Press Releases

Your Telephony, Internet or Television Contract: what is the minimum contract duration?

07.03.2016

The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications of Romania (ANCOM) reminds the users of telephony, internet or television services in Romania that they can request their providers – and the providers have the obligation to make available to them – offers with a minimum contract duration of up to 12 months, the users having also the right to benefit from an initial contract duration of maximum 24 months.  
According to the legal provisions, the providers of telephony, internet and television services may lay down a minimum contract duration, also referred to as the initial contract duration, for contracts on the provision of electronic communications services.
On the other hand, the users are protected by the fact that the Romanian legislation provides two ceilings for the minimum contract duration, i.e. a period during which they cannot terminate the contract without paying penalty fees: 12, respectively 24 months. Some providers offer the users an option to conclude a contract for an indefinite period, at standard prices (no benefits or discounts included), with the advantage that this contract may be terminated at any moment, without involving penalty fees.  
Therefore, communications providers in Romania cannot conclude with the users contracts for an initial duration longer than 24 months. For business users, the minimum contract duration is established by negotiation and can exceed 24 months. Nevertheless, business users can choose a residential user regime, i.e. the possibility to conclude a contract for a minimum contract duration of up to 24 months.
The minimum contract duration should not be taken for the total contract duration. Thus, after the expiry of the minimum contract duration, the contract will unfold for an indefinite period or will be successively extended by periods equal to the minimum contract duration, based on the actual contract provisions, where the subscribers do not request the contract termination. In this situation, the contract will cease without involving penalty fees related to the minimum contract duration, since the minimum contract duration has expired.
Users wishing to terminate a contract for the provision of electronic communications services must check whether their minimum contract duration has expired and - if it hasn’t – what are the amounts they should pay for early contract termination. This also applies to users intending to port their telephone numbers, taking into account the fact that a porting request triggers the termination of their contract with the provider whose network they would like to quit.
The providers are not forbidden to establish in contracts certain penalty fees for users that wish to terminate their contracts before the expiry of the minimum contract duration; however, the establishment of such penalty fees is regulated by the consumer protection legislation. The institution enabled to assess the existence of abusive contract clauses is the National Consumer Protection Authority (NCPA), while the entity to decide the removal of such clauses from ongoing contracts is the Court of Law.

 

Additional details are available in the InfoCentre section on the Authority’s website, www.ancom.org.ro, subsection A to Z contract issues. The users may address ANCOM - where their contract for telecom services does not contain any mentions of the total or of the initial contract duration, provides a minimum contract duration longer than 24 months or where they have not been offered the possibility to conclude a contract with an initial duration of up to 12 months, - by following the steps in section Complain to ANCOM.
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