PRESS RELEASE: The President has signed the amendment to the Electronic Communications Act, it will bring reduced administrative burden and more legal certainty to consumers and will speed up the construction of networks

Prague, 7 February 2025 - On 6 February 2025, the President of the Czech Republic signed the amendment to the Electronic Communications Act, which was approved by the Senate on 29 January 2025. In addition to legislative and technical modifications, this amendment significantly enhances the competences of CTU. The amendment will come into effect on 1 July 2025. CTU presents an overview of the main relevant changes and then will address this topic in more detail in the monitoring report No. 2/2025.

CTU has new competences in the area of resolution of subscriber disputes initiated at the request of a person performing communication activities for the overdue monetary performance (so-called unpaid invoices), which, according to Section 129a of the amended version of the Electronic Communications Act, now includes payments for services and goods that are not electronic communications services but are related to the provision of electronic communications services. These include payments for the set-up or cancellation, provision, maintenance or support (e.g. installation of equipment, activation fee), including terminal equipment (e.g. set-top-box, modem, telephone, laptop) if it is part of a bundle (Section 63c of the Electronic Communications Act). Furthermore, disputes over overdue payments for payment transactions made through electronic communications services, including the payment for services of other entities, also fall under the competence of CTU. These include, for example, premium SMS, donor SMS, m-payments, payments for on-demand audiovisual media services, including payments for communications to premium rates phone numbers. Disputes over these payments have been resolved before the courts so far, so now one authority - CTU, will decide on all payments that are disputed between the undertaking and the customer.

"I see the simplification of the handling of such cases as a positive for consumers, for whom such disputes will be resolved by one body," says Marek Ebert, CTU Council Chairman.

In the area of consumer protection, the legal certainty of consumers is also strengthened by a clearer formulation of the cases when and in which amount the undertaking is entitled to reimbursement (in practice, reimbursement is often referred to as a contractual penalty, etc.) for termination of a fixed-term or open-ended contract before the expiry of the agreed minimum duration.

Other changes include e.g. a number of measures to facilitate the construction of public communication networks, both by simplifying certain construction permitting processes (exceptions in the assessment of landscape character, use of forest land, delegation of decision-making to the level of municipalities with extended competence), as well as in the establishment of easements in the use of foreign real estate, especially if they are owned by the state or municipalities. "We welcome these amendments because they can help where we have imposed obligations to cover the so-called white areas," adds Marek Ebert.

As part of digitalisation efforts and reducing administrative and technical burdens on undertakings, it's important to highlight the new legal regulation under which CTU has been newly entrusted with the competence to maintain a so-called unified list of blocked websites (Section 115b). This will complement the existing practice and consolidate data from lists maintained by other state administrative bodies, such as the Ministry of Finance, SÚKL (State Institute for Drug Control) or SZPI (Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority), into one place for the business sector.