accepting payment for them.

The extent to which these things are to be provided, made available or supplied throughout the United Kingdom, is set out in the Schedule to the Order.

Article 4 of the Order sets out guidance on the pricing of things that the Order requires to be provided, made available or supplied. OFCOM are required to have regard to such guidance when setting universal service conditions under section 67 of the Act.

Under Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7th March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (“the Universal Service Directive”), the United Kingdom is obliged to ensure the provision, availability or supply of certain services set out in Chapter II of the Universal Service Directive to users in the United Kingdom. This Order implements Articles 4, 5(1)(a), 5(1)(b), 6(1), 6(3), 7(1), 9(2) and 10(2) of the Universal Service Directive.

OFCOM are responsible for adopting appropriate measures, such as setting universal service conditions, so as to secure compliance with the obligations contained in this Order.