National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Moldova

A report of the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) on monitoring and control actions shows that in 2012, the regulator conducted 142 verifications of the activity performed by electronic communications providers: 103 planned and 39 – unplanned.

Compared to 2011, the total number of verifications dropped by 17%. Most of the planned verifications – 101 – were focused on checking the observance of the provisions of normative and legislative acts in electronic communications, two of them – on checking the veracity of information included in the notifications and abstract descriptions of networks and services, presented as part of notifications by applicants. The 39 unplanned verifications were targeted at gathering the necessary facts in order to review and settle the complaints and notices received by ANRCETI.

Most frequent contraventions revealed by the regulator during the verifications deal with unauthorized connection or admission of unauthorized connection to electronic communications networks, unauthorized provision of electronic communications services, use radio frequencies/channels without a license or a technical permit, non-compliance with the prescribed timeframe for preliminary information of end-users regarding modifications of service provision conditions and providers’ failure to meet contractual obligations.

As a result of the verifications, the regulator drew up and filed to competent courts 22 reports on contraventions to be reviewed, of which 13 for natural persons and 9 for legal entities, including 7 for providers of electronic communications networks/services. To date, the court („Center”, Chisinau municipality) reviewed and pronounced the rulings on 19 reports, applied fines in 14 cases and in 3 cases established the guilt of the contravener, however, did not fine them since the prescription timeframe (3 months) had expired. Also, two reports were cancelled. According to court rulings, the contraveners were fined total sum of 35,8 thousand lei.

The biggest fines were applied for unauthorized provision of electronic communications networks and/or services. In these cases, natural persons are fined 1000 to 2000 lei (50 – 100 conventional units), legal persons – from 4000 to 6000 lei (200 - 300 conventional units).

Under the legislation in force, ANRCETI is empowered to supervise the observance and the application of laws and normative acts in electronic communications, to find the violations in this area, in postal communications and information technology, by drawing up due reports and submit them for review in court. The fines imposed on contraveners by the court are fully transferred to the state budget.

January 11, 2013