The Telecommunications (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1997

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Telecommunications (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1997 and shall come into force on 22nd August 1997.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

(a) “the Voice Telephony Directive” means Directive 95/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony(1); and

(b) “the ONP Framework Directive” means Council Directive 90/387/EEC on the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision(2);

and words and expressions used in these Regulations shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the same meaning as in the Voice Telephony Directive and the ONP Framework Directive.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations—

(a) a “relevant Licence” is a licence granted under section 7 of the Act to run certain telecommunication systems being a licence listed below—

(i) the licence entitled “Licence granted by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to British Telecommunications under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984” granted on 22nd June 1984(3) (hereinafter referred to as “the BT Licence”); and

(ii) the licences entitled “Licences granted by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to Kingston upon Hull City Council and Kingston Communications (Hull) PLC under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984” granted on 30th November 1987(4) (hereinafter referred to as “the Kingston Licences”);

and a reference in these Regulations to a relevant Licence is a reference to that Licence as modified from time to time in accordance with sections 12 and 15 or as mentioned in section 95 of the Act and by regulations made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972; and

(b) the “relevant Licensee” means—

(i) in relation to the BT Licence, British Telecommunications plc; and

(ii) in relation to the Kingston Licences, Kingston upon Hull City Council and Kingston Communications (Hull) PLC.

(3) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Telecommunications Act 1984(5);

“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;

“the Community” means the European Community;

“fixed public telephone network” means the public switched telecommunications network which is used, among other things, for the provision of voice telephony service between network termination points at fixed locations;

“list of headings” has the meaning given by regulation 4 of these Regulations;

“public pay-telephone” means a telephone available to the general public, for the use of which the means of payment are one or more of the following—

(a)

coins;

(b)

credit/debit cards; or

(c)

pre-payment cards;

“target indicators” has the meaning given by regulation 5(1) of these Regulations;

“voice telephony service” means the commercial provision for the public of direct transport of real-time speech via the public switched telephone network or networks such that any user can use equipment connected to a network termination point to communicate with another user of equipment connected to another network termination point;

“Voice Telephony Conditions” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 3(1) below; and

“VTD technical standards” has the meaning given by regulation 8 below.

(4) Save as provided in paragraph (1) above, words and expressions in these Regulations shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the same meaning as in the Act.

Modification of licences to include the Voice Telephony Conditions

3.—(1) The relevant Licences are hereby modified upon the coming into force of these Regulations by the insertion—

(a) as regards the BT Licence, of the conditions set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations as part 4 of Schedule 1 to the BT Licence; and

(b) as regards the Kingston Licences, of those conditions other than—

(i) condition VTD2 (publication of and access to information) to the extent that it applies to the requirement in paragraph 9 of Schedule 2 to these Regulations; and

(ii) condition VTD11 (cost accounting principles)(6),

as Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the Kingston Licences

and the conditions inserted into each of the relevant Licences pursuant to this regulation are, in relation to that licence, referred to for the purposes of these Regulations as “the Voice Telephony Conditions”.

(2) For the purposes of the Act, the modifications of the relevant Licences by paragraph (1) of this regulation shall have effect as if they were made under section 12 of the Act by the Director.

List of headings for information to be published

4.  Schedule 2 to these Regulations shall have effect for the purpose of specifying the list of headings for information to be published (pursuant to Article 4 of and Annex I to the Voice Telephony Directive) as required by Condition VTD2 of the Voice Telephony Conditions and regulation 7 below (in these Regulations referred to as the “list of headings”).

Supply-time and quality-of-service indicators

5.—(1) Schedule 3 to these Regulations shall have effect for the purpose of specifying the supply-time and quality-of-service indicators (in these Regulations referred to as the “target indicators”) which, in accordance with Article 5 of and Annex II to the Voice Telephony Directive, are required by Condition VTD3 of the Voice Telephony Conditions to be set and published.

(2) The Director shall review at least every three years the definitions, measurement methods and targets in respect of the target indicators.

(3) Regulations under section 27A(7) of the Act are not to have effect in relation to any relevant Licensee in so far as that power is exercisable in respect of the target indicators for services to which the Voice Telephony Directive applies.

List of advanced facilities

6.—(1) Paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to these Regulations shall have effect for the purpose of specifying the list of the advanced facilities which must, subject to technical feasibility and economic viability, be provided in accordance with Article 9(1) of and Annex III(1) to the Voice Telephony Directive and Condition VTD7 of the Voice Telephony Conditions.

(2) The Director shall facilitate and encourage in accordance with Article 9(2) of and Annex III(2) to the Voice Telephony Directive provision of the services and facilities listed in paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 to these Regulations, in accordance with the VTD technical standards.

(3) Where any of the services and facilities referred to in paragraph (2) above are not already offered by a relevant Licensee, the Director shall, taking into account the state of network development, market demand and progress with standardisation, encourage the setting of dates for the introduction by that relevant Licensee of such services and facilities.

Publication of information by the Director

7.—(1) The Director shall from time to time publish, or ensure that there are published, adequate and up-to-date information on access to and use of the fixed public telephone network and voice telephony service according to paragraphs 1, 3, 4, 5 and 10 of the list of headings.

(2) The information referred to in paragraph (1) above shall be published in such a way as to provide easy access for users to that information; and the Director shall publish references to the publication of that information and to the information published by the relevant Licensees in accordance with Condition VTD2 in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes, save that where the reference is to information which relates solely to Kingston upon Hull City Council and Kingston Communications (Hull) PLC, the Director need only publish the reference in the London Gazette.

Technical standards

8.—(1) The Director shall encourage the provision of services according to the standards listed below:

(a) standards published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, in accordance with Article 5 of the ONP Framework Directive;

(b) in the absence of such standards, European standards adopted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) (hereinafter referred to as “ETSI”), the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) (hereinafter referred to as “CEN”) or the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (Cenelec) (hereinafter referred to as (“Cenelec”);

(c) in the absence of such standards, international standards or recommendations adopted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC); or

(d) in the absence of such standards, standards designated under section 22(6) of the Act or specifications,

and in these Regulations, a reference to “the VTD technical standards” is a reference to such of the standards referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) above as may be applicable.

(2) The Director shall encourage the progressive introduction of public pay-telephones conforming to harmonised standards.

(3) In paragraph (2) above, a “harmonised standard” is a standard drawn up by ETSI, CEN or Cenelec at the request of the Commission for a harmonised telephone pre-payment card suitable for use in pay-telephones in all member States, and for associated network interface standards, in order to make it possible for pre-payment cards issued in one member State to be used in other member States, pursuant to Article 18.1 of the Voice Telephony Directive.

Conciliation of dispute resolution

9.—(1) Where there is a dispute concerning an alleged infringement of the provisions of the Voice Telephony Directive and which involves an organisation providing fixed public telecommunication services in another member State to whom the Voice Telephony Directive is applied, a user or a relevant Licensee may invoke the conciliation procedure provided for in Article 27(3) and (4) of that Directive by means of a written notification to the Director and to the Commission.

(2) Where following such a notification the Director finds that there is a case for further examination he may refer the matter to the Chairman of the ONP Committee.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Barbara Roche,

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Small Firms, Trade and Industry,

Department of Trade and Industry

30th July 1997